AUGUST 13th, 2023 PASTOR DON PIEPER
ONE AT A TIME Matt 9:35-38/ Luke 7:11-17
“COMPASSION AND...”
There's no question about it, God made us emotional beings. Some of us, it would seem, more so than others but that's only because some of us have been taught to suppress certain emotions. I try, but those of you who worship here regularly know, I'm not so good at it. I don't know how many times when standing here before you as I am now, that my voice has cracked... It is what it is!
You don't have to read very far into the gospels to discover that Jesus was a man of emotion as well. In various places he's described as experiencing joy, anger, frustration, grief, fear and delight.
How about you? If you were to sum up where you're at these days with one word describing your emotional state, what would that be? Anyone willing to risk a little transparency by sharing...?
You're not alone. Our emotions is one of the ways God connects us with one another, and what's more, as just state, Jesus himself experienced these things too. But perhaps of all the emotions the gospel writers tell us Jesus experienced the one mentioned the most often is compassion. As we just heard, “When (Jesus) saw the grieving widow, his heart overflowed with compassion.”
(Luke 7:13)
Interesting that Jesus most common emotion was not one that was determined by what he was going through but by what those around him were going through. Most of these stories in question involve an unobrusive conjunction that follows this emotion. It's the simple word, “And”.
In Matthew 20, Jesus had compassion on two blind men and touched their eyes. In Mark 1:41 Jesus had compassion on a leper and healed him. In Mark 6:34, Jesus had compassion on the hungry people following him and fed them, and in our first reading from Matthew 9, Jesus had compassion on the hurting, confused people around him, healing some, and praying over them, and then commissioned his disciples to do the same. “The harvest is great, but the workers are few, so pray...!”
(Matthew 9:37-38)
Kyle Idleman notes that a great many of the one at a time stories in the Gospels start with Jesus' compassion, but such compassion is always followed by the word and and some kind of helpful action.
Years ago my brother, Frank, and I went on a weekend trip skiing in the Cascades. At one point we got separated. I went down a couple of times on my own and my confidence was growing. I noted on those runs some spectacular spills by other skiers, and being the compassionate soul I'd like to think I am, my thoughts turned to them. “Ooh, that was quite a tumble”, or, “Oh my, that had to hurt” and then I saw a guy go down just below in a cloud of powder, sliding into the treeline. I remember thinking, “Gee, I hope that guy's alright!” But as I approached I recognized him. It was my brother, Frank, and as it turned out he was pretty badly hurt. I whirled around and rushed to his side.
I wound up flagging down a ski patrol to secure the medical help he needed. My response is the difference between sympathy and true, biblical compassion. When the wiped oiut skier went from being a strangeer to being my beloved brotherr, it changed everything. I didn't just feel bad for him, I hurt for him. I didn't just feel sorry for him, I stopped for him. It was Zoom in, portrait moment. That's the kind of compassion that moved Jesus. Every hurting person was his son, daughter, brother or sister.
In Luke 7, one chapter prior to the story we read last week of a woman Jesus healed “who could not go unnoticed”, (Luke 8:47), we read about another woman also in a world of hurt...:
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“One day Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. (Oh, boy, more crowds!) As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out, the only son of his mother, who was a widow, and large crowd from Nain was with her”
(Luke 7:11-2)
So one huge crowd converged on another huge crowd. Have I mentioned my feelings about crowds. I would've made one sweaty, anxious disciple! But as Luke tells it, its yet another story in which the crowds are ever present, but the throngs seem to blurr as Jesus zooms in on the one. “When Jesus saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion for her.” (Luke 7:13)
Notice the order of events. First, Jesus saw her. Second, his heart went out to her. Third, he did what he could for her. There was a connection between what he saw with his eyes and what he felt in his heart. He didn't just ffeel sympathy; he was moved with compassion, moved to action as it were.
First, he speaks words of comfort. “'Don't cry' he said.” (Luke 7:13) At first glance, that seemed like an odd thing to say. We learned in Pastoral Care 101 that you don't show up at a funeral and tell be begrieved not to cry, but Jesus can say just that because he embodies a hope like no other. He's telling the woman, things are not as dismal as they seem.
“Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and those carrying it stopped. 'Young man,' he said. 'I tell you, get up!' Then the young man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” (Luke 7:14-15)
His touch stopped the funeral procession. He not only stopped what he was doing and where he was going but he got others to stop as well. Maybe he stepped in front to do so, or maybe it was that he publicly touched what noone in that culture would touch. To do so would make you unclean, after all, resulting in exhaustive efforts to purify oneself again, otherwise no one could touch you...
Anyone ever see the movie, Monsters Inc? Remember how paranoid the monsters were of touching a child or touching their clothes? When one emerges with a sock on his back he winds up being shaved and fumigated. It was kind of like that. To touch a dead body or his 'coffin' was a no go!
You can almost hear the gasp from the crowd – both crowds. And then something extraordinary happened – the dead man gasped, and started breathing, even talking! A ripple ran through the crowd, starting with the guy's mother. She not only had her boy back but her family's only income provider was back in action. When Jesus returned her only son to her, he restored her hope and future!
But the people in the crowd are impacted too! “A great sense of awe swept the crowd and they praised God...., and news about Jesus spread through Judea and beyond!” (Luke 7:16-17)
Compassion and action is powerful stuff. It can trigger all kinds of ripple effects, and we get to see not only people as Jesus sees them, we get to see God use our actions to inspire godly reaction! We may not have the power to literally raise the dead but we may be given the op to return someone's hope.
I remember when Ted first showed up here, he had completely lost his confidence in people. As a retired police officer he had often seen people at their worst. I urged him to join us for Alpha and in
spite of his unresolved anger he showed up. Our group loved on him and when we prayed for him, he was overwhelmed with the presence of Jesus' Spirit and his love for him. He was revived as was his sense of hope. God used him to spread the ripple effect to guests in the groups he led.
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The danger we face is that of convincing ourselves that there's nothing we can do, or that the little we can do will never be enough, or that other things are more important. The enemy loves to get in our head and discourage us. That's why Jesus put such an emphasis on prayer. I saw a movie about making movies. At one point the director has to call for take after take. His call for “lights, camera, action”, becomes increasingly weaker and subdued.... He winds up at the cusp of giving up.
Have you ever heard of the photojournalist, Kevin Carter? He took a world famous photo of a young Sudanese girl who was so weak from starvation that she is shown crawling to an aid station for food. In the background of his photo is a vulture waiting for her to die. As his photo went global he was increasingly asked about the girl. What happened to her? Did she get help? Did she die?
When it became clear that he did nothing other than scare the vulture off, he defended his inaction by explaining that they didn't understand what it was like there, that suffering was extensive and everywhere, that there were thousands more just like her. Carter wound up winning a Pulitzer Prize for that photograph but later, after he returned home, he took his own life.
Jesus knew of the pain and suffering taking place all over the Roman empire in that moment he stopped in his tracks on his way through Nain. Jesus knew the woman who lost her son was one of countless others who'd lost someone they loved. He could've dismissed helping the widow as being too insignificant to make a difference, but one at a time living focuses on the one person who God has deliberately and strategically placed in front of us. First he saw, then he stopped, then he acted.
As scripture urges: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.”
(Galatians 6:9-10)
It's easy to give in to feelings of discouragement and helplessness when facing loss and grief. It's no wonder so many today to confuse sympathy with compassion. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have done studies that demonstrate that people who show support for their favorite causes on social media by clicking 'like', or making a positive comment, are far less likely to donate money or volunteer their time. There's something about feeling compassionate that makes you feel like you are compassionate, but that's not biblical compassion. Compassion always has an and attached. Real compassion doesn't just move your heart, it moves your muscles!
Claudia and I watched movie this week entitled, “Living”. It's about a man who works for the government department of public works in the UK, whose doctor informs him his death is imminent. This fresh perspective makes him realize that he has yet to truly live. A former colleague even tells him that her nickname for him is the Zombie. His quest to come alive before its too late leads him to view others in a new light. He gains fresh perspective on the plight of three women who'd repeatedly sought his help at the office. Finally he truly sees them and a compassion for their cause stirs to life.
In the end, his colleagues talk about the change in him, and make note of the impact of his transformation. The result is a ripple effect that his compassion has on them and the community.
“When (Jesus) saw the grieving widow, his heart overflowed with compassion and he encourged her..., and he gave her son (and hope) back to his mother.” (Luke 7:13-14)
Compassion and action is powerful stuff. It can trigger all kinds of ripple effects, and we get to see not only people as Jesus sees them, we get to see God use our actions to inspire godly reaction! We may not have the power to literally raise the dead but we may be given the op to return someone's hope.