Century Christian Church
(Disciples of Christ)

1301 Tamarack Road, Owensboro, KY 42301, (270) 684-0286, Pastor:  Rev. Jim Westmoreland

Compassion Is Not Passive
Matthew 14: 13-21
by Jim Westmoreland

The comedian George Burns, who played the title character in the movie "Oh God!" apparently had some insights into preaching. His words remind me of some advice I have received from some of you. His admonition is, "The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending and to have the two as close together as possible."

A number of years ago young Matthew LeSage, a third-grader, wanted to do something to help the hungry in his city. So he started a program, Hams for the Hungry. In its fourth year, Hams for the Hungry raised $40,000 to brighten the holiday season for people with limited resources.

Matthew's story reminds me of another young man, 13 years old at the time, who read about Dr. Albert Schweitzer's missionary work in Africa. He wanted to help. He had enough money to buy one bottle of aspirin. He wrote to the Air Force and asked if they could fly over Dr. Schweitzer's hospital and drop the bottle down to him. A radio station broadcast the story about this young fellow's concern for helping others. Others responded as well. Eventually, he was flown by the government to Schweitzer's hospital along with 4 1/2 tons of medical supplies worth $400,000 freely given by thousands of people. This, of course, would be the equivalent of millions of dollars today. When Dr. Schweitzer heard the story, he said, "I never thought one child could do so much."

Our story from scripture for today is about a young man who didn't have much. But what he did have, he offered to Christ. And thousands of hungry people were fed.⁽¹⁾ Quite often, the application of this text focuses on giving what we have and letting God take care of the results. Or, we focus on the miracle of God's multiplication when we give God everything, even if it seems small and He multiplies it to feed or to care for multitudes.

We do need to give God what we have and trust Him to produce the results--in our families, in our communities, in our relationships with others, in our ministry efforts. We need to believe that God takes our seemingly small and insignificant offerings and efforts and multiplies them to produce results beyond our imaginations.

These are all legitimate and worthy approaches to looking at this scripture to find God's word for us, but I want to look at what Jesus did and what the boy did and at what Jesus was teaching us about our motivations.

Our scripture tells us that Jesus has withdrawn to a deserted place to have some time alone. He went by boat. When the crowds heard what he was doing, they began to circle around on land to catch up with him. We don't know how it happened. Apparently, some ran ahead and alerted the people of the towns near where Jesus was going, because, when He went ashore, He saw a great crowd and had compassion for them and cured their sick. Matthew tells us that Jesus told the disciples, "They need not go away; give them something to eat."

William Willimon describes the scene: "It grows late. The people are hungry and the disciples recommend sending the multitudes away. Jesus is not asking the opinion of the disciples. He commands them to feed the hungry. Of course, the disciples wonder where on earth, with their scant resources, they are expected to find food for so many!"⁽²⁾

When I hear these words, I am struck by the descriptive words about Jesus. Jesus had compassion for the multitude first by healing the sick and later in the day by feeding the hungry. What is He teaching us? He is teaching us by what He did, by what He led the boy to do, and by what He taught the disciples around Him that day, that compassion is not passive! It acts. It responds. It reaches beyond itself.

Too often, we think that giving our lives to God is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the altar, saying, "Here's my life, Lord. I'm giving it all to you." But the truth of the matter is that God sends us to the bank and tells us to cash that $1,000 bill in for quarters. And then we go through life giving away twenty-five cents here, fifty cents there, and so on. Instead of watching a ball game, we spend some time visiting a lonely person in a nursing home who has no family. Instead of sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, we get dressed and go to teach Sunday school. Instead of playing games on the computer, we listen to a friend tell us about her problems, even though we're tired and have problems of our own to deal with.

These are the moments in which the grace of God can work through us to help another human being, to feed the hunger of the heart and spirit. They may not be spectacular miracles, but these are the things we can do to bring meaning and significance to our lives.⁽³⁾

Tony Campolo is a professor of sociology and a popular speaker. He was once invited to a women's conference where he was to give a major address. These women were being challenged to raise several thousand dollars for a mission project goal. While Campolo was sitting on the platform, the chairperson turned to him and asked him if he would pray for God's blessing as they considered their individual responses to the goal.

Campolo stood and--to the utter amazement of everyone present--graciously said "no." He approached the microphone and said, "You already have all the resources necessary to complete this mission project right here within this room. It would be inappropriate to ask for God's blessing, when in fact God has already blessed you with the abundance and the means to achieve this goal. The necessary gifts are in your hands. As soon as we take the offering and underwrite this mission project, we will thank God for freeing us to be the generous, responsible and accountable stewards that we're called to be as Christian disciples." And they did.

Wow! Leave it to Tony Campolo to hit the nail right on the thumb! Jesus says, "You feed them!" And we can!⁽⁴⁾ This is a blessed world and we are blessed people! Why do we do it?  Because Christ calls us to be light, to be salt and to show His love to others in "real time," not in the mental galaxy of "good intentions" nor in the procrastinator's "eternal mannana" of "one of these days I'm going to do that."

Matthew tells us that "when Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured the sick." His faith and his compassion was real. James tells us that faith without works is dead. Participation in a church is not a consumer activity. It is not a meeting for audiences to be entertained. It is for a group of people called disciples, followers of Jesus the Christ, to be energized through worship, through preaching and teaching, to live out God's plan for us to be involved with others. Because the compassion that Christ puts in our hearts is not passive! Amen.

1. Rev. Dr. Henry Marissen, "Loaves and Fish," 11-15-1998 sermon, retrieved from http://www.angelfire.com/on/ambassador1/19981115.html on 7-28-2005.

2. William H. Willimon, "Extravagance," Pulpit Resource, July - September, 2005, p.22.

3. Johnny Dean, "How Much Is Enough?" quoted by esermons.com, retrieved 7-25-05.