Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

During the minister’s prayer one Sunday morning, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews. Gary’s mother was horrified. She pinched him into silence and after church asked: "Gary, whatever made you do such a thing?" Gary answered very soberly: "I asked God to teach me to whistle and He just then did!"

This morning’s text is about a miracle. Only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It transpired on the grassy hills by the shores of the Sea of Galilee at a time when Jesus' popularity--and also his vulnerability--was cresting.

It was then and there that Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fishes and fed the five thousand. But this morning’s text is not just about a miracle. It’s about compassion. It’s about our relationship with Jesus and His relationship with us. It’s about a Savior. Oh what a Savior!

The "this" Jesus heard in v. 13 was the report of John the Baptizer’s martyrdom. No doubt Jesus craved solitude to digest that news and its implications for himself and for the Kingdom enterprise. Therefore, Jesus withdrew in a boat (again he is near water) to a secluded place. The "it" which the crowds heard, we take it, was that Jesus had withdrawn. The crowds follow, but apparently respect his need for privacy. Jesus returns to find the crowds waiting for him.

What happens next is one of the most revealing moments about the purpose and nature of Jesus. Important not only for those who were there that day, but also for you and I. Listen carefully to these words:

"When he (Jesus) went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick."

Jesus had and has compassion for those who were and are in need. One of the hallmarks of Jesus' ministry is compassion. Every encounter Jesus has with hurting people in the gospels is characterized by his compassionate touch. It is this compassion that draws the hurting crowds.

People haven’t really changed all that much throughout the years. We may speak a different vernacular, we may wear different clothes, different hair styles, but that which incipiently classifies us as human is the fact that we possess a heart and a soul. And Jesus wants you and I to know this morning that He cares about the condition of both.

About a year ago I attended a conference entitled: "Helping Hurting People." I sat the whole way through both days of that conference only to arrive at the conclusion that had become so factual throughout my ministry. The way to help hurting people is in one of two ways. You either have to get the people to Jesus or take Jesus to the people. Jesus is about helping hurting people.

Jesus renews people with the power of his compassion. He is not an impersonal Savior but a Savior who reaches far beyond any barriers we or society have erected to touch and care for the heart and soul of all mankind.

I remember being at a meeting at Ridgecrest - near Asheville, North Carolina. It was the night of the President’s State of the Union Address. All the pastors were sitting around the television but not one of them was paying attention. Instead the course of conversation was: "I had mine in 1984." "I had mine in ’89. When did you have yours?" "I had mine in ’88." Then that gentleman turned to me and asked: "When did you have yours?" I had no idea what they were talking about so I replied: "I’m sorry. Had what?" "Why your by-pass surgery!" I simply looked up at God and said: "You didn’t tell me that was part of my job description!"

But stop and think about it a minute. It is absolutely amazing that technology has brought us to the point that a team of skilled surgeons can actually take out the human heart, lay it on a table, and fix what God created and what man has broken.

But it’s really not new is it? For after all that’s what Jesus did that day by the sea of Galilee. The miracle lies not in the feeding of the five thousand but the fact that Jesus was able at once to reach inside five thousand people, touch their hearts, and transform their lives forever.

The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That very same Jesus cares for you and I this morning in the very same way.

But I realize that there are a those whose lives have been hurt one time too many. They have arrived at the point of not trusting anything or anyone. Jesus is someone you and I can trust!

Nine-year-old Danny came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.

"Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin' closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!

By now old dad was shocked. "Is THAT the way they taught you the story?"

Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Dad."

With childlike innocence the little guy put his finger on the pulse of our sophisticated adult world where cool skepticism reigns supreme. It's becoming increasing more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts. I’ve told you the facts. Matthew has recorded the facts. The remaining question is are we going to accept what we have read and heard today as fact?

If you and I accept it as fact we no longer have to worry about things like being alone, or being loved, or being cared for. The most important companionship of this life is that of Jesus. The most important love in this life is the love of Jesus for each and every one of us. The best care in this life is the care that comes through the skilled, nail-scarred hands of Jesus.

Not only does Jesus heal those who have gathered that day of various diseases He supplied them with renewed hope. Soon after that His disciples came to Him and said:

"When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

Now if that’s not a present day mentality I don’t know what is. Most of us would look at a crowd like that and say: "Man let’s just get rid of them. Let’s send them to the soup kitchen. We can’t afford to feed all these people!" Others might seize the opportunity for a quick fund raiser. Jesus looked straight at His disciples and said:

"Don’t you dare send these people away! YOU give them what they need."

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Philippi: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."

I once read an ancient legend about the monk who found a precious stone, a precious jewel. A short time later, the monk met a traveler, who said he was hungry and asked the monk if he would share some of his provisions. When the monk opened his bag, the traveler saw the precious stone and, on an impulse, asked the monk if he could have it. Amazingly, the monk gave the traveler the stone.

The traveler departed quickly, overjoyed with his new possession. However, a few days later, he came back, searching for the monk. He returned the stone to the monk and made a request: "Please give me something more valuable, more precious than this stone. Please give me that which enabled you to give me this precious stone!"

John Fawcett's hymn, Blest Be The Tie That Binds, points to the power of compassion. "We share each other's woes, Each other's burdens bear, And often for each other flows, The sympathizing tear."

In a world rife with brokenness and sorrow, compassion is one of the most powerful healing forces the Christian community has. When we encounter those who are hungry for hope and help, if we listen carefully, we will still hear the words, "You give them something to eat!" Listen to the words of Paul as recorded in Romans:

"I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit--I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."

Helping Hurting People. That’s what Jesus is all about. That’s our commission for the life of a Christian. Let me say this too. That should be the purpose of the church. Reaching out and allowing Jesus to change, transform, mend broken hearts, feed the hungry, and help hurting people through us.

Jesus wants you to know that not only does He care about you, He came to help hurting people. People like you and I. We all have tedious days of dull routine, when it seems as though we live in two separate worlds:

sitting in front of a computer screen preoccupied with thoughts about a sick child at home;

sitting at a conference table, appearing very pensive, but mentally reviewing the household budget and wondering what to pick up on the way home for supper;

stopping at the grain elevator and staring up at the board reporting the current commodity prices and wondering just how long you can hang on as a farmer.

Times when, in the middle of our work, we find ourselves alone with our thoughts, our worries, our fears, our plans.

At the beginning of our passage Jesus went out to "a desert place," withdrawn because His heart grieved the loss of John the Baptizer, we all have places where we go to get some distance from our work. Places in our minds where we can be alone to gain some perspective, or just "get a grip."

Here, this morning Jesus attends to us. On our commute into the city, on a rainy day on the farm, He attends to our worries, considers our plans, speaks to our needs.

In the factory, in the locker room after practice, in the vegetable garden, in the wood-working shop, in whatever makeshift place we might arrange for Him, He attends to us.

"Come to me," Jesus says "without paying, without cost."

"Come to me. Listen to me," says the Lord. "That you may have life! Amen.

The Final Paragraph is From Fr. Jim Schmitmeyer.

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