Reverend Debbie Cato
Mark 6:30-34;
53-56
Peace
Presbyterian Church
July 19, 2015
Being Attractive
Does your view of the
world match God’s view of the world?
Today’s passage says
that “when Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them,
because they were like a sheep without a shepherd.” He had compassion on
them because they were like a sheep without a shepherd. The term “compassion” is explicitly used of
Jesus’ attitude toward human beings in at least eight Gospel references. It is
implicit in the entire witness of his life, including his healing ministry that
is so prominent in this text.
God is moved and
affected by what happens in the world. That is good news! God is concerned about the world and shares
in its fate. This is the very essence of
God’s moral nature: his willingness to
be intimately involved in the history of humanity. God has compassion on the world and the
people that He created. Compassion is
the very essence of the One who created us and before whom all life is lived.[1]
When Jesus looked at
the crowds that had gathered around him and had compassion on them, what was he
feeling toward them? What does it mean to have compassion? Having compassion for someone doesn’t mean
you have pity for them; it’s not feeling sorry for them. Pity is something you imagine or feel from a
distance. Pity puts you above the one
who suffers. Compassion literally means
with-suffering. With-suffering. Another words, You cannot have compassion unless
you suffer with those to whom you refer.
Compassion is unconditional solidarity with the ones whom you feel compassion
toward. You feel someone’s suffering
with them – as if you are indeed suffering with them; feeling their hurt;
feeling their pain; feeling their angst.
Compassion is the mark
of Christ’s identification with us, achieved at Golgotha – when Christ went all
the way; hanging on the cross for us. He suffered physical pain and humility – for us. He had unconditional solidarity with
humanity; God’s created people; you and me.
Christ was compassionate.
Compassion is the very core of our faith.
And so it’s no wonder
that the Gospel of Mark speaks of people rushing and begging for an opportunity
to be made whole through an encounter with Jesus. People were attracted to him. Mark
says, “They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on
mats to wherever they heard he was. And
wherever he went – into villages, towns, or countryside – they placed the sick
in the market places. They begged him to
let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were
healed.” People in all conditions
were drawn to Jesus because of His compassion.
They came to Jesus sick and broken and hurt and they left
transformed. Their lives were never the
same again.
God views the world with compassion.
Do you?
As Christians, we claim
that Jesus of Nazareth was a good, generous, loving, and compassionate human
being. In saying this, we are also
saying that God – the Source of our lives and the Source of all life – is also
good and generous and loving and compassionate.[2]
If we call ourselves
Christians – Followers of Christ, then we too must be good and generous and
loving and compassionate human beings.
Is this how the Body of Christ – the church, experiences the neediness
of the world? Is this how we
experience the neediness of the world?
There is a whole
generation missing from churches across the country. People in their teens through their thirties
have left the church. And you might be
surprised to hear that it’s not because they don’t believe in Jesus. It’s because they reject the church. Let me say that again, and please listen to
what I say. People – particularly young
people in their teens through their thirties have left the church; they do not
consider themselves Christians not because they don’t believe in Jesus, but because
they reject the church.
Dan Kimball is a pastor
and author interested in the renewal of the church. He spent several years researching and
interviewing this missing generation, many of whom had grown up in church. He wanted
to find out why they are no longer attending church. He wanted to learn what their attitudes about
church are; understand their beliefs about God ; their beliefs about
Jesus. After two years of talking and
listening to what people had to say, he wrote a book called “They Like Jesus
But Not The Church.”[3] It's an excellent book. I recommend it.
In his book, Kimball
says that when he asked people about Jesus, they responded positively. He was surprised at how open and willing
people
were to talk about
Jesus; even people who did not call themselves Christians. People said that Jesus was loving and
compassionate. They said he was welcoming
and accepting of others. People
recognized that he taught right from wrong
and people were transformed and showed a new way of living. Kimball found that most people, including
non-believers, are interested in learning more about Jesus. This missing generation is attracted to
Jesus. This is good news!
When he asked them why
they don't go to church, Kimball found people equally passionate and willing to
share their thoughts. When it came to
talking about the Church and Christians in general, the people Kimball talked
with were very outspoken. Overwhelmingly,
the same people who are open and positive about Jesus are critical and turned
off by the church. While they see Jesus’
as a loving, compassionate, accepting person, they find Christians to be the
exact opposite.
The people Kimball
talked with – people in their twenties and thirties; people that used to call
themselves Christians and people who openly claimed not to be Christians, said
that the Church isn’t about Jesus; the
Church wasn’t loving and welcoming and accepting. The said the church was not
compassionate. This missing generation
perceived the church, and Christians, as negative and more about what we are
against than what we are about. They saw
the Church being about rules and regulations and about finger wagging and
“we’re right and you are wrong”. They
saw the Church as unforgiving. Most
people reported that the Christian Church had become an organized religion with
a political agenda – too often unwilling to accept differing political
opinions. People reported that the
Church was not open to other beliefs and was oppressive to other cultural
experiences. People said they were
turned off by the Church and Christians because the Church and Christians
no longer resemble Jesus. Ouch.
It’s hard to blame them
for coming to the conclusions that they come to. Often
the most outspoken Christians have the most extreme positions and somehow it
seems they speak for all of us. Of
course too often, even we in the church hear Christian speakers who have a
national platform speak and we take what they say as truth so, why wouldn’t
others? And then there are churches like
the church from Kansas that pickets outside military funerals holding signs
with offensive messages such as "God Hates You" and "God Hates
Fags," because they believe military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and
other places are God's punishment for tolerance of homosexuality and a sign
that the nation's destruction is imminent.[4] I read
yesterday that Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket the funerals for the
four marines killed in Tennessee. Where
is the compassion?
Jesus views the world with compassion. Does His church?
Separate studies have
shown similar results. People in the
hospitality industry – people working in restaurants say that Sundays are their
least favorite day to work! They say they
dread the after-church crowd. Waiters
and waitresses say that people come in after church to eat, dressed in their
Sunday best and they are rude and demanding and disrespectful and leave
terrible tips. People are watching us!
Clerks in retail stores
report that people wearing crosses are often the rudest, most impatient
customers. There’s nothing like seeing a
car bearing a Christian symbol on the rode with an irate driver filled with
rode rage.
People were attracted to Jesus.
Are they attracted to His followers?
The missing generations
from churches attracted to Jesus but they are not attracted to His Body. Jesus’ own people are not attractive. We have some repenting to do.
Criticisms and
misconceptions of the church should matter to all of us. After all, we are part of the church. We are part of the body of Christ. When part of us misrepresents Jesus, we all
are misrepresented. If part of us is misunderstood, we are all misunderstood.
We need to be about Jesus and not about stuff that Jesus was not about.
Jesus views the world with compassion.
Do we?
Unfortunately, today
people in search of healing are far more likely to seek out therapists,
physicians, self-help books, and prescription drugs than to enter a church
building. People outside the church do
not recognize Christ’s healing presence within communities of faith. If the church today is unrecognizable as a
place of healing, then we need to reflect on what our mission and purpose in
the world is and how we communicate the good news of God’s healing grace in this
time and place”.[5]
What would it be like
if the Church was as compassionate as Jesus? Would the hurt and broken and sick
and in our world come running to
Christ’s Church to find healing and wholeness?
Imagine how full our churches would be and how transformed the world
would be!
May His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
