Sermon: “And he had compassion”
A man falls to the ground. A millionaire suffers cardiac arrest, and his hearts stop. A soccer player at the very top of his game collapses. A 29-year-old young man in excellent health and shape. Married and father of two. He falls to the ground in the middle of a Soccer game and a Worldwide Televised game. Many of us saw it as it happened some weeks ago when Euro Cup began for the Danish National Soccer Team.
When Christian Eriksen fell to the ground and laid lifeless, his team and the opposing team formed a protective wall around him. The many fans at the stadium and watching on TV fell quiet and kept their breath. Everything unfolded with fear and anxiety. A Sport commentator shared his own reaction as he with subtle surprise told everyone that he felt like folding his hands in prayer. The Soccer player would probably have died had he not received the vital medical help and treatment as quickly. And as we were watching and witnessing, we knew how fragile life is.
This was the extremely dramatic beginning of Euro Cup for the Danish Soccer Team and Christian Ericson. Suddenly life and death and soccer were all mixed.
Why talk about this incident this Sunday, as we do know that Christian Erickson did survive and is recovering, and as we painfully do not need to be reminded that the Danish Soccer Team did not make it all the way to the finals? Why bring this up again?
Because of the word: compassion. Because of the deep human sentiment compassion.
The word compassion is the center word today in the Gospel and in the old beloved Psalm 23. And compassion was also at the center that tragic moment, when Soccer suddenly lost its importance and life, and death was on real live display. All the fans, all the spectators, all the commentators, all the players and all of us felt compassion when we watched and witnesses the player lifeless on the grass and his wife crying at the sideline.
Com- passion literally means that we suffer together.
According to the dictionary, compassion means:
“Sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.”
There are many synonyms: other meaningful words that describe what compassion is:
pity · sympathy · feeling · fellow feeling · empathy · understanding · care · concern · solicitude · solicitousness · sensitivity · tender-heartedness · soft-heartedness · warm-heartedness · warmth · love · brotherly love · tenderness · gentleness · mercy ·
The word compassion comes from Latin:
com = together. Passio: suffer.
Suffer together, feel together. It is a relational NOUN OR WERB filled with passion, emotion, pity, empathy and action. Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.
In our Christian Faith compassion is one of the key words. It is a word that describes the very being of God, like the good shepherd, compassionate, loving and caring. Like the old Psalm 23 says that The Lord our god as the good shepherd leads me, restores my soul and comforts me in the darkest hour. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me… As our God is a compassionate God.
It is a word that describes how to be a good neighbor when we listen to the story about the Good Samaritan, who did feel sorry, pity and compassion to the man whom he saw at the roadside in need of care and help.
It is the word that describes the small acts of compassion on Judgement Day, when God will ask and remember when we had compassion and clothed the naked, visited the lonely, fed the hungry, yes simply acted with compassion.
Our God is a God of Compassion.
Manifested and embodied in Jesus Christ. Today’s Gospel clearly tells us how Jesus let compassion lead him in his ministry, leadership and care. This story tells us how compassionate leadership the Christian way is.
The story begins with the disciples coming back together again with Jesus after a time of separation. Sometime before, Jesus broke up the band, sending his disciples out two at a time to proclaim the Good News, and to heal the sick.
The disciples came back to Jesus after having been away teaching and healing, and they told him about their endeavor, and he compassionately listened to them and gave them time to share. A good leader listens. A good leader gives room. And the stories poured out of them: some of the disciples may be elated and proud of what they were able to do, some may be carrying the weight of more difficult moments, and some were trying to sort through the jumble of mixed emotions and experiences. They all needed to talk about it all. So, Jesus, the teacher and storyteller, give them the floor and listens.
And after listening to their stories, Jesus invited them to take time together for some rest. Holy rest.
“Come away to a deserted place and rest a while,” Jesus embraced his disciples with this compassionate encouragement to rest, to be quiet, and renewed.
But Jesus’ plan for the disciples to rest and reflect and renew for a while, does not really come to pass as intended. Life interrupts. They end up being surrounded by crowds of people seeking healing, comfort and nourishment. And Jesus sees them, hears them, embraces them with his compassionate open hands and tender heart. Compassion. Jesus knew when the people need attention and guidance – and needed a good shepherd.
Tender hearted and open handed. These two words describe compassion to me. And describe how Jesus was in the world: tender hearted and open handed. He suffered with people, he saw and felt their pain, but he also opened his hands and acted.
Jesus embodies true humanity and true compassion. We may imitate this compassionate attitude, when we let our own compassion overwhelm us regardless of who is in need: a neighbor, a stranger, a family member, a refugee, a drug addict. We are human when we feel compassionate in such a way that we cannot help but to help despite the circumstances or the consequences.
Compassion is all about the moment. It is not about cold calculations or sordid speculations. It is not about judgment or reason, it is about the simple act of humanity before you start to think, to judge, to calculate and to second guess.
Compassion is when we let the sovereign expression of life, the deepest human emotions and reflexes, act purely and solely.
We can suppress our compassion.
We to may suppress our inner natural compassion when we start making judgments: “it is his own fault”, it is her own doing, “It is not as bad as it looks.” Or we may simply say: ‘that it is not our business or concern. They are strangers, they do not belong to my family, people or religion. They are sinners and tax collectors, they are to blame, do not feel sorry for them. Or he is just a very wealthy and privileged soccer player, he gets the best treatment, and the risk is part of the game.
Wait…. Doesn’t that sound wrong, cruel and heartless? And wasn’t that exactly the wonderful human opposite we witness, when we all felt compassion for the one on the field? Humanity at its best.
Mostly, humanity gets the better of us. Compassion speaks louder than indifference or lack of empathy.
The compassionate human being completes his humanity and his faith, in his humanity and compassion towards others. That is the kind of compassion that was on display that day on the soccer field. And for a short moment all the spectators could not help to be a fellow human being with compassion. Our hearts were beating, for the one whose heart had stopped. Compassion and humanity made us fold our hands in prayer for the suffering.
Compassion.
Jesus embodied and manifested and completed that humanity and compassion as he never judged or calculated. There were never any explanations, any judgment, any calculations, any prioritizing or differences. Just humanity. Just compassion.
‘’Human first, then Christian. ‘
Through his compassion and his call for us to do likewise, we see small glimpses of the Kingdom of God, and the very intention of life and love.
In compassion we do suffer together. We live together, share and care. Through compassion and humanity, we are connected.
And out of compassion grows action, care, love and hope. We trust and believe that Jesus will be with us, gathering us, calling us, listening to our stories, inviting us to rest, teaching, healing and feeding us, - and then sending us out all over again.
Into the soccer field. Into the soccer ledgers. In front of our TV. In the shopping mall. In Schools. In traffic. In life. We are sent to serve and be compassionate when ever life calls upon our humanity.
Compassion may start small, but it ends big. We all have compassion in our hearts. It is not a virtue; it is a commitment. Its not something we have or have not: it is something we feel and then chose to practice.
Jesus had compassion. Jesus was compassion.
We have compassion too, and we need to choose to practice it not only feel it. We need to choose to be it and live it.
Like Dalai Lama: “Love and compassion are necessities not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” And we may ad: “Without compassion Christianity cannot survive.”
Amen.