In 2021, the Washington Post shared the following story:

As Haijun Si and his family celebrated the Lunar New Year, the festivities were abruptly cut short when several teenagers shouted racial slurs, hurled rocks at the house, and repeatedly pounded on the front door of their home in Orange County, California.

Since they moved to the neighborhood five months earlier, the family has been targeted by a group of teenagers. “They yell, punch the door and windows, and ring the bell day and night.” He has called the Sheriff’s Department several times, and police have opened an investigation, but the harassment has persisted.

Mr. Si said, “I installed a camera and a fence, but they kept coming back. They are scaring my kids at night. They are afraid to go in their room by themselves, so we have had to move them to our room for almost five months now.”

Si decided to reach out to a neighbor for support. He called Layla Parks, who lives down the street and has always been kind to his family. Parks said, “I was outraged, and I wanted to take action right away. But I knew I needed to do it carefully.”

Parks promptly came up with a plan to help protect the Si family. In a neighborhood Facebook group, she posted video footage of a recent attack, which Si provided, and asked if anyone would be willing to stand guard outside the family’s home at night. Her primary mission: “For this family to have some peace again.”

The sign-up spreadsheet immediately flooded with names. Neighbors were horrified by the teenagers’ actions, and people were eager to help. Parks said, “It was more support than I had ever imagined or anticipated, and it is incredibly heartwarming. The community has really stepped up.” The first evening watch was on Feb. 13, and since then, neighbors have stood guard outside Si’s home every night. So far, about 50 people have volunteered for at least one shift.

Mr. Si said, “The neighbors keep watching, and I am very grateful. Now we have some peace. I love my neighbors. I love my community, and I love my country.”¹

Compassion is being concerned about the sufferings of others.

Compassion is seeing someone who is harassed, helpless, and afflicted, and immediately moving to make their situation better.

Has anyone ever shown you compassion in your moments of suffering?

And, using the definition of compassion, the question becomes,
“Has anyone ever been deeply concerned about you when you were having a tough time in life?”

17 years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer, one specific person showed extreme concern for me as soon as I was diagnosed as well as while I was having complications during treatment.

Her name is Jean. She was the first person that had immediate compassion for me.  Jean was a nurse.  Jean was the second person I called, the first being my parents, after I got off the phone with my doctor who gave me the diagnosis.

Immediately, as a seasoned nurse, Jean knew what I would be up against and where I needed to go.  She made some calls and in what can only be described as a miracle, I had an appointment with the top ENT cancer doctor in the country two days later.

When I was admitted to the hospital, Jean was there.

When I was afraid, Jean was there.

When I questioned everything, Jean was there.

And, when I was readmitted to the hospital after some serious complications, Jean was there.  

It was at this point that Jean picked up my Bible, wrote some notes on large purple post-it notes and put them in the front of my Bible.  I still carry that Bible and those notes around to this day.

I want to read you some of what she wrote in those notes.

I know a while I go I shared some of this in a sermon, but it fits again here.

In the midst of my pain, my suffering, my sickness, my helplessness, and affliction, she wrote:

1. You are NOT dying.
2. You may feel like you’re dying but you’re NOT.
3. It’s normal, natural, + common to feel that cancer cells are all over your body—but they’re NOT.
4. You WILL be strong, + healthy, + normal again.
5. You are NOT dying.
6. You have taken a detour but not a deadly one.
7. There are many people sicker than you are but they’re not as miserable as you are (rashes, mouth fungus, pain, weakness, dehydration, inability to swallow).
8. This ALL WILL END.
9. You can’t feel it now but you will heal + survive + thrive.
10. You will even be cute again!

In the dictionary of my life, there is a picture of Jean under the word compassion.

Jean’s compassion changed my life in those moments of suffering and her compassion has changed the way I live my life ever since.

In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary for this Third Sunday after Pentecost, from Matthew’s Gospel, or, in other words, Matthew’s biography of Jesus, we hear about life changing compassion.  

Matthew 9.35-10.8 tells us this:

[35] And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. [36] When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

[1] And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. [2] The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; [3] Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; [4] Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

[5] These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, [6] but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [7] And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ [8] Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. (ESV)

There is nothing more beautiful for you to hear this morning than verse 36.  “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them for they were harassed and helpless.”

Have you ever felt harassed or helpless?

This is actually a rhetorical question because I know you have and will continue to as you move around in this fallen world.

So, to hear that Jesus, who is God in the flesh, God with you, sees you and knows you and what you are thinking and feeling in those moments of pain and suffering and questioning hopefully brings you comfort and peace.

All of this is saying that the God who created the universe knows you and your situations and desperately wants to rush to your side and wrap his arms around you.

Having compassion on you and bringing you both comfort and a peace that passes understanding in your most difficult moments of life is so important to God that he makes it the job of the Church, His Church, in this world as well.

We know this because in chapter 10 verse 1, the exact language surrounding the having and showing of compassion is repeated in his commissioning of his followers as they go out into the world.

We are told:

And [Jesus] called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

This week, I had a conversation with a fellow pastor who was telling me that his congregation just wants to come to church on Sunday and take.  They are comfortable coming to the church as a social club—just a place where they see their friends, catch up on life, and shares the hottest gossip.  

He told me that his people have no desire to help those around them.  He said they know the Great Commission but don’t want any part in listening to Jesus.

We looked at and heard from the Great Commission two Sundays ago in Matthew 28.16-20, which has Jesus saying to His Church:

[18]…“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (ESV)

This pastor friend continued on by telling me that his people think he, the pastor, is the only one responsible for living the Christian life in the world and doing the work of evangelism and discipleship.

Again, he noted that they ignore that the Church is what 1 Peter 2.9-10 describes as the priesthood of all believers.

Those verses describe the Church like this:

[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (ESV)

Jesus gives all of his followers the responsibility and authority to show compassion to the harassed, helpless, and afflicted by bringing them comfort and peace in their moments of need.

This is done by letting them know that they are seen and supported in their hard times and that this current struggle isn’t God’s end for them.

Jesus takes care of people’s needs and tasks his followers to do the same.

Here’s the thing…we tend to think that when we are harassed, helpless, and afflicted, that God is far away and has stopped caring for us (If he ever did in the first place).

But, the Bible, the Holy Scripture, makes it clear that God is always with us, especially in our moments of pain and suffering.

Psalm 34:17–18 tells us this:

[17] When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears

and delivers them out of all their troubles.

[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit. (ESV)

Psalm 30:11–12 tell us that:

[11] You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

you have loosed my sackcloth

and clothed me with gladness,

[12] that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (ESV)

And, 2 Corinthians 4:7–12 gives us this hope:

[7] But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. [8] We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; [9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; [10] always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. [11] For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. [12] So death is at work in us, but life in you. (ESV)

As we have heard in the past, love is a verb.

That means to love someone is to take action in helping them.

To love is to get up off your butt and go to the side of someone who is suffering or in need.

Author and Pastor Erwin McManus was speaking at a youth convention in Florida and brought his family along for a working vacation.

One morning Erwin and his 10-year-old son Aaron walked down to the beach. Although several hundred students were there, most seemed unaware of the physically disabled man who was awkwardly making his way out of the ocean water. The man was a double amputee with specialized crutches. As he attempted to navigate his way back up to the hotel, he fell. He pulled himself up again only to fall a second time. Erwin, pretending not to notice, directed Aaron in the opposite direction. He was fairly certain that his son, like most of the people on the beach, had not noticed the man. Erwin’s son surprised him by saying, “I have to go help that man.”

McManus writes, “His words pierced through me, and I stood there paralyzed in my hypocrisy…it was clear that this was Aaron’s moment. I had missed mine. His compassion moved him to heroism. While Aaron seized his divine moment, I was stuck in a moment I couldn’t get out of.”

Aaron went down to help the man but was unable to lift him. Several people from the crowd came and worked as a team to get the man up to the hotel deck. Aaron walked back up to his father with tears in his eyes and said, “I couldn’t help him. I wasn’t strong enough.”

McManus writes, “He couldn’t see that no one would have helped the man if he hadn’t taken initiative.”²

Because of sin, we are all corrupted in our thinking, our speaking, and our acting.

We often walk away from people who need to experience compassion.

We think it is too time consuming to listen, learn, and love.

We think it is too messy to listen, learn, and love.

And, in not being compassionate, we are not doing what God has asked us to do.

In not being compassionate, we are not doing what God has done for us — God was compassionate to each of us when he listened to our suffering, learned what was needed, and acted in love, through going to the cross in the person of Jesus Christ to meet our need of forgiveness, righteousness, and restoration into eternal life in His Kingdom.

Because of sin, You are like the double-amputee who couldn’t get back to his hotel that day—except for you, the place you can’t get back to is your Heavenly home with God your Father, and the reason you can’t get back there is because of the sin that cripples you from being able to pick yourself up enough to work your way there.

You are in need of someone to come alongside of you and lift you onto the deck of your resting place.

And, the person that comes alongside of you to lift you up and carry you back to rest in the arms of God for all eternity is Jesus Christ.

Jesus sees your need for help and comes to your side, picks you up, and carries you back to God.

Romans 5:8–11 tells us this good news when the apostle Paul says:

[8] …God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. [10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (ESV)

Go out into the world today and be compassionate without expecting anything in return because God doesn’t expect anything from you in return for the compassion he showed you through the death of his Son.

Jesus harvests the sorrow in your life and in its place plants faith, hope, and love that lead to joy and peace for you who believe and receive that his life, death, and resurrection provide the things you need—the forgiveness of sin, a passive and active righteousness, and eternal life in God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus keeps watching. Be very grateful. Have some peace. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22.37, ESV). Love your Church community.  And, love your neighbors.

Jesus’ primary mission is for you to have peace with God once again.

And, therefore, your primary mission is to make sure that those around you have peace with God once again as well.

I leave you with one last Biblical text that defines compassion in its ultimate state.

Romans 6:23 says:

[23] the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg

June 18, 2023

Footnotes

¹Sydney Page, “An Asian American family was being harassed. Neighbors now stand guard each night at their home.” Washington Post (2-26-21).

²Erwin McManus, Seizing Your Divine Moment, (Thomas Nelson, 2002) pp. 32-34.