"Compassion"
The Holy Gospel comes to us this morning from Mark the 6th chapter, beginning at the 30th verse.
30* The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. 31* He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32* And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33* Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34* As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. 53* When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. 54* When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55* and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56* And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Grace and peace to your from our Lord and Savior, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
"A two year old boy was tired and fretful, all out of sorts, and so was his mother. It was a unusually trying day. Nothing was going right for them. As the day wore on things became even worse. To him everything seemed to go wrong. Mom was yelling at him at every turn he made it seemed. It seemed that life had become one big mountain of frustrations.
Finally, towards the end of the day, when it seemed he couldn’t take any more, he toddled over to the telephone, took the receiver off the cradle and without dialing anything, said to nobody in particular, in a voice of despair, of wanting of desiring some tender loving care, "Give me my Daddy, please."
The two year old boy wanted his Daddy to rescue him from the frustrations, all the hurts, all the trouble, all the brokenness he was feeling in his life. He needed someone else besides his mother to turn to, he needed someone to bring some needed change into his life. He needed someone to care for his feelings, his hurts, his inability to handle the challenges of life, so he asked, "Give me my Daddy, please!"
In our gospel lesson this morning, the people came to Jesus with that same kind of attitude. They needed someone to care for them.
The text says: 33* Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.
34* As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
They saw Jesus and ran to him with all the frustrations, the hurts, the troubles in their lives. They ran to Jesus and in a sense said as that boy in our story, "Give me my Daddy, please!"
And notice what the text said 34* As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
Jesus saw the crowds of people and though he was tired, he had compassion on them. Jesus saw that they needed a shepherd, they needed a guide. They needed a guide and he had compassion on them.
Jesus is like the policeman in the following story:
A pastor wrote, " I was on Time’s Square in New York during rush hour. Thousands of people were crowding and pushing at the corner ready to cross at the intersection. Ten lanes of cars were backed up for blocks screeching their tires and racing their motors waiting for the light to change.
And, suddenly, a mother cat came out of an alley followed by her four little kittens. She started across that busy intersection. The policeman on duty dashed out in the middle of the traffic, at the expense of his life stopped the cars and the people and allowed that mother cat and her kittens to cross in the rush and excitement of life. Everyone stopped and watched this brave act exhibited by the policeman and the calm manner in which that cat and her kittens crossed the busy intersection, because of the sacrificial caring of that policeman."
The policeman had compassion for the mother cat and her kittens, so he guided them across the street. Jesus has compassion for us as a shepherd does for his flock, and he guides us across the busy intersections of life.
The most important verse in our gospel text is compassion. He had compassion for the people. He showed it in the beginning verses of the gospel text and in the later ones, verses 50 and so on.
What does compassion mean? The dictionary says: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others . And the dictionary says to see the word mercy which means compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
Jesus had compassion for the people. He had concern for their suffering. He had mercy, forgiveness for the people.
Jesus is like the man on the horse in the following story:
There’s a story told about a bitter, cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. An old man sat by a river, waiting for a ride across. His beard was glazed by winter’s frost and the wait seemed endless. His body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind.
He heard the faint, steady rhythm of approaching hooves galloping along the frozen path. Anxiously, he watched as several horsemen rounded the bend. He let the first one pass by without an effort to get his attention. Then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider neared the spot where the old man sat like a snow statue. As this one drew near, the old man caught the rider’s eye and said, "Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side? There doesn’t appear to be a passageway by foot."
Reining his horse, the rider replied, "Sure thing. Hop aboard." Seeing the old man was unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground, the horseman dismounted and helped the old man onto the horse. The horseman took the old man not just across the river, but to his destination, which was just a few miles away.
As they neared the tiny but cosy cottage, the horseman’s curiosity caused him to inquire, "Sir, I notice that you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I came up and you immediately asked me for a ride. I’m curious why, on such a bitter winter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you there?"
The old man lowered himself slowly down from the horse, looked the rider straight in the eyes, and replied, "I’ve been around these here parts for some time. I reckon I know people pretty good." The oldtimer continued, "I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately saw there was no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, kindness and compassion were evident. I knew, then and there, that your gentle spirit would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need."
Those heartwarming comments touched the horseman deeply. "I’m most grateful for what you have said," he told the old man. "May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion."
With that, Thomas Jefferson turned his horse around and made his way back to the White House. Source: Author unknown
When the people looked into Jesus’ eyes they saw the same thing. When he looked into the eyes of Thomas Jefferson he saw kindness and compassion. When we look to Jesus, we see the same kind of thing, compassion and kindness.
In the movie Greatest Story Ever Told we see the young man Jesus standing in the shadow of a doorway in a town in Palestine observing the misery of mankind such as could be found on any street, in any town in that part of the world, in that day or in ours: the lame, the sick, the mentally deranged, the mean, the cruel, all the inhumanity of the world.
He watched it all. For years he watched it - and it rubbed his feelings raw, but he developed no callouses. He kept his sensitivity intact, and that’s what made him the perfect vehicle through which the divine compassion could enter the world. . .
As he was growing up, Jesus saw the human condition all around him. he saw sickness, he saw death, he saw poverty, he saw broken relationship, etc. He saw it all. So when his time for ministry began, he had already developed the compassionate heart that was needed now he could do something about the human condition. He healed the sick, he gave support to the grieving, he told the people that God loved them as they experienced the human condition.
So when the crowds followed him, he did not send them away but he had compassion on them. He saw their brokenness and he extended the compassion of God’s Son to them.
And that brings us to the question, if Christ had compassion on the crowds, what are we to do?
Martin Luther says in his commentary to Galatians " To love means to bear another’s burdens. Christians must have strong shoulders to bear the burdens of their fellow Christians. "
We must have strong shoulders to bear another burden. We need to have compassion like Christ. Luther says we are to be like "little Christs" in the world.
In the closing story we see that kind of compassion in our world.
The NY Times had a story about a little boy who was riding the bus. He sat so close to a woman dressed in a gray suit that everybody assumed he was her son and she his mother, until finally another lady sat down on the same seat with them.
When the little boy put his feet up on the seat and got the other lady’s dress dirty, she turned to the women in the gray suit and said, "Would you please tell your son to put his feet down because he is getting my dress dirty?"
The lady in the gray suit pushed the boy away and said, "He’s not my son. I’ve never seen him before in my life."
The second lady looked at the little boy sadly for a moment and then started talking with him. She asked him if he was traveling alone.
"Yes," he said, "I always travel alone. My mommy and daddy are both dead and I live with Aunt Clara. But Aunt Clara thinks that Aunt Mildred ought to take her turn in taking care of me too. So whenever she gets tired of me, she sends me to Aunt Mildred. I’m going to Aunt Mildred’s now."
The woman said, "It must be tough traveling alone."
"Yeah," said the little boy, "it is. But I never get lost. But," he said, "sometimes I do get very lonesome. So whenever I see someone with a kind face I sit close to them, and pretend that I belong to them and that they belong to me."
He continued, "I sure hope that Aunt Mildred is home when I get there, because it looks like it is going to rain and I don’t like to be outside when it rains."
The woman reached over and grabbed the boy, hugged him so tight that it almost hurt and wished for a moment that this little boy who wanted so much to belong could belong to her.
God in heaven, we offer our deepest appreciation for the many blessings you shower upon us every day. We are truly humbled by the bounty of your graces. Through this prayer, we ask for the compassion to follow the inspiring example of the good Samaritan. Help us to embrace and bring comfort to those suffering immensely overseas. Amen.
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The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission. Sermon written by Pastor Tim Zingale, July 17, 2006.
"and pretend that I belong to them and that they belong to me."
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