June 14,2020 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

  Matthew 9:36
 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Early in his ministry Jesus set the tone for all that he was to be.  He was to be compassionate!  For he came to represent a God who is compassionate.

Compassionate!  What a powerful word.

We know God best and we know the best about God through the word compassion.  For the most and the best that we can say about God...the first and the last word about God is, as the Psalmist repeats over and over and over again, that God “is gracious and merciful, (that is full of compassion) slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.”  Ps. 145:8,9

Is this not the heart of the scriptures testimony about God?
That God is not against us but for us;
God is not indifferent to our suffering, but is in it with us;
God is not angry with us because God delights in being angry, but because God loves us too much to not be angry.  And God will not remain angry for ever; for God’s anger is preceded as well as followed by compassion.  Even in moments of wrath, God’s love remains alive and primary!

We struggle to try put life into perspective.  To try see what it means beyond what it seems to mean.  To find something of God’s goodness in everything and dare believe that to walk with God is to walk with compassion at the center of our lives.

Even in a time of uncertainty - the pandemic we are now experiencing - we trust that God will not forsake us for God is in this with us.  God didn’t cause it to punish us.  God can use it to call us to live our lives with more compassion for others, for nature, and for all that is.

Where would we be in the end of the 21st century if compassion was more a part of our living and our being?  It is a question worth asking and struggling with as we walk through these days and determine how tomorrow will be.

Will we be like sheep without a shepherd or will we be like sheep who know a shepherd  who says, “Be merciful (compassionate) as your heavenly father is merciful (compassionate).”  Luke 6:36

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, as you are compassionate toward all, help me to be compassionate in my words and deeds, following in your footsteps.”