Compassion into Action – What Does This Mean?

Sermon on Matthew 9:36; Luke 10:1-20
4^th Sunday after Pentecost
Our Hope Lutheran Church
3 July 2022

Text: When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest… “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you” … “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” … Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Intro: These past few months have been filled with tragedies that made the news. School shootings, natural disasters, brutal warfare, the incredible evil one human being can do to another, especially the innocent and defenseless. We confront this coming out of a truly scary plague and the overreaction of those who meant well making it worse. We can’t help but feel bad for people. And so we reach out and offer our thoughts and prayers – and we follow through, too! It all seems so weak a response. What can you do when you want to do something! When there is not much you can do?

A question that leaps to mind – especially for a man of my generation – is what would Jesus do? The gospel lesson and its sister passage in Matthew begin to answer that question and its follow up – what would Jesus want us to do?

Jesus reacted as Jesus often does… his heart went out to them and he sent help.

Christ’s heart goes out to us.
1. There are several Greek words the New Testament uses to talk mercy talk. Two of them are:
  1. ἔλεος – to be kind to people, even if they do not deserve it. It is used in the most ancient prayer of the church — Κύριε, ἐλέησον, Lord, have mercy
  2. Σπλαγχνίζομαι – To feel compassion in your internal organs. In the New Testament, it is almost always entirely used of Jesus. The closest we can come to translate it is to say: “his heart went out to them” or “it broke his heart.”
  3. Our English word is not too bad – it comes from latin: compassio – to suffer with.
2. When Jesus’ heart goes out to people, compassion results in action.
  1. He feeds 5000.
  2. He heals the sick.
  3. He raises the dead.
  4. He calls on us to pray – and sends workers out.
Sometimes our compassion doesn’t go that far.
1. We see something and say, “that’s awful”
2. Sometimes we pray, which is not chump change, by the way, but that’s it.
3. Once in awhile, our heart itself moves, and we do something. But not much.
4. God wants us to always have compassion, but most of the time we don’t have that emotional bandwidth. Our heart is not in it.
Jesus invites us to share his compassion.
1. Why didn’t God just crumple the world into a ball and build Earth 2.0? He loved us.
2. The heart of God went out to us, and his Son became one of us.
3. He lived a perfect life for us, suffered and died for us, rose again for us, because he had to do something, but not just anything!
4. The Holy Spirit took out our heart of stone and gave us a heart of flesh in Baptism.
5. Now we want to show mercy, as our Father shows mercy.

Conclusion: So what to do? Pray for sure. Jesus invites you to do so. Donate? Of course; either in kind or cash. Roll up your sleeves and go to work on the ground? There are many churches and non-profits here in the Fort that would love to have you. Mister Rogers used to say, when asked what to tell children with disaster comes to TV was, “Look for the helpers. There are always helpers.” Maybe one of them is you.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana