HELP FOR HOPELESSNESS
Matt. 9:1-12; 14:14; 20:34 Mk. 1:40-42 John 14:12 Gal. 6:2-6 1 Sam. 16:7
If you’ve ever been on a roller coaster, then you may remember that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you’re on that first big drop. It’s very much like when you hear some horrible news. Your stomach feels like it’s just been kicked. The biblical word for that feeling is “splachna.” It literally translates as a person’s “guts,” but the Greek translate it as “compassion.” They believed that different human emotions come from different parts of our body. Love for instance, came from the heart; compassion was – so to speak – “a gut feeling”.
The only person in the Bible that this word is associated with is Jesus. It says that Jesus felt this way when He encountered the sick in Matthew 14:14, “When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.” And when he encountered the blind in 20:34, “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they were healed.” and numerous other times. This morning I invite you to,
Please read with me from Matthew 9:1-12
Jesus’ caught the “teachers of the Law” off guard. If He had said, “Your sins are forgiven”, there would be no visible proof of it, and they could call it “blasphemy”. But the visible, physical healing of the paralytic was forgiveness WITH proof. This the teachers could NOT deny.
Our English word “compassion” comes from the Latin (com & pati) which together means, “suffering with others.” Some people possess a keen com-passion for the suffering of others. For some, it’s a gift. For others, it’s been cultivated. But Scripture tells us that all of us are called to have compassion whether gifted or not.
Here are some practical Ways to Cultivate Compassion:
1. We should see people through the eyes of Christ. Matthew 9:36 says, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
1 Samuel 16:7 tells us, “The lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We’re so tempted to look at the outward appearance only and to judge others by their looks or by their success or their mistakes. This starts early in life.
The story is told of a father who had a daughter in 3rd grade. She came to him one evening and very emotionally asked, “Daddy am I pretty?” He said, “Of course you are honey.” Then he tenderly asked, “Why are you asking me if you’re pretty?” She said tearfully, “The boys in my school were saying who the pretty girls are, and they didn’t say my name.” Can you feel her pain? If so, you have “splachna” … compassion … and you don’t need to see a doctor.
What Christ demonstrated was evangelism beyond teaching. In healing others, • Jesus’ actions proved God’s love, and His compassion. You could even say, “Jesus’ actions added His exclamation mark.” Jesus wants us to know that: • The greatest benefit of compassion is hope both for others and for ourselves.
By our compassion, we not only give hope to others who are in distress, but we renew our own hope that the Holy Spirit dwells within us. But if we don’t feel compassion – if we’re often critical of others – then we really need to reassess the nature of the spirit within us.
A Deacon found his newly-appointed pastor standing at the second floor window of his church office. He was weeping as he looked over the inner city’s tragic conditions. The Deacon sought to console him and gently said: “Don’t worry. After you’ve been here a while, you’ll get used to it.”
The minister replied, “Yes, I know. That’s why I’m crying.”
Do we sometimes become calloused by seeing so many in need? Sometimes we do – but I don’t think we need to. What we need is action. I’m reminded of an old episode from the T.V. series, “MASH”. In it, Hawkeye was called “a fool for trying to change the way the world is.” He responded, “I know I can’t change the world … but I can change my little corner of it.”
Whenever I feel overwhelmed by so much need and so few resources, I remember those words. Maybe it’s because sometimes we relate so deeply that it hurts, and we feel helpless to make a real difference. Sometimes we’re so inundated with the pain of others that we just tune it out. Generally, it’s those with the most tender hearts that find the pain most unbearable.
There are so many people who are suffering. Some by the very nature of their work, are confronted with suffering more than others. For them, especially, it’s good to remember that, “With God there are no accidents – no coincidences.” If God sends someone who is suffering into your life, it’s because God knows that you can do something – something that can make a difference. As we read in Matthew 25:35, “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in; I needed clothes and you clothed me; I was sick and you looked after me; I was in prison and you visited me.”
God knows whether we’ll help them or not. That makes it an opportunity – an opportunity for us to either help the person, or for us to learn a lesson about serving Christ. No experience is ever wasted with God – even if it only shows us, “What NOT to do.”
A Second Way to cultivate compassion is to… 2. Touch people where they hurt. Mark 1:40 tells this story, “A man with leprosy came to (Jesus) and begged him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.’ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be clean!’”
The amazing part of this healing is HOW Jesus did it – Jesus TOUCHED him! Why is that amazing? In Jesus’ day and in many places even today, lepers were required to stay at least six feet away from others – even their family. Because of their affliction, they know the depths of pain AND loneliness.
Philip Yancey tells the story of Dr. Paul Brand who devoted his life to treating leprosy patients in India. During one examination, Brand laid his hand on the patient’s shoulder, and through a translator, he explained the treatment that lay ahead. To his surprise, the man began to shake with muffled sobs.
“Have I said something wrong?” Brand asked the translator. She quizzed the patient and reported, “No, doctor. He says he is crying because you put your hand around his shoulder. Until he came here, no one had touched him for many years.” If the Holy Spirit is within us, then so is the touch of Christ. When Jesus touches us, however, we don’t always understand what happened.
There’s an old story about how Jesus appeared to a blind man in a small village. He laid hands on the man and prayed over him, and the man was healed. The townspeople were so touched by this miracle that they built a church and called it the, “Church of Laying on Hands and Healing.”
Then Jesus went to the next village and found another blind man. Jesus spit on the ground and made some mud. He applied the mud it to the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in the pool. The man did so and received his sight. The townspeople were so overjoyed that they started a church to honor Jesus, and they called it, “The First Church of Mud in Your Eye and Be Healed.”
Then Jesus went to yet a third village, and found a third blind man. Jesus told the man, “If you go and wash in this pool seven times, you will receive your sight.” So the man did as Jesus said, and he was healed. The third community was also appreciative of God’s miracle, and they also built a church and named it, “First Church of Washing Seven Times and Healing.”
Afterwards, Jesus called all three groups together for fellowship. But before long, they began to break down over a doctrinal dispute as to how healing takes place. One group said, “You can’t heal unless you lay hands on those who are sick.” The second group said, “That’s fine, but if you forget the mud in their eyes, it doesn’t work.” Then the third group said, “You guys only have part of the truth. You forget that washing seven times is the most important part.” The contention became so great among them that they broke fellowship. None of them wanted to fellowship with heretics any longer.
The reality is that their judgments were each based on a sliver of insight that God had given each of them. The whole truth, however, lay in the fact that Jesus “touched” them. By his touch, they were healed, and many others received hope. God gives us hope. It is this hope that we’re called to share with others.
• Hopelessness is the constant companion of loneliness. Through your relationship with Christ, you need never feel lonely or without hope again.
The Third Way to cultivate compassion is … 3. We serve Jesus by serving those in need … whether individually or in multitudes. We are each called to do what Jesus did in as much as the Holy Spirt empowers us to do so. Does it mean taking “risks”? Of course it does. • Action without risk doesn’t need faith.
In Matthew 28:16, we read the Great Commission of Christ, “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’”
We have received God’s commission, but some are still doubting … still unwilling to change. Which reminds me of two construction workers who were eating lunch. One said, “I hope I don’t have another meat loaf sandwich. I’m getting tired of meatloaf.” He opens his lunch box, and there’s a meatloaf sandwich. – The next day, the same worker opens his lunch box and says, “Meatloaf again! I hate this stuff!” – The third day, he opens his lunchbox and says, “Meatloaf again! I really hate it!” After three days of hearing this, the other guy finally says, “Why don’t you just ask your wife to fix you something different?” The complainer replies, “I’m not married. I make my own lunch.”
You see, there’s some of us who make our own lunches but complain about what we get. By faith, though, we can change that! If we allow it, the Holy Spirit can change who we are; how we act … and what we have for lunch. Sometimes we just need compassion on ourselves; compassion enough to take care of others…and ourselves.
In John 14:12, Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, all who have faith in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” If you’re willing to step out in faith, to touch and serve in obedience to Christ, others will also know the touch and compassion of Christ in you and through you. If you have faith and receive the healing touch of God.
PLEASE JOIN WITH ME IN PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, we have felt the touch of Your Son Jesus Christ. It has changed us, O Lord, but our change is not complete. Grant us the courage and strength to run the whole race – the race which You have marked out for us. Fill our hearts with the hope and compassion of Christ that we may feel and share the touch of Christ with those you give us. This we pray, for Your glory, in Christ’s name. Amen
