Sermon - Compassion vs Pity

TEXT: Matthew 9:35-10:23

9:35 Καὶ περιῆγεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὰς πόλεις πάσας καὶ τὰς κώμας διδάσκων ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν καὶ κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας καὶ θεραπεύων πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν. 36 Ἰδὼν δὲ τοὺς ὄχλους ἐσπλαγχνίσθη περὶ αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἦσαν ἐσκυλμένοι καὶ ἐρριμμένοι ὡσεὶ πρόβατα μὴ ἔχοντα ποιμένα. 37 τότε λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ, Ὁ μὲν θερισμὸς πολύς, οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι· 38 δεήθητε οὖν τοῦ κυρίου τοῦ θερισμοῦ ὅπως ἐκβάλῃ ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτοῦ.

10:1 Καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος τοὺς δώδεκα μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων ὥστε ἐκβάλλειν αὐτὰ καὶ θεραπεύειν πᾶσαν νόσον καὶ πᾶσαν μαλακίαν. 2 Τῶν δὲ δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τὰ ὀνόματά ἐστιν ταῦτα· πρῶτος Σίμων ὁ λεγόμενος Πέτρος καὶ Ἀνδρέας ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ Ἰάκωβος ὁ τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Ἰωάννης ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ, 3 Φίλιππος καὶ Βαρθολομαῖος, Θωμᾶς καὶ Μαθθαῖος ὁ τελώνης, Ἰάκωβος ὁ τοῦ Ἁλφαίου καὶ Θαδδαῖος, 4 Σίμων ὁ Καναναῖος καὶ Ἰούδας ὁ Ἰσκαριώτης ὁ καὶ παραδοὺς αὐτόν.

5 Τούτους τοὺς δώδεκα ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς παραγγείλας αὐτοῖς λέγων, Εἰς ὁδὸν ἐθνῶν μὴ ἀπέλθητε καὶ εἰς πόλιν Σαμαριτῶν μὴ εἰσέλθητε· 6 πορεύεσθε δὲ μᾶλλον πρὸς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. 7 πορευόμενοι δὲ κηρύσσετε λέγοντες ὅτι Ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. 8 ἀσθενοῦντας θεραπεύετε, νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε, λεπροὺς καθαρίζετε, δαιμόνια ἐκβάλλετε· δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε. 9 Μὴ κτήσησθε χρυσὸν μηδὲ ἄργυρον μηδὲ χαλκὸν εἰς τὰς ζώνας ὑμῶν, 10 μὴ πήραν εἰς ὁδὸν μηδὲ δύο χιτῶνας μηδὲ ὑποδήματα μηδὲ ῥάβδον· ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἐργάτης τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῦ. 11 εἰς ἣν δ ᾽ ἂν πόλιν ἢ κώμην εἰσέλθητε, ἐξετάσατε τίς ἐν αὐτῇ ἄξιός ἐστιν· κἀκεῖ μείνατε ἕως ἂν ἐξέλθητε. 12 εἰσερχόμενοι δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν ἀσπάσασθε αὐτήν· 13 καὶ ἐὰν μὲν ᾖ ἡ οἰκία ἀξία, ἐλθάτω ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν ἐπ ᾽ αὐτήν, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ᾖ ἀξία, ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐπιστραφήτω. 14 καὶ ὃς ἂν μὴ δέξηται ὑμᾶς μηδὲ ἀκούσῃ τοὺς λόγους ὑμῶν, ἐξερχόμενοι ἔξω τῆς οἰκίας ἢ τῆς πόλεως ἐκείνης ἐκτινάξατε τὸν κονιορτὸν τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν. 15 ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀνεκτότερον ἔσται γῇ Σοδόμων καὶ Γομόρρων ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἢ τῇ πόλει ἐκείνῃ.

16 Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς ὡς πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων· γίνεσθε οὖν φρόνιμοι ὡς οἱ ὄφεις καὶ ἀκέραιοι ὡς αἱ περιστεραί. 17 προσέχετε δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· παραδώσουσιν γὰρ ὑμᾶς εἰς συνέδρια καὶ ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν μαστιγώσουσιν ὑμᾶς· 18 καὶ ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνας δὲ καὶ βασιλεῖς ἀχθήσεσθε ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. 19 ὅταν δὲ παραδῶσιν ὑμᾶς, μὴ μεριμνήσητε πῶς ἢ τί λαλήσητε· δοθήσεται γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ τί λαλήσητε· 20 οὐ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ λαλοῦντες ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τὸ λαλοῦν ἐν ὑμῖν. 21 παραδώσει δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφὸν εἰς θάνατον καὶ πατὴρ τέκνον, καὶ ἐπαναστήσονται τέκνα ἐπὶ γονεῖς καὶ θανατώσουσιν αὐτούς. 22 καὶ ἔσεσθε μισούμενοι ὑπὸ πάντων διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου· ὁ δὲ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος οὗτος σωθήσεται. 23 ὅταν δὲ διώκωσιν ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ, φεύγετε εἰς τὴν ἑτέραν· ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ τελέσητε τὰς πόλεις τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.[1]

So Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every ailment. When he saw the crowds he had compassion concerning them, because they were harassed and thrown into confusion like sheep not having a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “On the one hand a great harvest, but few workers; therefore you must plead with the Lord of the harvest so that he might throw out workers into his harvest.

So he, after calling to his twelve disciples, gave them authority over unclean spirits so as to cast them out and to heal every disease and every ailment. The names of the twelve apostles are these; first Simon who is called Peter and his brother Andrew, then James who is of Zebedee and his brother John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and the tax collector Matthew, James who is of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean and Judas who was of Iscariot who also handed him over.

Jesus sent out these twelve while saying to them, “You must not go in the way of the Gentiles and you must not enter into a city of Samaria; you must rather go toward the lost sheep of Israel’s house. As you go you must preach saying, “The Kingdom of heaven is near.” You must heal sick, you must raise dead, you must cleanse lepers, you must cast out demons; you received freely, you must give freely. You must not acquire gold or silver or bronze for your belts, no traveler’s bag for the way or two sets of clothes nor sandals or a staff. Into whatever city or village you enter you must inquire if anyone is worthy in it; and there you must remain until you go away. When you enter into the house you must greet it; and if on the one hand the house is worthy, your peace will go upon it, but if it is not worthy, your peace will return to you. And whoever does not receive you nor hear your words, go out of the house or that city while shaking the dust off your feet. Truly I am telling you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for that city.

“Look! I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore you must be as shrewd as snakes and pure as the pigeons. You must beware of men; for they will hand you over to Sanhedrin and they will whip you in their synagogues; and you will be brought before rulers and kings because of me for a witness to them and the nations. Whenever they hand you over, you must not worry about how or what you will speak; for it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for you are not those speaking but the Spirit of the Father who speaks in you. Brother will hand over brother and father a child for death, and children will rebel against parents and they will kill them. And you will be hated by all because of my name; but the one who stands firm to the end, this one will be saved. Whenever they persecute you in this city, flee into the other; for truly I am telling you, by no means will you complete the cities of Israel before the Son of man comes.

Jesus begins here talking about his mission and the mission of his disciples by using an agricultural analogy. It’s pretty obvious that his concern focuses on the great harvest that is available versus the few workers that are available. But as he speaks about the harvest he talks about it as though it is the planting stage. He says, “You must plead with the Lord of the harvest so that he will send out workers into his harvest.” Now there are at least two words he could have used that mean “send out.” But he doesn’t use either one of those words. Instead he uses the word that refers to the sowing of seed, such as that used in the parable of the soils, sometimes referred to as the parable of the sower. What Jesus literally says here is that we must plead with the Lord so that he will “throw out” workers into his harvest. The picture here is that of God sowing workers across his universal harvest field.

Then Jesus throws his disciples a curve. Matthew helps us out by listing the twelve apostles after clarifying that they were given authority over the same kinds of problems that Jesus was curing. Jesus sends these twelve out with his own authority with little more than the clothes on their backs. They have to rely on the hospitality of strangers as they go from city to city, town to town. As they go from place to place they must do so as inoffensively as possible, greeting each house they enter with peace and thereby determining whether they should stay or move on. If their peace returns to them because the house is somehow unworthy of peace, they must leave without so much as the dust that clings to their feet. If Jesus was a coach who had a player who was injured or discouraged, he would simply say to them, “Shake it off! Get out their and win one for the Lord!” They must go without the protective gear normally worn and rely on the hospitality of strangers who are possibly rooting for the other side.

Our mascot is the sheep – I’m not sure that there is an American team that has sheep as a mascot. My alma maters had bobcats, indians, and horses as their mascots. Most sports teams have some menacing mascots. The kinds of beings you wouldn’t normally want to run into in the light of day, much less in the dark of night. Now Jo’s alma maters included mascots that were cowboys, one I’m not sure of, and, in the case of her high school, the gold bugs. Now I don’t know about you, but if I had the gold bugs to play against in the schedule that included bobcats, Indians, and horses, I would look forward to dealing with those gold bugs, whatever they were. They sure don’t sound very menacing. But neither do sheep.

We are the sheep. Our coach is telling us to get out there and win one for the owner of our team. We aren’t part of some high school or college team. We are professionals. We are the team that professes to be the best of the best competing for the best coach and best owner of all. We are definitely professionals. But we sure don’t sound very intimidating to the competition; kind of like the bobcats playing the gold bugs. My high school never played against the gold bugs of Alva, Oklahoma; we were in a different league. Alva was Double A while Star Spencer was Four A. Star Spencer didn’t do very well against other Four A teams, but I have a feeling my bobcats would pounce all over the gold bugs.

But Jesus goes on to tell us that our team, whose mascot is sheep, are playing on the other team’s field. We are competing against the wolves. Sheep among wolves – sounds like a recipe – for lamb stew. It sounds as though our coach, the best in the business, is telling us that we won’t last long – kind of like a pig in CENLA.

But that is not Jesus’ point at all. We are sheep, but we are sheep who are also called to be like the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is no pushover. Jesus tells us that we must be shrewd but pure, or as I will paraphrase it, sneaky as snakes and adorable as doves. The “sneaky as snakes” part has no particular symbolism connected with it. It simply means that we need to be sure that when we are on the line that we don’t give away our strategy. Why do football teams huddle together on the football field? They huddle to plan the next play, but they huddle also to keep the other team from hearing or seeing what their plan is. But that sneaky aspect has to be tempered by being “pure” or “adorable.” This does have significant meaning. To be pure as doves means that we are acceptable as a sacrifice to God. Sheep and doves have one biblical theme in common – they are both sacrificially acceptable, if they are unblemished and healthy. This is where our sports analogy falls apart.

I have yet to see one football team try to recruit members of the other team. But part of our call is to do precisely that. We are the sheep, they are the wolves, and we are supposed to make sheep out of those wolves. Not sheep for the taking but sheep for the changing. We are called to change the world. We can’t heal people without changing the world. We can’t do good without changing the world. We tend to underemphasize our impact in the world. But Jesus started with the twelve apostles and look at where Christianity is today. Yes, I know that it is popular to talk about the declining Church and how bad things are in the world. But that’s no excuse for sitting back and letting the world go down the tubes. In fact, it makes Jesus’ call to us even more emphatic. The old saying is that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Well, folks, the world ain’t just squeakin’. There are some Christians who believe the world is nearly seized up. That means that it’s a bit late for a little lubrication, it needs changing. And Jesus tells us that change is what we do as his disciples.

Jesus tells us not only to pray for harvesters, he also sends us out as harvesters.

Having said all of this we finally get to the main point. We are called to compassion, not pity. Pity is what Jo has when she is playing a game. She pities the one who is losing the game and worries about how they feel. Her focus is on the other person’s feelings. Compassion, on the other hand, understands the feelings the other person is having. But instead of just worrying about their feelings we go to them and find ways to change the person in the midst of the situation so that they grow and develop beyond those feelings. In other words, we enter their world and live out their situation with them. Pity will simply allow the person to suffer alone. Compassion will not allow anyone to suffer alone.

There is a great harvest waiting for us. Not a harvest of souls, as some people put it. We are called to harvest people. We aren’t called just to save souls for some time in eternity. We are called to save people in the here and now, and as we save them here and now we save them for eternity. Yes, we are sheep among wolves, but the sheep have the number one owner, the number one coach, and we will win the championship at the end of the season. Once this championship is won we will receive the prize above all prizes, joining together in eternal praise and thanks to God our Father, Christ our Savior, and Holy Spirit, who is with us now and for all eternity.

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[1]Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger and Allen Wikgren, The Greek New Testament, electronic ed. of the 4th ed. (Federal Republic of Germany: United Bible Societies, 1993, c1979), Matthew 9:35-10:23.