MIRACLES OF COMPASSION August 3, 2014 Matthew 14:13-21 Adam D. Gorman, The Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York Dear Lord, open our eyes that we may see, open our ears that we may hear, comfort us now with your lavish love and compassion, enliven our hearts afresh, and change us forever. In your wonderful Son Jesus Christ s name we pray, amen. Three weeks ago, here at the church, we listened to Jesus telling of the Parable of the Sower. Then, for those of you were here the past two weeks, Doug led us through some of the story of our ancestor Jacob from Genesis. Now we find ourselves back with Jesus. I thought before we engaged this morning s text I would bring you up to speed regarding what Jesus has been doing while we were focused on Jacob. After Jesus told the Parable of the Sower and explained the purpose of the parable to his disciples, he then told quite a few other parables. You may remember some of them such as the Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, or the story of the Mustard Seed, or the Kingdom of Heaven being like a treasure hidden in a field. Anyway, Jesus has been busy while we have been focusing on Jacob. He has told a lot of stories and has continually had to explain them to his disciples who always seem to miss a beat. After he told these fascinating stories, these parables, to crowds, he returned to his hometown Nazareth, where he began to teach people in the synagogue. They were astounded by his teachings and amazed and wondered where he had gained such wisdom and deeds of power. They wondered because he was a carpenter s son, and they knew his parents and his brothers and sisters who had been with them all along. They couldn t imagine Jesus gaining all this knowledge and power, so as any family member, church or community might do, they took offense at him. - 1 -
Their offense prompted the well-known saying of Jesus that, Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house. And, since they were hard-hearted and thick-headed, he no longer taught or did deeds of power there. Rather he moved on. By the time that Jesus was in Nazareth, King Herod had caught wind of all that Jesus was doing and he thought Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. He thought this because he previously and hesitantly had had John killed. Herod didn t want to kill John because he knew that to the people the crowds and the masses John was a prophet, and out of fear Herod didn t want to displease them this way. But he didn t have much of a choice and had to have John s head literally served on a platter to his wife. John s disciples, who were now Jesus disciples, buried John and quickly told Jesus about this. That s where we find ourselves today, that s where we find Jesus. Jesus, rejected by his own home town and having just heard of the news of his friend John his cousin, the guy who paved the way for him crying in the wilderness, the prophet was just beheaded. So Jesus withdrew from the crowds to safety to a deserted place by boat to be by himself. But he had done so many great things had healed so many people, and taught in ways that no one had known and with such authority that the people followed him. I will recreate that scene for you and I ve taken some liberties of my own: One little child saw Jesus and his disciples readying a small boat, more like a dinghy, an old wooden dinghy with two oars. It could have been on a private beach in a cove or it could have been on the docks but only this small child noticed them. The child saw Jesus set out by himself. Then this little boy, tan from the sun, barefooted, put down the rocks he had been skipping and he ran back into town. He ran to his home and he said, Mommy, Daddy, I just saw Jesus!! At first they didn t believe their little child but then having heard all of the stories about Jesus they thought they ought to investigate just in case it really - 2 -
was him. On their way to the spot where their boy had seen Jesus and his disciples, they recognized some of the disciples and saw a lone man paddling out to sea in a boat, and they knew that what their child had told them was true. The family ran to their friend s home and reported that they had seen Jesus and that he had headed out on a boat on his own. Quickly, come with us, they said, let s see what Jesus is up to. Then the news spread quickly in this little fishing town, and neighbors upon neighbors started turning out in droves. So many people had heard of Jesus and his miracles, his healings of the sick and the lame, and his teachings so they were so eager to see him and some to be healed by him or to have a family member or friend healed by him. People started scooping up their sick relatives and their lame friends, some may have put their friends in wheelbarrows, or ox carts, some carried their friends on their shoulders, a healthy person on either side of their loved one and walked them, some may have even hopped into boats to try and catch up with Jesus. As the crowd walked along the shores they passed through towns and more and more people got on the bandwagon, the crowd became great and turned into thousands. It was a scene like none other. Like crowds of teenage girls chasing after Justin Bieber when he was popular except that these folks knew that Jesus was special, that he was different, that he could heal, that he could change the world and so they followed, they followed him in droves. When Jesus arrived on the shore where he thought it would be quiet and he would be safe he saw a great crowd coming toward him and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When the hour was late his disciples urged him to stop what he was doing and to send the crowds back to the towns in order that they may find food and lodging. But Jesus told the disciples that there was no need for the people to leave and that the disciples ought to feed them. And then, well you know the story, in fact we will reenact that story in just a couple of minutes at the communion table. - 3 -
It s fascinating you know. It s fascinating that we remember the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes of people from five loaves of bread and two fish. That he fed around five thousand men as well as the women and children who were with them. It s fascinating that we focus so much on that part of this story that we miss the fact that he was performing countless other miracles at that time. He was healing the sick and the lame. When he had gone ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. Can you picture Jesus arriving at what he thought was a quiet shore line, a cove and then he looks up and see the multitudes. He sees thousands upon thousands of people parading towards him; a trail of them coming down the hill to him. A trail all along the seaside, as far as the eye can see, causing a dust cloud, like that of an army coming, but these are town s people, these are everyday people, they are dressed in tunics and sandals. There are kids excited and running all around, some may even have their dogs with them, women are carrying their babies. Then in the midst of these thousands of people, there are lame people on crutches, not like our crutches today but a single crutch wrapped in a clothe for comfort slung under one arm, or there are people there with bandages on their heads or over their eyes, perhaps people with slings on their arms, or paralyzed people being carried on homemade gurneys. Jesus heals them, he spends all day in the sun healing one after another. Patting kids on the head, petting chins of dogs, hugging people, blessing people, healing people, LOVING people. Then the disciples, Jesus followers, who see his compassion and what he is doing tell him to send them away. But Jesus doesn t do that, no, he tells his disciples to feed them. There are people here who have said to me, Adam, I believe in God and all of that but I don t really believe in miracles. They are good stories or lessons but more like folklore. Really, I think. Really? You believe in God and all that but not miracles? - 4 -
Many of our youth here are very bright and very witty, so in an example of a miracle like today s story, the feeding of the five thousand in particular, one or two have said something like, Sure the story may have happened but Jesus didn t literally feed the five thousand. No, instead he probably inspired compassion among the crowds and everyone took out what food they had and shared it amongst themselves allowing for everyone to have more than enough food. Hmmm, do you think that s it? Do you think that our God who rose from the dead, who died on a cross to save our sins, do you think he couldn t miraculously make some food for the multitudes? Do you remember the manna in the wilderness with Moses? Why couldn t Jesus feed the 5,000? I believe he did. But I also believe it would have been a miracle if he inspired that kind of compassion. In today s world we need that compassion. We need that love and that inspiration. It s not here. Sometimes it is but more often it s not. Before we move over to the communion table let me leave us all with one story. It s a story I read once, a while back, from another pastor and I looked it up so I could get it right. After months of hard work and years of saving, the day came for Reb and Jackay to open their own restaurant. All that was needed was the final health inspection and the issuing of their business permit. That was scheduled for first thing that morning; then Our Place, as they called their restaurant would be in business. But that morning the winds and rains of Hurricane Hugo hit, unexpectedly making its way 200 miles inland to their North Carolina town. Trees were uprooted, power lines were down, homes and stores were destroyed. Reb and Jackay hurried to their restaurant. Everything was intact. A deputy sheriff pulled up and told them that their restaurant, the fire station next door and a service station down the road were the only ones that had electricity. Reb and Jackay called the health inspector to come immediately so they could open, but because of the power outage, he couldn t get into his - 5 -
office to issue the permit. No permit, no business opening. With a refrigerator stocked with 300 pounds of bacon and beef and bushels of tomatoes, lettuce and bread, there was only one thing to do: give the food away. They told the deputy, Tell your coworkers and other emergency people you see that we ll have free BLT s and coffee for anybody who wants to drop by. Soon firemen, policemen, linemen and other workers were filing into Our Place. When the couple heard that another restaurant was scalping people by charging ten dollars for two eggs, toast and bacon, they placed a sign in their window: FREE BLT S FREE COFFEE. Families, travelers and street people were welcomed. Then something began to happen. People started to clean counters and sweep floors. Volunteers took over the dish washing from Jackay and helped Reb at the grill. Hearing about what was going on at Our Place from the local radio station, people from a neighboring town that had not been too badly hit by the storm brought food from their freezers. Stores and dairies sent over chicken, milk and foodstuffs of all kinds. And so the long day went. Those first cups of coffee and BLT s somehow stretched to 16,000 meals. The restaurant s small stock increased by 500 loaves of bread, cases of mayonnaise, 350 pots of coffee and bushels of produce. 1 That s a miracle of compassion, one s great compassion leading to the inspiration of many others to be compassionate as well. A spark that created a fire of helping and healing, of hope and of love. Would we have been Jackay and Reb in that story? Or would we have been the other business that saw a great opportunity to make some money? Do we live our lives in a way that we give of ourselves abundantly? In a way that we are creating miracles of compassion usually without even knowing it? Is the love and compassion of Jesus in our hearts and in our bones so much so that we spread it in all that we do? 1. copyright - sermon by Fr. Jerry Fuller, o.m.i. 1999-6 -
Some may believe that because of Jesus compassion for the multitudes they too had compassion for one another and fed each other. That s not what I believe happened. I believe that just as Jesus healed the masses, he fed the masses. But I also believe that since the other interpretation exists it can be used as an example. It is my hope that people believe in the miracle, and that by believing in Jesus, and Jesus miracles, they can see a miracle taking place in the story of Reb and Jackay. For them to see that compassion in today s world can often be countercultural and is therefore a miracle in itself. And if that s not enough for them then I will ask them to google mom lifting car off child. And when they see all those results of parents saving children and children saving parents, as well as countless other literal miracles happening, maybe then they will believe in miracles, especially then in miracles of compassion. In the meantime, let us all be like Jackay and Reb and not the owners of the other store. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. - 7 -