Practicing Compassion

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things….And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market-places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.  Mark 6:34, 56

In last Sunday’s gospel reading (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56), the lectionary skipped over two of the most famous of Jesus’ miracles, as if they didn’t matter: the walking on water and the feeding of the 5000. And that’s good news for ordinary people, because most of us do not have the ability to share God’s love through miraculous deeds. 

But we’re all able to practice compassion.  

Compassion holds together the gospel reading, even with that gaping hole in its middle: from Jesus worrying about his disciples and sending them off to rest (6.31) while also having compassion for the crowds who gathered around him (6.34); to Jesus caring for himself and stepping away in the middle of everything to pray and collect himself (6.46); to the people at the very end, caring enough to bring their sick on mats to wherever Jesus was (6.55). 

More than holding the story together, compassion holds human community together. The willingness to understand and identify with someone else’s troubles along with the desire to share the burden and lessen the pain breaks down barriers to authentic relationship. True even if you cannot do much more than offer words of encouragement and accompaniment: You’ll get through this. I’ll come with you. Can I watch the kids? Let me bring you dinner. Think about your most trusted friends—probably they have seen you and helped you through your worst, and you through theirs.

Suffering sometimes seems to be an inescapable part of being human—whether we are caught up in troubles or hard times ourselves or merely observe it in other lives. But compassion is also wired into our human DNA. The impulse to help someone in need is elemental to our mutual survival—even more than the “fight or flight” instincts popularly attributed to “survival of the fittest.”    

Practicing compassion makes us fully human, even as we become channels of God’s love in the world. 

By our acts of kindness and concern for others, may we discover Jesus teaching and healing us.

To Love, To Invite, To Serve.

 Pastor Sue