Cultivating Compassion

 We're living in a time when we are at each other's throats all the time, thanks in no small part to the discord being fomented by one of the two major political parties in this country. And I say that in the full knowledge that there are "good people" who are registered members of the party in question who may take offense at my statement. But I know what I see, what I observe, and what I have experienced as a lesbian who lives in Florida, a trained journalist, and a former member of said political party. I won't even call them by the name of that party because what it was...once upon a time...no longer exists. It has been so corrupted that I don't even recognize it. 

I don't preach "politics" in the way we think of politics. But I do preach the words of the Gospel and of scripture. I have no choice. And I appreciate having a text that allows me to wrestle with my faith and my world. 

I hope this sermon gives you something to consider as we go forward into these next months in the United (sort of) States. 

Tell me what you think in the comments. 

Text: Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

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At the end of our worship service…we most often get sent out with these words:

 “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

Our worship having ended…the work of service begins.

We leave here…hopefully filled with a sense of God’s goodness…maybe humming a few bars of the last hymn…spend some time visiting over food and drink in the parish hall.

And then it’s back to the world of tasks…chores…responsibilities…appointments…and the traffic on Bemiss Road.

As En Vogue sang in the 1990s…”Back to life. Back to reality. Back to the here and now.”

Sometimes…when we’re faced with all that’s in front of us on any given day or week…that tag line of the old Southwest Airlines commercials…”Wanna Get Away?” can  sound pretty tempting.

We all need that time where we can get away…lay down our burdens… and rest.

Even Jesus and his disciples need a break.

This week…our Gospel picks up the story of Jesus where we left off a couple of Sundays ago.

At that time…Jesus was sending the twelve off to do the service work of ministry in a world that may or may not accept them…and wasn’t always hospitable.

Our evangelist Mark then gave us the flashback to the death of John the Baptist at Herod’s birthday party to emphasize the level of fear and corruption in the Roman Empire at the time…the type of reality on the ground for the people Jesus and his disciples were going to.

Now…we’re back to the present…and the disciples have returned.

They’re excited.

They’ve done all the things Jesus had sent them out to do.

And—wow—they’re happy…and tired!

Jesus gets it.

He’s pretty tired, too.

After hearing them tell the tales of all that they’d seen and done…Jesus says, “Let’s go away…by ourselves…to a quiet place where we can pray in peace…and just rest for a while.”

Ahhh…that sounds so good.

But…just when they thought they’d gotten away for this retreat…here come the people.

Lots of people.

All kinds…types…genders…ages…abilities of people. And they’re all in need.

All are seeking…calling out…for Jesus and the apostles to pay attention to their needs.

We’ve all had those moments…I’m sure.

We’re ready to kick back and relax for just those few minutes and then someone calls or knocks on our door and needs our help.

We hear the urgency in their voice.

Tired as are we put our shoes back on…and get up to help them.

We hear that Jesus has compassion for this crowd of needy people because “they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

“Compassion” means “to suffer with.” It means a willingness to lay aside our needs and enter into the ring with the person who needs help.

Jesus has been in…around…and observed the suffering occurring in the Empire.

Jesus intimately knows the crowd’s pain.

He’s been rejected.

He’s been cast out.

He’s not separated from them; he’s in the situation with them.

And he knows that the hunger they’re feeling is not just a desire for food but a longing for something more…something their cold-hearted political structure can’t give them.

They want someone to see them…and to love them.

I think it’s one of the many basic desires of all humans.

We want to feel touched…figuratively and literally…by the power of Love.

How does Jesus answer that need…that deep ache…of the people?

He begins to teach them.

I started thinking about that line.

It strikes me that he wants to give them some real food for thought…something to ponder…something to redirect them…give them a type of mental medicine so they can cope with living inside a sick Roman system.

Jesus sits with them and teaches them about a new reality….one which surpasses the failures of human shepherds and points to a God who hears their cries and will not leave them behind to languish forever.

We can begin to imagine some of the lessons he wants to share with a people living within a loveless power structure.

Maybe he’s helping them learn how to adopt a new outlook…seeing themselves in a different way rather than focusing so much on the shortcomings of the system.

He’s probably going to talk of the importance of freeing themselves from getting trapped in a loop of hatred…and instead see their enemies as deeply wounded people who have misplaced their hurt into a need for power over others.

I’m guessing he might start by showing them ways to pray and ground themselves in their center so they can become part of the love revolution he’s starting.

I can imagine that Jesus begins to teach this crowd in the same way he’s taught the apostles: showing them that if they can trust and have faith in a God who is Love…they can begin to do for each other the amazing and life-giving act of loving their neighbors as themselves That includes …their kinfolk…the foreigners…their enemies…even the plants and animals.

Love all of creation in the same way that God does.

This is the lesson that Jesus continues to teach us today into the 21^st century.

That simple truth that if we profess that we love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength…and if we understand and accept that God loves us at all times and in every way…then we have the power…the blessing…and truly…the commandment… to do the same for each other.

We must observe how God acts through Jesus acts… caring for the least and lowest…looking out for the stranger…and then participate in doing those same actions.

Those who have the responsibility to lead…the charge to be shepherds…must not hold themselves above the people but lead from that place of compassion and being with the people.

Because out of compassion flows justice, mercy, and righteousness.

When systems fail to serve the people…when leaders don’t lead and insist on perpetuating a nihilistic vision of hopelessness and despair…assigning blame to those that are easily “othered” …it’s time for us to go back to our center and visualize a bigger and brighter reality with God’s compassion and help.

What Jesus teaches us is that even when we are feeling the weight of the world’s woes, our job is to trust in a power that comes from a perfect love that casts out fear of doing a new thing…and not allow ourselves to stay stuck in old patterns…and prejudices.

If we have been baptized into the Body of Christ…we must now be the Body of Christ.

If we have been sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever…we have been given the power and permission and instruction to love each other…even when we may not like each other.

We’re to look out for the needs in our community and respond with that “I’m with you in this moment” compassion to the person who is hurting.

We can do this through words…and we can do it through actions.

Some of us march alongside those who are speaking up for justice.

Some of us make phone calls…send texts or messages of encouragement.

Some of us provide comfort through compassionate listening without attempting to “fix” or solve someone else’s problems.

All of us have the capability to do something. And when we need to rest…we can be assured God’s Spirit has got our back and will be with the world as we sleep.

The children of God who represent today’s crowds are looking for that compassion of someone who will see them…hear their lament without judgment or a counter argument…and show them the love when the systems fail.

This is what it means when we say, “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.”

It’s up to us to hear that charge…and go.

In the name of our one Holy and Undivided Trinity.