April 22, 2007

Attitude Adjustments: Compassion

My Sore Finger

Mark 5:24b-34

Opening Words: Austrian psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: To choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” He knew what we often forget, your attitude about life is extremely important. It affects the way that you experience everyday of life. It is for this reason that I have decided to dedicate the next fourteen weeks to examining our attitudes in my new sermon series, Attitude Adjustments. A complete list of this series can be found on the church website or in the next edition of The Voice. This list is not short. We will cover everything from compassion to patriotism.

Romans 12:1 will act as the theme for the entire series. The apostle Paul writes in that verse, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” What is Paul saying? He is saying that the attitudes you hold in your life are important. Are your attitudes about life pleasing to God? Or are your attitudes holding you back from making a maximum impact for Jesus in this world? As disciples of Jesus we are expected to surrender everything that is not of God. Is that your story?

Today we begin our study by looking at our attitude about compassion. One of the great qualities you need to cultivate in your life is one of compassion. Do you really care about the suffering in this world or has your heart grown too hard. Let me call this message, My Sore Finger. The primary text is Mark 5:24b-34.

Mark 5:24-34 A large crowd followed and pressed around him. ²⁵And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. ²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." ²⁹Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

    ³⁰At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

    ³¹"You see the people crowding against you," his disciples answered, "and yet you can ask, 'Who touched me?' "

    ³²But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. ³³Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering."

Dwight Morrow once held a dinner party. On the guest list was Calvin Coolidge. After Coolidge left, Morrow told the remaining guests that Coolidge would make a good president. The others disagreed. They felt Coolidge was too quiet, that he lacked color and personality. No one would like him, they said. Morrow’s six year old daughter Anne spoke up: "I liked him," she said. Then she displayed a finger with a small bandage around it. "He was the only one at the party who asked about my sore finger." Everyone laughed but Morrow ended the discussion by saying, "And that's why he would make a good president.” 

I do not know if history will remember Calvin Coolidge as a good president but I do know he demonstrated a quality that is unique to our world. The ability to notice a little girl’s sore finger in the middle of a sea of demanding adults shows he was a man of compassion. Webster defines compassion as “sympathy for the suffering of others, often including a desire to help.” Calvin Coolidge had that quality in his life. I hope you have that quality in your life. Would you notice the sore finger of a six year old girl in the middle of a sea of demanding adults? Jesus had that ability. Jesus was a man of compassion.

Would anyone describe you as a person of compassion? There are many sore fingers in our world. Or are you majoring in yourself? Is there anyone here who wasn’t moved by the news out of Virginia Tech this week? Is there anyone here who was moved at the news from Shields Road? We have done the same thing a million times. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. The man was driving down the road and was killed instantly by a falling tree. My heart almost stopped. When you hear about world hunger do you really care? When you hear about international missions do you get mad? Because, you just don’t trust the rest of the world because you are a narrow minded person? Have you ever said, “We need to take care of our own. Their problems are their problems and our problems are our problems.” No, through the eyes of God their problems are our problems and let me say this clearly. One of God’s problems is you. God can not use you to your fullest potential because your heart is hard and your eyesight is limited. Disciples are individuals who are trying to be like Jesus. We are in the disciple making business. Jesus was a man of compassion. Would anyone describe you as a person of compassion? Jesus was a man of compassion.

We find the Master in the fifth chapter of Mark. Jesus encounters a woman who has much more then a sore finger. He encounters a woman who has been abused by her society. To the best of our knowledge, she has not been physical abused. She was been abused by her society socially, emotionally and spiritually. The scriptures tell us she had been hemorrhaging for twelve years. So for twelve long years her society told her she was dirty and everything she had touched was contaminated. They told her that God was angry with her; her suffering was product of her sinful nature. She lived in a cloud of guilt and shame. There was no hope in her life for change. Then one day she discovers that Jesus is coming to her town. With that information also comes hope. She had heard of his healing power. This is her opportunity to be made whole again and she seizes that opportunity. She breaks the rules of her society and gets in the crowd. When Jesus draws near everyone is pushing and shoving. She reaches out and touches his robe. Immediately, according to the text, she is healed. Jesus feels the healing power leave his body and stops the whole parade to talk to her. He could have spoken words of condemnation. She broke the rules! Instead, he spoke words of compassion. Verse 34 says, “He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering." In other words, Jesus said to her “how is your sore finger?” There is power in compassion.

Today let me look at three characteristics about compassion. I borrow these points from retired United Methodist pastor James W. Moore. My goal is to help you become more compassionate so God will use you to your fullest potential. So if you are ready to notice some sore fingers in this world say, “Amen!”

Compassion is Self-Giving

Characteristic number one is compassion is self-giving. Look at the story with me. Jesus is in the middle of a crowd. Everyone is pushing and shoving. Suddenly a woman touches him. Let me state the obvious. There is a difference between a push and a touch. Verse 30 says, “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him.” That verse is significant because it tells us we can not really help someone half-heartedly. You have to give something of yourself.

It has become our family tradition to vacation the week between Christmas and New Years. It is at the end of a busy season for me. It is a time to rest and be together. Last year we went to Williamsburg. Have you ever been to Williamsburg? I liked Williamsburg but I really enjoyed Yorktown. I learned the American Revolution and the sacrifices of those patriots. For example, we visited the home of Thomas Nelson. At the battle of Yorktown, the British General Cornwallis had taken over Thomas Nelson's home for his headquarters. Nelson was in a hard spot but he quietly ordered General George Washington to open fire on his home. A few minutes later his home was destroyed. He financially never recovered. Thomas Nelson died bankrupt. No one can question is commitment to the cause. He gave all he had to the foundation of our country.

John Henry Jowett once said, “Ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing.” Jesus gave a little of himself that day to the woman and she was healed. Jesus gave himself on a Friday so we had to the hope of living for eternity. Characteristic number one is compassion is self-giving. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!” Would you notice the sore figure of a six year old girl?

Compassion is Gracious

Characteristic number two is compassion is gracious. One of the things I like about this story is the way Jesus related to the woman. There is no sign of intimidation. He doesn’t try to correct her. He doesn’t tell her what she did wrong. He doesn’t ask her why she is in the crowd. He doesn’t wonder why he interrupted him. She doesn’t question her theology or superstitions. He doesn’t even care that he was viewed as a last resort. He treats this forgotten unloved woman with dignity. Compassion is gracious. Do you treat the preacher and the custodian in the same way?

Some of you remember the story of Desmond Tutu. He was once asked why he became an Anglican rather than joining some other denomination. He replied that in the days of apartheid, when a black person and a white person met while walking on a footpath, the black person was expected to step into the gutter to allow the white person to pass and nod their head as a gesture of respect. "One day" Tutu says, "when I was just a little boy, my mother and I were walking down the street when a tall white man, dressed in a black suit, came toward us. Before my mother and I could step off the sidewalk, as was expected of us, this man stepped off the sidewalk and, as my mother and I passed, tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to her! I was more than surprised at what had happened and I asked my mother, ‘Why did that white man do that?’ My mother explained, ‘He's an Anglican priest. He's a man of God, that's why he did it.’ When she told me that he was an Anglican priest I decided there and then that I wanted to be an Anglican priest too. And what is more, I wanted to be a man of God."

Jesus had every reason to berate and correct this woman but it never happened. He treated her with respect. Jesus had compassion on her. Characteristic number two is compassion is gracious. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!” Would you notice the sore figure of a six year old girl?

Compassion is Active

Characteristic number three is compassion is active. Go back to the story with me one more time. The woman has been suffering for twelve years. That day would have been like every other day except for one thing. Jesus was on his way into town. She searches Jesus out as a last resort. And when she touched his robe he was healed. Compassion is active.

Eugene Ormandy once dislocated his shoulder when he was conducting the Philadelphia orchestra. He got so involved in the music that he dislocated his

shoulder. Have you ever done anything that that kind of zeal, energy, passion? Compassion is becoming emotionally involved in someone else’s problem to the point that you actually do something. Jesus was the perfect picture of compassion. Jesus was always ready to love, help and act. Are you? Compassion is self-giving. Compassion is gracious. Compassion is active. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

Let me end with these words.

A bell is not a bell until you ring it.

A song is not a song until you sing it.

Love is not put into your heart to stay.

Love is only love when you give it away.

Are you now ready to see the sore finger on a six year old girl?