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Fourth Sunday of Pentecost - June 8, 2008 - St.
Christopher’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Paul R. Moore
The Practical Art of Kindness
8 years ago George W. Bush ran for president on a political campaign of
“compassionate conservatism.” His agenda at the time was clear: We have to make
some hard decisions, which he saw as the role of the conservative, but we have
to temper those decisions with the human factor—compassion. Frankly, when I read
today’s Gospel lesson I see a lot of compassion and hard decisions, but there’s
nothing tempered about it.
The lesson is a short play in two acts. Act 1, scene 1 opens with Jesus
calling Matthew to be a disciple. Tax collectors were commissioned by the Roman
Government to collect the taxes owed by its subjects. It was expected that they
would pay themselves for the service by charging more than the tax and pocketing
the difference. They earned a reputation very quickly for being the bad guys,
because some of them charged exorbitantly over the tax rate, and all of them
worked for rather than against the hated Roman occupying government. This is the
person Jesus calls, and who responds by throwing a dinner party for Jesus that
evening. This dinner sets the stage for scene 2 of Act 1. The Pharisees see that
Jesus and His disciples are eating with “sinners” like this tax collector,
Matthew. They cannot appreciate the change that is coming over Matthew, they
just know what kind of person he is, and assume that “you are who you associate
with,” so Jesus must be one of “them.” Jesus hears their comments and replies,
“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go
and learn what this means, (and He quotes from Hosea, our first reading this
morning:) ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ for I have come to call not the
righteous, but sinners.” The way of Jesus harks back not to the Law and keeping
the law to be righteous, but to Abraham, whose faith was reckoned to him as
righteousness. Abraham, Matthew, you and I, and if the Pharisees could only see
it, they, too, are justified by “mercy, not sacrifice,” or “grace, not law.”
With the entrance of the synagogue ruler we move to Act 2, scene 1. The death
of the ruler’s daughter sets the stage for the journey, but it is not the main
plot here, the woman with the hemorrhages is. This woman had been ceremonially
unclean for 12 years, unable to go through the monthly purification required by
law, and therefore unfit to worship. The Law had excluded, rather than included
her. But by faith she touches the hem of Jesus’ garment—and she is healed,
restored to worship and fellowship—not by merit, but by mercy. Scene 2 picks up
in the Synagogue ruler's house. The girl has been prepared for burial. Jesus’
assertion that she was not dead is cast aside. Perhaps the professional mourners
commonly employed did not want to see their fee threatened. But the parents
follow Him into the room. They hope in mercy, not sacrifice, and they walk from
the room with the girl in their arms, alive, well and restored to the future
from which she was almost torn, and to the gladness of her father’s house!
God’s vision of “mercy, not sacrifice” is not the ignoring of sin and pain,
or the mindless dismissal of misdeeds. It is the creative restoration of
relationship, and the reconciliation of brokenness. When our first parents ate
the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they were cast out of
the Garden of Eden. Sin always alienates us from God, from each other, and from
creation. Paul says in Romans 3:23, “For the wages of sin is death”—death is the
ultimate alienation. But Jesus died and rose again to pay the price of our sin,
and reconcile us to God, to each other, and to creation. He desires mercy, not
sacrifice. He does not require mere punishment, which is only a balancing of the
moral books, a function of law. He requires whatever is necessary for the
reconciliation of the relationships—mercy. Whenever we reconcile we proclaim our
hope in the power of Christ’s resurrection. Whenever we choose alienation we
deny the power of Christ’s resurrection. The Church should ALWAYS be working
toward reconciliation, not division. Christ is our supreme example, and the
power behind what we do. St. Paul said in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, KINDNESS.” Kindness is the fruit of the
Spirit that seeks to reconcile rather than divide.
Kindness is compassion guided by wisdom. Compassion is kind of a religious
word these days. A more common word that comes close is “empathy.” It is a
willingness to set aside one's own needs and desires so that one can put oneself
in another's experience of life. Every person in their deepest heart of hearts
asks the question, “Do you know what it means to be me?” Compassion answers,
“Let’s give it a try!” Compassion requires sensitivity, which is an awareness of
others, an awareness of self, and an openness of spirit. Compassion is action
based on empathy, empathy put in motion, an unwillingness to be content with the
experience alone of another’s reality.
Wisdom is godliness in action. It stops before acting and asks some critical
questions:
1. Does what I propose to do encourage this person to move closer to Christ?
2. Am I acting with integrity:
a. Is what I propose consistent with my faith?
b. Is what I propose consistent with myself?
c. Am I acting out of an ulterior motive or a hidden agenda I am unwilling to
own publicly?
3. Are my motives clear?
a. Am I responding to a real need or a perceived need? How might this change
my plan?
b. Do I have the time, resources and will to do what will really help?
c. Are my means commensurate with my ends?
d. Are my means as justifiable in themselves as the ends?
e. Are my expectations for the results are realistic?
f. Are my means godly?
When these questions are answered honestly we have a much better chance of
being kind in our actions.
Jesus’ path of compassionate wisdom is a powerful one indeed: Wisdom without
compassion is shrewd. Compassion without wisdom is foolish. But God’s way of
compassionate wisdom reconciles the world.
Fr. Paul Moore+
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