Rabbi Compassion

Scripture

Mark 6:30–34 NRSV

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 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.

Introduction

Well today is the last in our series about Rabbi Jesus. I hope we all of learned a little bit about Jesus in his cultural context. Next month we will start a new series on Worship and the role of the Spirit in worship. Next week, the sermon is from our Red Bird trip! You don’t wan to miss this. But what have we got today. Well we have another Markan sandwich. This is the bottom peace of bread. if you remember a few weeks ago after his rejection in Nazareth Jesus sends out the 12. The we looked at the execution of John the Baptist and today the 12 return, report back and Jesus thinks they need a break. I think Mark makes a pretty good case that Jesus was unlike any other Rabbi, from his teaching to his acts of wonder to the crowds that he would draw.

I showed you a video because we are going to take a close look at Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Jesus referee to shepherding and agriculture a lot when he taught. he did this because it made what he was teaching relevant to the agrarian culture of Galilee.

Shepherds are only needed when there are no fences. To this day in Israel the bedouins still shepherd herds of goats and lambs with no fences. They don’t live in tents any more they live in these strange corrugated steel huts. A shepherd is somone who stays with the sheep at all costs, guiding, protecting, and walking them through the fields like this girl. They lead the sheep to food and water. They gather up the lambs that cant keep up in their arms.

The rabbis excluded the shepherds from the community. In fact in the Mishnah (The Mishnah is a collection of the Jewish oral law) it says this “Let not a man bring up his son to be a donkey-driver, nor a camel-driver, nor a barber, nor a sailor, nor a shepherd, nor a peddler; for the occupations are those of thieves.” In fact, the sheep were probably more highly regarded then their keepers. The Rabbis considered the keepers unclean while the animals were not. Because of their way of life, the shepherds were untouchable. It was precisely to these unclean shepherds, the lowest of the low that God chooses to reveal Himself according to Luke at Jesus birth.

Exegesis

We could take a look at several different things in the few verses, but we are going to look at shepherd this morning.

Exegesis

The apostles return and tell them all they had done! Mark is very brief in this. But you can tell in the following verses they must have been very successful, but they were also very tired. The is the first instance of Jesus’ great compassion in this section. He tells them lets get away for a while where we can rest and eat in peace. So they depart in a boat and sale to another place. It must not have been across the lake because if it was the people could not beat the boat to the location they were going. They were probably goin north or south on the same shore, but the took the boat to get away form the crowds. it didn’t work because when they landed the people beat them to the spot.

Mark says Jesus had compassion for this great crowd because they were sheep without a shepherd. So what does he do? Like a good Rabbi, out of his compassion he begins to teach them (or as a shepherd would do lead them). Like a good Rabbi he would teach them form Torah—The law. Like a shepherd as well he feeds them in verses 35-44. This is the story of feeding the 5000.

We have a very strong similarity to Moses here, and it is probably intended by Mark. Whe Moses chose Joshua to succeed him he said this:

Numbers 27:17 NRSV

who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

Certainly Jesus was thinking about this when he commented that they were a sheep without a shepherd. Herod Anitpas was no Shepherd, neither was Pilate or the Jewish religious leaders. They were not servant leaders. everything was about them, not their people. Politically for us, it sometimes we feel like sheep without a shepherd because it seems our politicians will do anything to get elected and to stay in power. The best evidence of this is the mudslinging ads we have been subjected too for the last couple of weeks.

Moses Taught Israel in the wilderness, Torah, and feed the people too. Jesus is in the wilderness or a deserted place teaching and feeding the people too. He had compassion, Moses certainly had compassion as well the many times he strived with God for the good of the people.

The people are flocking to Jesus, not their religious leaders or their synagogues. They live in a world where desperation overcomes order. People push through crowds just to touch Jesus fringe! Much like today they had a tremendous distrust of their religious leaders. They were people without a shepherd lost in a spiritual darkness that the religious institutions had no answer for, they were in the same darkness.

But this Rabbi Jesus was different. He had compassion, he taught with authority, he worked miracles. Jus like a good shepherd he put himself before the sheep. He served the sheep. He directed them to green pastures ( in-fact he has them sit down in the grass when he feeds them!) he leads them beside still waters. He restored their souls. Even though they were in the darkest valley, when they were with Jesus they had no fear because he was the light in the darkness. He prepared a table for them right in front of the Romans and other corrupt officials. Can you imagine after being lead, taught and fed, they glimpsed the goodness and mercy that was available through Gods grace! I can imagine they wanted to dwell in Jesus’ presence forever! He gives them the bread of life and the water of salvation from his deep well.

Barclay sums this well:

A sheep without a shepherd cannot find their way.

A sheep without a shepherd cannot find a peaceful pasture.

A sheep without a shepherd is not fed.

A sheep with out a shepherd is defenseless.

The Gospel of Mark The Pathos of the Crowd (Mark 6:30–4)

If life has taught us one thing, it must be that we cannot live it alone. No one has a sure defence against the temptations which assail us and from the evil of the world which attacks us. Only in the company of Jesus can we walk in the world and remain untainted by it. Without him we are defenceless; with him we are safe.

Application

I think we can agree with what Barclay says here. So, what do we do with this? Let’s take a look at how Mark’s audience would have interpreted this. They were in a very dark time of persecution. Families were turning in families for being Christian. The Romans were rounding them up and executing them in the most horrid manners. Mark presents them with Jesus the good shepherd. Their government and the religious institutions are dark. Jesus is the shepherd that Ezekiel wrote about in the coming Kingdom of God.

Ezekiel 34:23 NRSV

I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

Ezekiel write this after delivering a blistering oracle to the religious and government leaders that led them into captivity.

Ezekeil 34;23

Ezekiel 34:1–6 NRSV

The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them—to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

Ezekiel 34:1-

Mark’s audience would most likely been familiar with this text. You might be too. And Ezekiel’s words still ring true today.

The church is the shepherd today, Jesus works through us to shepherd the scattered sheep lost in a spiritual darkness. we have done such a poor job. The church today is known as being anti science, homo phobic, and hypocritical.

First, we have to go to them. we have to do church is a new way in places that Jesus went but somehow we have forgotten that.

We need to love like Jesus loves and quit getting caught up in thinking our elected officials are somehow theologians in residence. They are not going to change things. Only Jesus Christ can change things, our hearts need to be more Christ like and not affiliated with a political ideology that just caters to the mob, as Christians we are affiliated with the gospel of jesus Christ.

Here’s what Rachel Held Evens said about this in an article not too long ago:

Here’s what Rachael Held Evens said about this in an article not too long ago:

“When I left church at age 29, full of doubt and disillusionment, I wasn’t looking for a better-produced Christianity. I was looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity: I didn’t like how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people were being treated by my evangelical faith community. I had questions about science and faith, biblical interpretation and theology. I felt lonely in my doubts. And, contrary to popular belief, the fog machines and light shows at those slick evangelical conferences didn’t make things better for me. They made the whole endeavor feel shallow, forced and fake.”

People can see through veneers of hip worship and pop theology. People are looking for a real Christianity. One that loves like Christ loves and is a shepherd like Jesus was.

So what do we do? How do we fix this, how do we become the shepherds we are supposed too be?

First, we have to go to them. We have to do church is a new way in places that Jesus went but somehow the church has lost its way and doesn’t venture in those places anymore.

We need to love like Jesus loves and quit getting caught up in thinking our elected officials are somehow theologians in residence. They are not going to change things. Only Jesus Christ can change things, our hearts need to be more Christ like and not affiliated with a political ideology that just caters to the latest fashion, as Christians we are affiliated with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When you leave here today have compassion for the great crowd lost in the darkness. Be light in the darkness. Love them first, like Jesus would and when your love has earned the right, tell them why you love them so much. have the compassion of Jesus for they are like sheep without a Shepherd. become their shepherd.

There is a contemporary Christian singer named Jennifer Knapp. She was wildly successful in the nineties but came out as a lesbian and the industry shunned her. She still performs and records now, Christian music but to a much smaller audience because of her sexual orientation. She may have given up on the church but she has not given up on Jesus. In college she was lost. She was drinking every night and spending every night with a different boy. Her roommate was Christian. She never judged Jennifer. She was Jennifer's friend. Finally one night Jennifer came home very drunk and sick. Her roommate held back her hair as she threw up and carried her back and forth from the bathroom. The next morning Jennifer asked the roommate why she cared so much about her. Her roommate told her it was because Jesus lived inside her. From that moment Jennifer decided she wanted to know this Jesus. This Jesus that would hold back the hair of a drunken immoral girl while she threw up.

Jennifer’s roommate was a shepherd picking up the lamb when no one else would. She was the light in the darkness, she became the compassion of Jesus. In God’s grace may we do the same.