Compassion
07-19-09
A store owner was tacking a sign above his door that read "Puppies for Sale." Such signs have a way of attracting small children, and sure enough, a little boy appeared under the store owner’s sign. "How much are you going to sell the puppies for?" he asked. The store owner replied, "Anywhere from $30 to $50." The little boy reached in his pocket and pulled out some change. "I have $2.37," he said. "Can I please look at them?" The store owner smiled and whistled. Out of the kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle, followed by five teeny, tiny balls of fur. One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately, the little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and asked, "What’s wrong with that little dog?" The store owner explained that the veterinarian had examined the puppy and discovered it didn’t have a hip socket. It would always limp. It would always be lame. The boy became excited. "That’s the puppy I want to buy." The store owner said, "No, you don’t want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I’ll just give him to you." The boy got quite upset. He looked straight into the man’s eyes, pointing his finger, and said, "I don’t want you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the other dogs, and I’ll pay full price. In fact, I’ll give you $2.37 now, and 50 cents a month until I have him paid for." The store owner countered, "You really don’t want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies." To the man’s surprise, the boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big, metal brace. The boy looked up at the store owner and softly replied, "Well, I don’t run so well myself, and that puppy will need someone who understands!"
We all need someone who understands us. In fact, we are drawn to compassionate people aren’t we? We are drawn to those people because they have an irresistible power of pull. It is a G-force if you will. In Physics, a G-force is a measurement of the strength of force placed on an object. Basically, it’s how many multiples of gravity (G) we feel. So, if you are floating around in space you will be in 0G or 0 gravity, and if you are screaming through an awesome roller coaster the 4G of force would be enough to launch you if it weren’t for some heavy duty straps.
G-Force is the irresistible power of pull. And that’s what Christianity is intended to be about. A G-Force, a God Force, if you will, enacted through people that draws insider and outsider alike toward faithfulness.1 When God is at work in God’s followers, it’s attractive. It’s pull that their biases, negative experiences and skepticism can’t overcome.
There’s a God Force at work in this week’s text. This force is not a Star Wars type force. This God force is visible in and through the compassion of Jesus Christ. The masses of people are drawn to Jesus. They long for acknowledgement and healing. Jesus and his disciples find themselves in a familiar place, with crowds packed around him.
The disciples, having been sent out in pairs, have just returned from their first road trip and have gathered together to share stories and experiences with one another. They are tired from their journey and Jesus attempts to take them to a deserted place from some R & R. But their plans are foiled, because that G-Force is at work and the crowds were drawn to Jesus, following him, begging him, trying to touch even a little bit of his cloak.
Now Jesus and his disciples have every right to be frustrated or disappointed by the crowds. Have you ever had a day of rest only to have an unexpected person pop up and demand your time? It can be aggravating, especially when you are in need of some rest and reflection. Yet notice that Jesus isn’t angry. He doesn’t claim his rights to rest. He doesn’t ignore people’s needs. Jesus stops to address the crowds, because they "were like sheep without a shepherd." They needed some guidance. He has compassion deep within his being. You might be able to relate. It’s like those times when parents are exhausted, they want just a little sleep, but the baby still cries. When they’re at their best, parents don’t feel angry. They don’t ignore the child while claiming their need for sleep. They feel sadness for the little one. After all, the baby has a need that he or she can’t meet alone. So parents empathize. They provide care for the distressed baby, motivated by sacrifice, love and compassion.
This is how Jesus reacts to the needy mass of humanity crashing his sabbatical. And his compassion acts like a 10G force. Nobody can resist it. People walk, run, and hop to get near to Jesus and his compassion. Jesus’ compassion is a God Force that pulls in the curious, the skeptical, the sick and the needy.
Now, compassion is one of those ideas that we think we know, but maybe we don’t. Ask people to define compassion, and most people will give an answer that sounds a whole lot like pity… "feeling sorry for someone." While partially correct, that isn’t a holistic or Mark 6 understanding of compassion. The German word for Compassion is Mitleid- literally, "with suffering." The Hebrew word for compassion rachamim is used to refer to the very womb of God. The Latin cum (with) and passio means "to suffer." Compassion is "suffering with" another. Compassion is not a synonym for pity. Pity is something you can manage from afar. Not compassion. You do not have compassion, really, unless you suffer with those to whom to whom you refer. The precondition for compassion is unconditional solidarity with the ones for whom you feel it; bringing action into our affection. This unconditional solidarity brings us to the very center of our faith! Jesus’ compassion for the crowd, sheep without a shepherd, is not condescension. It is the mark of his identification with his kind, an it will not achieve it full expression until, at Golgotha, he has gone all the way, identifying with our lot not only in birth, but also in death.
Compassion is to enter into people’s lives when they are laid bare. It is to internalize their condition. It is to suffer with someone by taking on his or her burden. To experience G-Force implies being part of the action. Compassion is something we sense in the depths of our gut when we see someone in a situation of pain and brokenness. But compassion always has an active component to it. Compassion is a reaction. It is never just a feeling.
"St. Francis was known to have a weak stomach. Whether psychological or physiological, he had a nauseating aversion to people with leprosy. When he smelled the decay of their flesh, he would gag. One day, Francis was riding along on his horse when he saw a leprous man. He stopped the horse and turned it in the opposite direction. At that very moment, he sensed the conviction of God’s Spirit. He knew that following Christ and avoiding compassion for that man couldn’t coexist. He sensed the sadness the leper must have felt when he saw Francis turn his horse around. So Francis turned back, rode to the man, dismounted and took a knee before him. He drew up the sick man’s leprous hand and kissed it as if it were the king’s royal hand. Franciscan biographers claim this episode of compassion was the moment of Francis’ true conversion. He sensed the pain of a leper and entered into it through a personally sacrificial act."2
Maybe we pray. Maybe we choose eye contact and a smile to dignify a person in need. Maybe we say "hello." Maybe we ask him how he’s doing. Maybe we give him the lunch we were bringing to work with us. In any way we can, we sense the person’s pain and enter into it for a moment. In a tough economy, single-parent families are hit the hardest. A single mom right here in Grants Pass couldn’t drive to church this morning because her brakes went out. She doesn’t have money for gas anyway. She can’t afford a birthday present for her son. She skipped one meal a day and had Top Ramen or oatmeal for the others. Imagine a small group from her neighborhood hears the woman’s story, and they ask one another how they could be compassionate. They make dinners and take them to eat with her and her son each night. They give her movie tickets to take her son out. They give her some gift cards they would have spent on themselves. A mechanic in the group tows her car and fixed the brakes on his day off.
A leper and an impoverished single mom, ripped open by their pain and need, a monk and a neighborhood that feel their pain. Followers sense people’s condition. They feel something in their very gut. They react by taking in their condition. They suffer with them. When Jesus did this, the crowds flocked to him. We are not Jesus. We aren’t casting out demons. But we can develop the compassion Jesus had. We can choose to see suffering and not ignore it. We can react with care, sacrifice and love. Physics doesn’t possess the only G-Force that’s powerfully attractive. Our compassion can be the same God Force today that it was for the crowds around Christ. Christians must ask not only whether we have grasped the full "radicality" of belief in a compassionate God, but whether as church we are ready to live that compassion in our profoundly threatened world. Live compassionately. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Blessings,
Melissa
1Taylor, Bob, G-Force, Homiletics online,
July-August edition.
2Talbot, John Michael, and Steve Rabey. The Lessons of St.
Francis: How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality Into Your Daily Life. New
York: Plume Books, 1998.