11th SUNDAY in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Exodus 19: 2-6 + Psalm 100 + Romans 5: 6-11 + Matthew 9: 36-10:8
June 15, 2008
Jesus looks upon the “troubled and abandoned” crowd and is “moved with pity.”
That English word, “pity” does not fully capture what moves Jesus into action
to help those who are lost like sheep without a shepherd.
When we look with “pity” upon others, we look down upon them in a certain way,
we feel sorry for them.
We stand at a distance from those we pity and feel we are “better off.”
But this is not what Jesus is feeling as he looks upon that suffering crowd.
Rather, the Greek word (“splanchnizomai”) in the original Biblical text,
which is translated as “pity,” really means “stirred to the bowels,”
moved to deep emotion, moved to compassion.
It’s the kind of emotion one feels for someone who has come from one’s very own body.
This gut-wrenching feeling of compassion is not pity at all, does not stand at a
distance and look down upon those “poor folks,” but rather means to “suffer with” them.
Because Jesus has compassion on the crowd, he is moved by a deep emotion
which energizes him to do something.
That something is to call the 12 by name and send them to suffer
with and love those who are troubled and lost and hurting and grieving.
Jesus gives them the power to labor in this harvest of human need,
to bring the healing and the hope and the power of Jesus’ love
to those who suffer.
Divine compassion is the wellspring of both the call and mission of the apostles---
Jesus summons the 12 and sends them as ministers of his compassion.
Jesus is the Compassion of God, and he empowers his followers to share
that life-giving compassion with others.
Jesus still calls, and he still sends. The mission is still urgent.
People are still lost and suffering; he empowers us to bring healing and hope,
welcome and peace.
To proclaim by our deeds of compassion the birth of a new world,
the kingdom of heaven, where heaven comes to earth.
We do so by curing the sick: healing those who are broken in body,
but also bringing healing to those afflicted with various diseases of the soul: greed and envy and anger.
We do so by raising the dead: lifting up those who feel there is no more reason to live,
who live in the tomb of despair, by giving them the gift of hope.
We do so by cleansing lepers: welcoming those who are looked down upon as outcasts,
who have been pushed to the margins of society.
We do so by driving out demons: confronting the demons of fear & hatred & prejudice---
and bringing the peace that only Christ can bring.
By our baptism we are called and commissioned to continue the work of the Lord,
which at its very root, is a ministry of compassion.
The harvest is abundant---many are lost and troubled in our world---
many are sick, lifeless, outcasts, possessed.
Many are wandering without direction or purpose, searching for meaning---
to these we are sent as laborers by Christ and for Christ to gather in this harvest.
In the waters of baptism, we were joined to the broken-open heart of Christ on the cross.
In baptism, we died and rose with him to new life, that his heart now might be ours.
In baptism, we have been given the heart of Christ.
In a very special way as they live out the Sacrament of Matrimony,
as wives and husbands compassionately care for each other in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health, they love as Christ loves and their heart beats one with his.
All the baptized, as apostles of compassion, given the heart of Christ,
are moved to do something, no matter how small, about the suffering in this world.
So, when we see on TV the news reports about inner city kids who are suffering
from violence and poverty, we volunteer to tutor one of those children or become
a Big Brother/Big Sister or support an organization like Mustard Seed
with our time or treasure.
Baptized and sent into the world to bring the compassion of Christ, we suffer in love
with those who suffer, and our suffering with them transforms their lives and ours.
This call and mission is a gift,
for we have received the gift of God’s compassionate love in Christ.
What we have received as gift, we give away as gift.
We live lives of compassion because we have experienced
the compassionate love of God in Christ Jesus.
For God has not looked at us and our plight from afar,
but has plunged into our suffering world in and through Christ His Son.
He, who is the Compassion of God, reconciles us to God by becoming one with us.
We were lost and could not find the way, like sheep without a shepherd,
so the Father sent the Son.
He died for us while we still unworthy.
He gives us the gift of himself, the gift of his Body and Blood,
even though we do not deserve such a grand gift.
This heavenly food strengthens us to be his apostles,
and to go forth this day with new hands to do his work.
