“Better!”
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Mark 7:24-37
The former CBS
newsman…Hugh Rudd…got home late one night after presenting the late news. He was let off by a taxi at his home on the
East Side of New York City. As he
stepped away from the cab…four scruffy-looking youths surrounded him and said,
“Give us your money.” He did. Then one of them took a pistol and beat him
over the head. Rudd fell into the
gutter…just a few steps from home. For
seven hours on the fashionable East Side of New York…he lay on that
street. He was semi-conscious. A whole parade of people went by: milkmen…people coming home from
parties…people going out to work on the early shift. As they passed by him…Rudd kept saying…”Help
me, help me.” They would shrug and look
the other way. His wife…quite
worried…finally called the police. They
arrived and found him at 7:00 the next morning.
Compassion and caring were not popular in Bible times. They are not popular today. In fact…it’s not hard to find someone who
says, “Why bother?”…or…“I don’t have time.”…or…”That person is not like
me.”
Mark’s story of Jesus’ “deep sigh” is…however…a healing balm…because of the compassion
it shows. Jesus’ sigh comes from his
deep feeling for the poor man…even though Jesus knew exactly what he was going
to do for him in the next few seconds.
This is the way Jesus always was. At Lazarus’ tomb…John (11:33) wrote…”When
Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping,
he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”
The word for “deeply moved in spirit” came from the ancient Greek word
that described a horse snorting. Here it
described Jesus’ involuntary gasp. Then,
he went on to weep for them. Such
compassion. Perhaps…when he got the poor
deaf and dumb man alone…when he saw closely the devastation…his shyness…his
crumpled ego…hurt upon hurt upon hurt…it was then that he sighed in
compassion. Perhaps the sigh was also
for what lay behind it: man’s sin…the fallen creation…the Devil’s work.
What our scripture is teaching is that Christ’s compassion
was part of his healing process for the world.
Those of us who desire to minister Christ’s healing must also share his
compassion for hurting humanity. There
is a hurting world out there…with thousands who are hurting every bit as
much…or more…than the deaf man. We need
to go to them “with a deep sigh.”
George Eliot wrote, “If we had a keen vision and feeling of
all ordinary human life…it would be like hearing the grass grow and the
squirrel’s heart beat…and we should die of that roar which lies on the other
side of silence.” None of us…who
are believers…are meant to go through
life with dry eyes. We need to be like
Jesus…and Jeremiah…who said…”Oh that my head were a spring of water and my eyes
a fountain of tears.” (Jeremiah 9:1)
The world Hugh Rudd experienced that night is the real
world. But…Christ’s sigh is just as real. When the church sighs like him…in
genuine compassion…power comes to those who hurt. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn….” And, “Blessed are the merciful.” (Matthew 5:4, 7)
Are we compassionate people? Have we ever wept over the deformed? Have we ever sorrowed over a life distorted
by sin? Have we done anything about
it? Does the evening news sometimes make
us cry? Do we sigh over divorce? Poverty?
Abortion? Broken relationships? Homeless refugees? Homeless neighbors? Are we tender and caring? If we are deficient here…we need to pray for
help.
It is significant that Jesus looked to Heaven and then sighed. When we truly and fully look to heaven…we can
see the world through the Father’s eyes…as it is…and as it could be.
Jesus never backed away from laying his hand on hurting
humanity. On one occasion…a man full of leprosy…loathsome…lion-like… grotesque…came
and lay prostrate at Jesus’ feet. Jesus
looked on him as the man had never before been viewed. According to Marks’ gospel…Christ was moved
with compassion indicating that Jesus was so touched by what he saw that he
touched the man. Perhaps it had been
twenty or even thirty years since the leper had been touched by a non-leprous
hand or had received any touch…gentle or otherwise. Now he received the touch of Christ. The word used is often translated as “to take
hold of.” Jesus…at the very least…placed
his hand firmly on the leper.
How beautiful Christ is.
He could have just spoken a word or simply willed it. But he chose to lay his hand on the poor man
in front of the multitude. The onlookers
and the disciples were shocked. Jesus
was now ceremonially unclean. To their
way of thinking…he might catch the disease.
Why did Jesus do it? There are
perhaps several reasons. Reaching out…of
course…was the instinct of his loving heart.
But he also wanted to clear away any fears the man had. He wanted the leper to feel his willingness
and sympathy. The touch said…”I’m with
you. I understand.”
Those were the human reasons…but there was an overshadowing
theological reason. The touch of his
pure hand on the rotting leper is the parable of the Incarnation. Jesus in the Incarnation took on flesh…became
sin for us…and thus gave us his purity.
“God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf…that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus touched us and healed us. Here Jesus’ handling of the deaf man…his
fingers thrust in his ears…his spittle anointing the man’s flopping tongue…was
instinctive and natural. True compassion
doesn’t’ just feel. It reaches out.
If we are to minister…there must be touch.
Historically…this is where the established Church of England blew
it. John Wesley came with a heart for
the poor…those outside the Church whose needs were not being met. The Church was so repulsed by Wesley and his
methods that Wesley had to take to the fields…ministering and touching people
where they were. Almost 200 years later
General Booth found a similar rejection by the Church and society in general as
he ministered to the urban poor in London.
As a result…he was forced to found the Salvation Army.
Practicing evangelism or outreach which shies away from real contact with sin and pain has
no effect. The surest way to harden our
heart is to fail to do something when we feel compassion. Coldness and hypocrisy are the result. The ring of truth is noticeably absent from
such lives.
The hands-on touch is absolutely necessary to health…and wholeness…to authentic
Christianity. While we must send
missionaries… and we must give money to the Church and to missions…we cannot
touch by proxy. When faced with a need
right before him…Jesus did not ask Peter to be his surrogate hands. Neither did he throw money at the
need…thinking that would fix things…and be sufficient involvement. The question for us is…are we reaching out to
others…truly touching them in their misery?
Are we giving time to listen to the needs of others? Are we willing to be uncomfortable to help
others? Do we ever run the danger of
getting dirty in the process? That is
what made Francis Schaeffer the great American theologian what he was. He wrote about theology and he wrote about
compassion. But the real genius in his
life lay in his touch.
The story goes that at one time Schaeffer had a successful architect friend who had
“dropped out” during the disillusionment of the 1960s. He had not yet come to Christ, and he said,
“I don’t know if what Francis Schaeffer is telling me about Christianity is
true or not. But I do know this, that man
loves me.” This was Christ’s touch
through Francis Schaeffer. Later that architect
became a believer.
Let us bring it all together…the look…the sigh…the touch…and the word. God’s Word is enough. It can do it alone. But God has chosen to minister through people who pray…who are compassionate…and who are willing to get their hands dirty…who
truly reach out. This is Jesus’ lesson
to us who would reach our hurting world.
Jesus was in profound communion with God. He had exhaled a sigh of deep compassion over
the man. His hands…his very saliva…had
anointed the man…and then he spoke… “be opened.” Those words sailed through the ears of the
man and into his brain. His tongue was
loosened…and he began to speak and keep on speaking.
As we come to the Lord’s Table this morning…to be with Jesus…to be with our brothers
and sisters…as we take Jesus inside us…let us ask how we can let Jesus guide
us…so that we may touch as he did…may sigh as he did… may indeed be for the
hurting world…the body of Christ.