Hymn of Compassion *Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us* Witness of Scripture: Matthew 9: 35-10:4 Anthem *I Will Not Leave You Comfortless* Everett Titcomb. FCC Chancel Choir Sermon *The Compassionate Shepherd(s) David Spain
Recorded on June 18, 2023
As we all know, the news cycle can get a little heavy—whether it is international news, state news, news from the neighborhood, or challenges that inevitably happen in every family. When the heavy news becomes pervasive, it can feel like bad news is the only news there is.Just once, wouldn’t it be nice to have regular programming preempted so that the weather spotters in the field could talk about what a beautiful day it is rather than what an ominous day it is.But, perhaps that is not the news that’s fit to print and good to view. We need to be informed, but if the only news is a steady diet of bad news, life can get gloomy.
When it comes to difficult news, people respond in a variety of ways. We can now tailor the type of news we receive depending on the sources of information. There are some who say you can tell all you need to know about people by finding out which news channels they watch—which seems a bit unfair and reductionist. Mid-20th century theologian Karl Barth advised that faith holds the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, which is to say there is always to be a lively conversation between the news of the day and the gospel news, for one isolated from the other can lead to despair on the one hand or rose-colored naivete on the other hand.
One of the things we do every Sunday when we come to worship is read the gospel news, gospel meaning good news that we lay alongside all the other news we bring with us—which is to say what has happened during the week. When the news has been hard for whatever reason, we come here to take a page from Jesus, today as reported from the gospel pages of Matthew. The gospel news for the day sounds rather discouraging. We see footage of Jesus busy almost to the point of frenetic. Before today’s news, Matthew reports Jesus has dealt with demons and dealt with death and dealt with those who could not see and could not hear. When he had a spare moment, he preached a sermon or two along the way. Matthew reports, “Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.” As if that is not enough, Matthew then tells us that Jesus comes onto a crowd, and the camera zooms in close on his face, and we see there are tears around the edge of Jesus’ eyes. The way Matthew reports that is by saying, “When Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” Compassion is what Matthew says Jesus has, which literally means “to suffer with” which is to say “to care deeply for and to be so concerned about that” who you are is deeply shaped by how you care, not in a self-serving needy kind of way but in a “how this can be better” kind of way. Compassion is to see with the eyes of the heart, and Matthew tells us this is what Jesus sees. Christianity, for all the ways that it has been described and lived, is essentially seeing with the eyes of your heart, and being Christian, as much as any of us is able to do, is seeing in some of the same ways as Jesus sees. That may seem challenging, given all the perspectives we bring to everything, but if you asked every one of the 38 people who just returned from the mission trip to Puerto Rico, each one would say at some point along the way, they realized they were seeing with the eyes of their hearts, which is to say seeing with compassion, seeing as Jesus sees.
As good as all this is, that is not the whole story, as Matthew’s daily news reports it. Jesus has compassion, but the rest of the story is that Jesus has more than compassion.Jesus enlists others to care with him, to be ‘little Christs’ which is one way to define Christian. He turns not only to the sheepish crowd but also to the 12 would be shepherds and gives them authority to deal with bad spirits and stubborn diseases and troublesome sicknesses. Honesty admits that few if any of us feel competent with authority like that, probably because we think of shepherding far too narrowly. Jesus is the compassionate shepherd who authorizes legions of compassionate shepherds, not just the 12 named in today’s gospel news.
Legendary pastor, teacher and writer Howard Thurman might have dedicated his autobiography to any number of great luminaries who first encountered him while they were still students, such as Barbara Jordan, Alice Walker, and Martin Luther King, Jr. [Or] it would have been a meaningful gesture to dedicate it to his beloved grandmother.Instead, With Head and Heart is dedicated to an unknown stranger, without whom Thurman’s sterling career would never have commenced. “To the stranger in the railroad station in Daytona Beach,” writes Thurman, “who restored my broken dream sixty-five years ago.” The story is that Thurman needed additional funds to cover the transport of his trunk in order to make the journey by train to attend school. He writes: ‘I sat down on the steps of the railway station and cried my heart out. Presently I opened my eyes and saw before me a large pair of work shoes. My eyes crawled upward until I saw a man’s face.He was a black man, dressed in overalls and a denim cap. As he looked down at me he rolled a cigarette and lit it. Then he said, ‘what in the heck are you crying about?’ Thurman told him and the man responded, ‘If you are crying to get out of this town to get an education, the least I can do is help you.Come with me.’ He took me around to the agent and asked, ‘How much does it take to send this trunk to Jacksonville?’ Then he took out his rawhide money bag and counted the money out.When the agent handed him the receipt, he handed it to me. Then, without a word, he turned and disappeared down the railroad track. I never saw him again.’ Kirk Byron Jones, reflecting on this story writes, “Don’t let the low places fool you. Believing that God is everywhere invites us to be open to dynamic creative potential anywhere, including the valley of disappointment and discouragement.Remaining fixed on this hopeful perspective is essential to our not letting low places and feelings define and overwhelm us. Some of God’s best blessings are found in the spaces of our disdain, and there are gems in the valley that cannot be found on the mountaintop.” (christiancentury.org. June 18, 2023) Howard Thurman does not know the name of the man who helped him, but we know he is one of Jesus’ compasssionate shepherds.
You may not know the name Matt Smith, at least not the one who introduced his toddler to television in 2022 by showing him reruns of Mister Rogers Neighborhood.However, it did not stop there.The 31-year old Princeton graduate on sabbatical from his course of study in history, built a Mister Rogers Lego set that includes the living room and kitchen, the neighborhood of make-believe complete with a red trolley, fish tank, King Friday’s Castle, and a green sweater hanging in a closet, using exactly 1,968 Lego pieces in honor of the show’s 1968 premiere. Having begun his Lego prototype during the pandemic, when asked why he did it Smith replied, “Mister Rogers brings out the best in humanity,” who added that he hopes his design is a tribute to Roger’s cross-generational and non-denominational appeal. Smith’s Lego design pays homage to the show’s bold approach by including the kiddie pool that Fred Rogers and officer Francois Clemmons soaked their feet in during a now famous 1969 episode that was filmed when racially segregated pools were controversial, and after which only 7 months later the Supreme Court ruled you cannot deny pool access based on race.” That Smith’s unique Lego creation may have enough support to be designed by Legos is according to Smith, “not a testimony to him, but a tribute to the deep spiritual resonance that Fred Rogers ministry of kindness, gentleness, love, and acceptance brought to all people all over the country and the world.”(Kathryn Post, Religion News Service, June 2, 2023). Unlike Howard Thurman’s gentle stranger, we know the names of Smith and Rogers, and we also know them by who they are—compassionate shepherds.
And then there is this, a story told by Andrew Packman on himself. Coming from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) which practices open communion, Packman would engage in what he called a little Protestant protest any time he was in a service where he would be denied communion, moving forward but giving a confusing message to the priest as to whether or not he was to receive communion. At some point, Packman toned down his protest, and simply sat in his pew in quiet prayer while others got up to move forward to receive the Host. One summer while part of a study group and interfaith choir singing at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Belgrade, the choir had finished and was returning to the pews as members of the church began their slow movement out of the pews and toward the front to receive communion.Initially unified by the glorious music but now segregated because of church tradition and practice, Packman sat head bowed in the pew in what he described as his little prayer of Protestant protest. Suddenly, he was startled from his solitude by what he described as a portly man in a white robe scurrying down the side aisle, too quickly for a priest, too quickly for a 60-year old man. In an awkward scene, Packman said this Bosnian Franciscan took a handful of the Host and asked, ‘will you have communion?” “I muttered, yes I will.” “Christ’s body broken for you.” As the priest returned to the rest of his flock, I felt the emotion welling up from my gut into my throat and reaching up toward my eyes. My head fell in prayer—not of protest this time, but of gratitude…That ‘first communion’ reminded me that the God who shows up at communion is a God who brazenly—even awkwardly crosses divisions and differences to invite each of us to full participation in life with God.” No one knows the name of that Bosnian priest, but we know who he is…one of Jesus’ compassionate shepherds.
Matthew’s gospel gives the names of 12 people Jesus enlisted as his compassionate shepherds. We know since that day many more have been added to the list, whether we know them by name or not—a rough hewn man at a railroad station, a father building Legos, a Bosnian priest leaping down the aisle. Your names are on that list, and today we have added two more-- Reid and Blake. If anyone asks who you are, just tell them what Jesus said. We are compassionate shepherds, and that is the news that’s fit to print.