1-27-2023

Good Morning All,

       Mark 6:34; “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.”

   This is actually one of my favorite verses in the Bible.  A little strange I’ll grant you that but it really catches Jesus’ response to the people who had contact with him during his ministry here on earth.

   This verse occurs shortly before the feeding of the 5000.  Jesus and his disciples were taking a break from their ministry work.  The people around saw Jesus and began to gather together on shore where his boat was going to land.  There were thousands and thousands of people.  The feeding of the 5000 only counted men who were fed.  It doesn’t count women, children, those who went home early; it doesn’t count the people who “don’t count”.  Jesus looked out on the people as if they were sheep without a shepherd.  Sheep without a shepherd don’t know where to go and not to go.  A flock with no shepherd would have been battered, bruised, bleeding, hungry, thirsty and completely lost.  The sheep would have been cut up from the attacks of wild animals, emaciated from a lack of food and water.  These people weren’t just gathering for a picnic; they weren’t a beaten down and beaten-up group of souls.

    One of the reasons that I like this verse is the part where it says “and he had compassion on them”; I think that line sums up Jesus both in his earthly ministry and his eternal ministry.  The word for compassion in Greek is splagchnizomai and it means to literally have your innards turn and twist and come out.  When you say the word properly, it feels like that is what is happening.  It means more than pity or sympathy.  It is that “kicked in the stomach” feeling you get when you see or hear or experience something painful.  It is what most of us felt if we saw a 10-month-old was killed in an accident with her grandfather driving.  It is that feeling that makes your knees weak and your eyes blurry.  It is, for a moment, living it out in our own life.

   Jesus looked out on all those people and that is what he felt, a pain that not only hurt but a pain that leads to action.  In Matthew’s version of this passage, Jesus heals many of their illnesses.  Jesus not only saw the pain, experienced the pain but then did something to alleviate the pain.  This is where, too often, Christians in the US, miss what faith is.  In our antiseptic PC world, Christianity is a messy, dirty business.  You have to get your hands dirty.  You have to see things that aren’t always pleasant.  You have to experience things that are messy.  Sometimes life is just plain ugly.  The death of someone way to early; the living of someone who no longer knows who they are or anyone else; sicknesses, diseases, broken and destroyed relationships; Jesus calls us to get in there and get dirty.

    The truly wondrous part of this is that Jesus wants you and me to do it because he did it and does it and will do it forever.  Jesus came to this earth and got right down in the messiest parts to reach and to save.  He does the same in our lives, usually with family and friends, and he wants us to do the same.  So go out and get dirty and sweaty; have compassion, have splagchnizomai, for those in need of God’s mercy the most.

 Father of mercy, you shower us with your grace beyond our comprehension and you have compassion on us.  Break our hearts when we see, hear or experience others in pain.  Lead us to be your arms of comfort, of healing, and of consolation.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret