Reverend
Debbie Cato
Mark 6:30-44
Fairfield
Community Church
July
14.2024
Holy God,
Prepare our hearts and minds for the hearing of your Word. Open us to your
truth. Humble us to your ways. Amen.
What the World
Needs Now
Even though Jesus was tired, even though he and his disciples were heading off to a well-deserved rest, he put his own plans on hold to meet the needs around him. He did this because he had compassion for the crowds that had gathered around him. What does it mean to have compassion? We hear that word often in the Bible. Jesus is often described as “having compassion.” Compassion is an adjective we use to describe God. I often begin prayers with “Compassionate God.” Perhaps someone has described you as being compassionate. But what does that really mean? To have compassion?
Compassion is not feeling sorry for someone or having pity on them. Pity is something you imagine or feel from far off. Pity is an us and them thing. Poor them, we say. We are removed from the pain and suffering. We don’t feel anything when we pity someone. Something is happening to someone else, not us and we may be sorry, but we don’t feel anything. It doesn’t affect us.
Compassion literally means with-suffering. Compassion is unconditional solidarity with the ones you feel compassion toward. You cannot have compassion unless you suffer with those to whom you refer. You feel someone’s suffering with them – as if you are indeed there with them; suffering with them; feeling their hurt; feeling their pain. You can relate to them. When Jesus had compassion on the crowds that gathered around him, he felt the pain of their hunger; their illnesses/disabilities; their brokenness. Jesus felt with them. He had compassion.
It’s no wonder the Gospel of Mark speaks of people rushing and begging for an opportunity to be made whole through an encounter with Jesus. It’s no wonder people were attracted to Him. Mark 6:55 says, “They ran through-out that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went – into villages, towns, or the countryside, they placed the sick in the marketplaces. 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.
Are you drawn to Jesus because of his compassion? Does it bring you comfort to know that the God you worship is a God of compassion? How does it feel to know that God suffers with you? That Jesus feels your hurt? He feels your pain? Have you ever thought about that?
When you hear these stories in Scripture of the throngs of people who follow Jesus and bring their needs and their sick friends to him for healing, are you reminded that you can bring your needs to Jesus? Do you trust that He is there for you? That He has compassion for you?
What do you need to feel whole; to be happy, to lead a fulfilling life? What do you need to make a difference in the world, to feel like you belong, to have a place to call your own?
When I moved from Tacoma to Spokane Valley, I had to down-size. Have any of you down-sized? Well, I moved from a 2 bedroom very large apartment with lots of storage to a mother-in-law unit that was 724 square feet. It didn’t have a lot of storage. Now, I’ll tell you something about myself. I’m very sentimental so I keep everything that my daughters give me, make for me …. Anything that is “special.” (Now it’s my grandchildren.) I also LOVE books! It’s sort of a danger of being a pastor. I had a lot of books.
Because I was down-sizing, I had to decide what I “needed” and what I “wanted” because I didn’t have room to keep everything. Luckily – or not!, I had one of my daughters to help. Tracy is not as sentimental as I am! She’s very practical. It was hard to do. She would say, “Mother, do you really need this?” Or, she would make the decision on her own – “you don’t need this” and into the donation pile it would go.
It was really hard for me. I gave a lot of things away, including 8 boxes of beloved books. I developed the mantra, “Do I need this, or do I just want this?” Or even, do I think I need this? It was amazing how little I actually needed.
I think life is like that. We have so many choices that our stuff gets in our way. It’s hard to know what we really need, and what we just want. We fill our lives with so many wants – things the world (or advertisers!) tell us we “need” that our lives get over-crowded with stuff. We begin to think we need things when we really don’t. It can become hard to remember what it is we need to feel happy and fulfilled.
In today’s passage and others like it in Mark, the needs seem clear: people who are sick want to be healed. People who are hungry want to be fed. People who are isolated and ostracized seek a touch of kindness.
But there are some less tangible needs in evidence as well. In fact, Jesus first responds to the crowds because they seem lost, like “sheep without a shepherd.” Here he doesn’t cure or feed but instead reaches out and meets them, teaching and preaching and opening them up to the power and possibility of life in God’s kingdom.[1]
I’m not sure things have changed that much. I think people still want to be healed. There are plenty of people with obvious physical and mental challenges that need healing, just as there were in Jesus’ day. But we don’t have to look far to see the brokenness that needs Jesus’ healing touch as well. The hate that just seems to grow and grow; the disregard for God’s creation, the lack of integrity in leadership.
People are still hungry today. Literally and figuratively. According to Feeding America, more than 13 million children in the United States faced hunger in 2022, which is about one in five children. The USDA estimate that 7.3 million children, or 10% of all children in the country, lived in food-insecure households in 2022. Food insecurity means that households don't have enough food for every family member to live a healthy life.[2] The official poverty rate in the United States in 2022 was 11.5%. This means that 37.9 million people were living in poverty.[3] The United States is the richest country in the world yet the rate of poverty in our country is quickly increasing as corporate greed increases.
People are lonely and ostracized and yearn for a touch of kindness. Immigrants far from home. The elderly safely tucked into nursing homes with families too busy to visit. Families sitting at dinner with iPhones instead of conversations. Kids may have 1,000 Facebook friends but how many “real” friends do they have?
Jesus wants us to come to him. What do you need? What do you need to live a more abundant life? A life with purpose and meaning? A life that gives you a sense of belonging?
What do you need to feel whole; to be happy, to lead a fulfilling life? What do you need to make a difference in the world, to feel like you belong, to have a place to call your own?
In Mark’s
Gospel, Jesus calls this the Kingdom of God. In John, he often describes the
Kingdom of God as abundant life. No matter what you name it, we all want it, we
all sense something more is out there for us, and we’d all desperately like
some help living into the kingdom world of the abundant life Jesus offers.
What do we need as individuals; as households; as a community to flourish as God’s children put on this planet for a purpose?
Jesus said, “Let the little
children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs
to such as these.”[4] He’s inviting us – he’s inviting you and
me. When we go to Jesus with our real
needs, he responds with compassion. He
feels with us. He suffers with us. Jesus heals, he feeds, he touches. He is with us. We just have to ask. Amen.
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