Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
What an adventure! Jesus had sent
the disciples out, two by two, to do His work – casting out spirits, preaching
and teaching in His name. They were building on the foundation laid by John the
Baptist, multiplying Jesus’ own ministry. It was an internship, if you will,
for their own post-Pentecost ministry that would take place later. They were to
take nothing with them other than the clothes on their back, no money, no blankets,
no bread, trusting that the Lord would provide for them. Just go! And they
went, proclaiming repentance, casting out demons, anointing the sick, and
healing many, all by Jesus’ authority and in His name.
You remember your first day at
school or at a new job – how excited you were to get home and tell everyone
what you saw, what you did, what all happened. You told your mom and dad, your
husband or wife, your kids, the dog – anyone who would listen – about the day’s
events. When the disciples returned to Jesus, they did the same, telling Him
all that they had done and taught. You could imagine the stories they shared as
they all gathered together and regrouped – the blind could see, the lame could
walk, the paralyzed could move, demons were cast out, and even lepers were made
whole and returned to the community. There were probably a few “shake the dust
off your feet” moments, but they were outnumbered by story upon story, success
upon success.
Jesus wants to lead them away, away from the
crowds, away from the hustle and bustle, away from the needs of those who continue
to press and demand time and energy from Jesus and the disciples. Jesus had
done this before, retreating from the crowds for prayer and rest. We might
presume He is teaching the disciples that this is necessary for them, also –
rest, pray, and be renewed by the spirit for continued ministry and service.
The plan was to go to the other side of the lake – about a 5 or 6 mile trip –
for their respite, but the crowds saw where they were going and, hustling,
actually arrived before Jesus and the Twelve.
Imagine, for a moment, that you
had been working hard for days, weeks on end. You plan a vacation, a get-away
for you and your family, or you and your spouse. You’re going to shut off the
cell phones so you can’t be reached, you’re going to go “off the grid,” as they
say, so you can rest, renew the family relationships that had been put on the
back burner while under the demands of work, and simply, recharge. But, when
you arrive for check-in, there is a message waiting at the front desk. Somehow
your boss, your coworker, another family member has found out where you are and
they left message – URGENT! Your get-away just became a gotcha. How would you
react? How would you respond? Call and tell the boss to take a flying leap? Send
a message back to the coworker to figure it out themselves? Email your sister-in-law
that, tough luck, she’s going to have to adjust her schedule for a change?
Jesus does none of those things.
Instead, Mark says, He has compassion on them.
Compassion is much more than
kindness or empathy. Compassion is a visceral reaction, meaning it’s what makes
your guts hurt when you see something and just have to respond. Compassion
moves you from inaction and into action and it leads you in the dirt –
figuratively or literally – down in the ditch in the dust or the muck.
Compassion inserts you into someone’s pain, misery, and life – or when facing death.
It’s getting down eyeball to eyeball with them and be with them in that hard,
difficult place and time. Compassion puts you on their level and says “I’m I’m
with you, and I won’t let you be alone.”
Let’s do a simple test – what seems
to be the presenting need of the people who are on the hillside? It’s been a
long day sitting in the sun. Perhaps their need is shelter. Maybe they need
sunscreen or aloe for sunburn. There were no concession stands or vending
machines. The people were hungry. The disciples identify that the need is food.
For Jesus, His compassion arises
for a different reason than you might expect. St. Mark says that Jesus has
compassion when he sees the shepherd-less people. Do you get it? This isn’t
some distant, far-off and aloof Divinity. This Jesus is God-in-flesh, perfect
God who comes to dwell among His own dear people. This same Jesus, who was with
God from the beginning, now stands as a man among people and what He sees
hurts. His pain is so deep that His guts
hurt. And when Jesus hurts, He must act. He doesn’t chase them away; He doesn’t
get back in the boat and sail away; He doesn’t tell the disciples to set up a perimeter
and keep the crowds behind red velour ropes. He tells them to sit down in the
rich, green grass and He begins to teach them.
His compassion is driven from
seeing their need. The people were like sheep without a shepherd. They were a
congregation without a pastor – not because the pastors weren’t there. Oh, no –
they were there, alright. All of the people whose responsibilities include
caring for the eternal souls and welfare of the people, feeding them God’s
Word, blessing them with His name, imparting and delivering the gifts of God
day in and day out, praying and interceding for them – all of these shepherds
stood by and abandoned their flocks to be consumed by the wolves and bears and
lions of the devil, the world, and their own sinful flesh. And, meanwhile, as
the sheep were devoured one by one by being led to take their eyes off of the
promise of the coming Messiah, now fulfilled in Jesus, the shepherds got fat
and sassy. They debated the fine intricacies of the Law and argued ways people
were guilty of breaking the Law…all the while holding themselves up as high,
and great, and holy men and looking down their pharaisaical noses at sinners,
tax collectors and prostitutes. Instead of having compassion of their own for
these people of God, these sheep, who were wandering and in danger of being
forever lost and damned, they passed by, lest they dirty themselves in the process.
They were compassionless for those who needed compassion, and they abdicated
their shepherding in favor of caring for themselves.
This is what causes Jesus to have
compassion: these sheep were shepherdless. Shepherdless sheep wander. They
can’t find food, they can’t find water, they can’t find shelter and safety.
They are at risk of getting lost and separated from Christ. They are in danger
of being picked off, one by one, by the devil, the world and their own sinful
flesh. So, Jesus is moved to teach and preach. He fills them full so that the
hungry are satisfied by something that lasts into eternity – spiritual food
that satisfies.
Oh, yes – He does show compassion
in taking care of their stomachs. With just five little loaves and two hot-dog
sized fish, Jesus prays and begins breaking the food up for distribution. From
the little comes much – so much in fact that there are 12 baskets left over. Twelve
baskets: one for each tribe of Israel; one for each Disciple.
At my house, we’re not much for
leftovers. Why? Well, they are left-over. Except taco night. Everyone loves
tacos. With Jesus, left-overs aren’t just (grumble) left-overs; they are continuations.
Jesus has the disciples gather the left-overs so they are able to continue
distributing His gifts. They will carry His “left-overs” out into the world and
continue distributing, not of bread that spoils or fish that rots, but the
Bread of Life and His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation won at the cross
in His death and resurrection.
His compassion is found, chiefly,
not in miracles, or exorcisms, the raising from the dead or even in feeding
5000 with a boy’s lunch. His compassion is found in the cross. The Kingdom is
at hand, Jesus said – the time for His Cross is drawing closer. Because of His
great compassion, He will suffer and die and rise for the entire world. His
guts will hurt – so much so that he sweats great drops of blood. But it’s not
just his guts…it’ll be his back from the whips, and his face from the slaps,
and his head from the crown of thorns, and his spirit…his spirit as He realizes
that even His Father in heaven has abandoned him in the face of hell on earth
as the entire sin-filled burden of the world is emptied out upon Him. He takes
it all, out of His great compassion for you.
His compassion knows no limits of
space or time. Christ continues to send out pastors, twenty-first century
apostles, with His message of compassion to Christ’s sheep. And pastors deliver
the goods, to people sitting in soft green grass on hillsides, or on folding
chairs in meeting halls, in steamy jungle bungalows, in air conditioned comfort,
in the relative safety of North America and in places where wearing a cross
will get you killed. And pastors preach, and teach, and absolve, and encourage,
and absolve, and equip – all in the name of Jesus. Bread is broken, wine is poured,
water is splashed, and His name is spoken. He is present. And the baskets
overflow again and again. And the people rise up from the grass, and chairs,
and benches, and pews and go out into the world. Having received the compassion
of Christ in Word and Sacrament, you share that compassion with those around you.
Our compassion can be misguided.
It is tempting to look at a crisis moment and thing that we, too, gotta do
something. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with being moved into
action. In fact, many times it is a good thing. But don’t forget the first
action of discipleship is to pray – to lift up our eyes to the heavens and
commend all things to God’s hands. Pastors are guilty of this, too: we get so
caught up in needing to do that we forget that first, we need to stop not do
anything of ourselves. Instead, we are to commend all things to the
nail-pierced hands of our Savior. A seasoned friend told me years ago, don’t
ever forget your chief duty as the church’s priest and lift your people up in
prayer. There is a time for action later. Ground your acts of compassion first
and foremost in prayer. Pray for faith to be strengthened, grace to be
demonstrated, mercy to be granted, love to richly poured out.
And, then, when you act in
compassion, know that even small acts of compassion will be multiplied by
Christ. Remember – He used a boy’s lunch to feed 5000. And, remember too that the
compassion you share is the compassion of Christ that flows through you. When
you reach out to others in love, you do so filled with the hands of Christ.
When you speak to others in their time of need, you speak with the words of
Christ. When you walk along with others in their weakness, you walk with the
feet of Jesus. When you show love, you are showing the Christ’s love that He
showered upon you and overflows in you to those around you. It is not us that we share, but Christ.
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