Compelling Compassion
Text: Luke 10:25-37
Theme: God’s compassion compels him to act on our behalf
Doctrine: Attributes of God: Compassion
Need: God gives us compassion to meet the crisis
Image: Forrest Gump on the first day of school
Mission: Have compassion for those who are in crisis
Introduction:
One Monday afternoon, a student at the Jerusalem Graduate School of Theology stood up in class to test Jesus. “Professor,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with your entire mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” As a good theology student, he recited these laws twice a day, even when Dr. Reid wasn’t around.
“You have answered correctly,” Professor Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” But, being a brilliant graduate student, and a little uneasy with the simple answer; he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus told this story: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, a journey of eighteen miles. It was called the ‘Bloody Way’ because it was a dangerous trip through steep, rocky passages. It would be similar to walking down a dark alley on the seedy side of Chicago with hundred dollar bills hanging out of your pockets. He fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest named Gnosko (Gk: Knowledge), happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite named Goggusten (Gk: Murmuring), when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan named Goando, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he was tempted to put his donkey in reverse, but instead, he had compassion on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then Goando put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him throughout the night. The next day he took out two silver coins’ and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him for the next few weeks,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.” The innkeeper knew Goando to be a man of integrity, so he agreed to his request.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The theology student, hoping to graduate Magna Cum Laude, replied, “The one who had compassion on him.” (He couldn’t bring himself to say “the Samaritan” even if it meant getting a hundred on the test)
Jesus looked him in the eye and told him, “Now go and do likewise.”
TROUBLE IN TEXT: COMPASSION IS LACKING
This familiar text is found in Luke 10:25. Here we see a person who has been robbed, beaten, stripped and left for dead by robbers. He had been beaten with such force that he was just lying there and couldn’t get up. He was so badly injured he had crawled off and was just waiting to die. The robbers create a crisis in this man’s life and in the lives of those passing by the injured victim.
The religious men were not moved with compassion to take action. They are not malicious, they don’t attack him, but neither did they attend to him. They ignored the problem; they were passive. Maybe, they were fearful of touching the dead and being ceremonially unclean. They remain aloof and preserve their purity. It was just easier for them not to get involved. They chose not to do anything. It’s not what they did; it’s what they didn’t do. The opposite of compassion is not hatred, but rather indifference and apathy.
John F. Kennedy, in quoting Dante’s Inferno said the “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those, who during a time of moral crisis, do nothing.” “They passed by on the other side.” They did nothing. They were good… good for nothing. Compassion compels the Samaritan into action on behalf of the wounded.
The innkeeper treats the problem professionally. He agrees to take care of the man for a fee. Who’s the hero of the story? Not the innkeeper, he’s a hired hand, an HMO. It’s a business proposition for him.
Theologians like to ask questions. “What one thing must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus tells him to answer his own question from scripture. He says love God and love people. Jesus says do this and you will live. He didn’t say he would inherit eternal life. Maybe the theologian was asking the wrong question. He was focused on inheriting eternal life and wanted to know what one deed would obligate God to give him what he wanted. Jesus tells him a story because he failed to realize that inheriting eternal life comes from living life in the present tense with a heart of compassion that compels one to action to aid someone in need.
PAGE 2 TROUBLE IN THE WORLD: PEOPLE ARE BEATEN AND BLEEDING AND WE LACK COMPASSION
The majority of people in the story lacked compassion and concern. Just as the robbers who beat the man traveling to Jericho, John 10:10 tells us Satan has come to steal, kill and destroy. Our people in our churches are being attacked, beaten and robbed. Many in your church are lying half dead in the road (in the pews). Satan has viciously thrown people down. He has stolen their self-respect; he has destroyed their dreams, their noble thoughts, and their noble deeds. People are badly wounded. They’ve been terribly used and abused in a world that lacks compassion.
The great need today is for us to recognize the wounded people in our life. It’s easy to see physical wounds, but how can we recognize the wounded soul? Numerous wounded people come to our churches only to be misunderstood and re-injured. Churches too often shoot their wounded. We often misjudge them as rebels, cynics. They’re unfriendly and weird. We must learn to look beyond the surface and see people with wounded souls. They are wounded from physical abuse, spiritual abuse, and the pain of death or desertion in their life. Some have self-inflicted wounds from a lifestyle of sin, drug and alcohol abuse, homosexuality or adultery. Some are wounded with the guilt and shame of Internet pornography. They’re often brooding and angry because they are injured. They’re not very friendly.
In the movie Forrest Gump there is a scene that I think will help us. Forrest says, “It’s funny how you remember some things. I remember the bus ride on the first day of school very well.” Forrest is sitting on a tree stump as the big yellow school bus stops and his mother encourages him to do well in school. The lonely and frightened boy with the big silver braces boards the gigantic yellow bus, and as he walks down the aisle looking for a seat, he hears, “Seat’s taken.” He walks on “Taken.” He goes on, searching for a friendly face. “You cain’t sit here.”
That scene really describes the world we live in. We live in a world that does not show much compassion to those who are different, those who are crippled with sin and have been assaulted by Satan. The world is getting on the bus. They are looking for a place to sit. They are looking for compassion and kindness.
There is a great lack of compassion in our world today. Consider the unborn children of America, those who live in their mother’s womb. The womb of its own momma was the place God designed to be the safest and most secure place on the planet for an unborn baby. Instead, a mother’s womb has become the most dangerous place in America because of abortion on demand. The most dangerous place in America is not the crack house in South Central LA, it’s not in the ghettos of New York, and it is not on the unfriendly sidewalks of Philadelphia. The most dangerous place in America is for an unborn baby is in its own mother’s womb. Professionals tear babies from their momma’s with forceps and a license to kill. America has compassion and weeps over the death of a baby seal, but there is no compassion and no weeping over the murder of babies created in the image their Maker. Shame on America! Shame on us if we do not speak for those with no legal defense, those with no protection from their own mothers. Satan deceives and steals a mother’s compassion for her own baby. The Devil’s desire is to slaughter her baby, and devastate her soul. Those moms are victims of Satan’s cruel voice telling them it is only a fetus; it’s only birth tissue. Momma, that’s your baby. Don’t let Satan take that life that God has placed in your womb. God has entrusted you with a baby for you to protect and keep safe. America too is often cruel to the most innocent and the most vulnerable. There is a lack of compassion in America.
Let me zoom in with the camera a little bit. I have failed at compassion. I am amazed at my own lack of compassion. Sometimes, I could care less about the world’s lost condition. Too often I just don’t care about the pain of others. I confess I fail to have compassion on you, my fellow Christians. I’m not concerned if you’re struggling. I don’t pray for your ministry enough, for your families and your faithfulness. I too often just don’t care. I don’t want to get involved. But, shouldn’t we in the church, we who gather as Christians together under one roof be a big yellow bus of compassion and concern? Jesus said others would know we’re his disciples by the way we love each other. I fail miserably at compassion. There are times I feel like ripping my chest open and taking that pathetic little heart to God with the desperate plea, “Would you please look at this, God, and assure me there is a place in there that has room for you and room for other people and their pain?” I regrettably fall short of compassion for you and others.
Maybe you say what I say, “I’m already too busy. I don’t have time.” It’s risky. With every need that comes our way we ask, “Should I get involved?” The question shouldn’t be: “Is this dangerous, will it cost a lot?” The question we should ask is, “Is this something Jesus would do?” “Is it something God would want done?” Our prayer should be, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of God.”
PAGE 3: GOD IN THE TEXT: GOD’S COMPASSION COMPELS HIM TO ACT
The Samaritan is the hero and he solves the crisis. The theologian could not bring himself to say the name “Samaritan.” Those stinkin Samaritans who had scattered human bones in the courts of the beloved temple in the beloved Jerusalem. A putrid Samaritan; he was despised as a half Jew who worshipped on the wrong mountain. To eat the food of a Samaritan would be akin to eating fried pork chops in the temple. Some rabbis prohibited anyone from helping a Gentile woman who was giving birth because they would be helping one more Gentile come into the world. The Samaritans were worse than other Gentiles. The point is that the Samaritan provides aid to one who despised him. In John 8:48, Jesus is scornfully accused of being a “Samaritan.”
The text says this Samaritan “had compassion on him.” His heart went out to him. The word for compassion in our text is splagchnizomai. It is the word used of Jesus in Matthew 9:36, “When he saw the crowds, they were harassed and helpless and he had “splagchnizomai” on them. He was moved in his gut. He had this emotion well up in his visceral parts. It is this pity, this compassion that compelled him to take action. The text says the Samaritan saw him, then he had compassion, he went, he bandaged, and he poured oil and wine on his wounds. He put the man on his own donkey. He took him to the inn. He took care of the stranger’s injuries (perhaps late into the night). He paid the innkeeper to take care of the man and he promised to reimburse any extra expense. Compassion compelled Goando to action. He never feels like he’s done enough.
The Samaritan is like Jesus because his compassion was more than pity; it was a driving force that compelled him to act on behalf of those wounded. The priest and the Levite saw the wounded and turned away. Jesus saw the wounded and rushed to their aid. Jesus’ splagchnizomai compelled him to reach out and meet specific needs. He healed (Mk 14:14). He taught (Mk 6:34). He provided food (Mt 15:32-38). He forgave (Luke 7:37-48). He loved people and people moved him to action.
The Samaritan in the story took the injured man to a safe place, the Inn. God, in his grace, has provided the church as a safe place for those who are wounded spiritually. The church is a hospital where the weak and wounded can enter and find acceptance and safety from Satan and his terrorists from hell.
Remember Jenny, the girl in Forrest Gump. She was always going astray. She was into drugs and immorality. She didn’t read his letters. But, Forrest just loves her. He keeps on loving her even when she tells him to leave her alone and stop rescuing her. Forrest loved Jenny even when it was unreciprocated and unappreciated. Isn’t God like that with people in the Bible? He continues to have splagchnizomai even when people ignore him and refuse his love and compassion. Splagchnizomai, compassion, is what the Father felt in Luke 15 when he saw his boy coming home from the pigpen. In Isaiah 49:15, the word for compassion is related to the Hebrew word for “womb” and expresses a mother’s love and compassion, a feeling of pity and devotion to a helpless child. It is a deep emotional feeling. Compassion is what God feels for his people and he acts on that compassion at great cost to himself.
It’s interesting that Goando didn’t just walk up and miraculously heal the wounded man. That would have been too easy. Compassion is costly. It cost Goando time, money and energy. Compassion is costly, it cost God his Only Begotten Son. Jesus traveled the “Bloody Way” to the cross so that he could pour, not wine and oil, but his own blood on a world wounded by sin and selfishness.
PAGE FOUR: GOD IN THE WORLD TODAY: GOD’S COMPASSION COMPELS HIM TO ACT ON OUR BEHALF.
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was known as the “Bloody Way.” The road from Jerusalem to Golgotha is also known a bloody way. That road traveled by our Lord out of compassion for us opened the way for God to pour out his love into our hearts. Where was God when trouble came to the man on the road to Jericho? Where is God when I’m in trouble? God was working in the heart of the Samaritan, just as he was trying to work in the heart of the priest and the Levite and even the robbers. God showed up in the form of a Samaritan with a heart of compassion that day . Romans 5:5, tells us “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” I’m told that the meaning here is that God has poured out all of his love into our hearts through his Holy Spirit. He’s held nothing back. We have the love of God in our hearts. We have the potential for great compassion because we have all of God’s compassion in our hearts.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called today to allow the compassion of Christ to compel us to go and do something for somebody.
With that in mind, let me suggest three things:
1. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 “We have spoken freely to you Corinthians and opened wide our hearts to you…As a fair exchange, open wide your hearts also.” Open your heart to see what God wants you to see on the highway of life. Pray sincerely, “Let my heart be broken with the things that break your heart, O God.” That is a dangerous prayer. Don’t pray it unless you mean it because it might take you to places you never thought you would go.
2. James 1:19 “Be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Refrain from giving pat answers to people. Listen, listen, and listen some more!
3. Romans 12:15 “Weep with those who weep.” Don’t preach at those who weep, weep!
Good theology makes Good Samaritans. Theologians with hearts of compassion are compelled to act on behalf of those stripped and beaten by Satan. Bad theology makes priests and Levites who walk on the other side of the road when they see a mess.
Remember Forrest on the first day of school. “Seat’s taken.” “Taken”, “You cain’t sit here.”
Forrest: (voice-over) You know its funny what a young man recollects. I, I... don’t recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don’t know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But, I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice... in the wide world.
Girl: “You can sit here if you want.” It’s the voice of Jenny as she invites him to sit beside her.
Forrest: (voice-over) I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. She was like an angel.
When we were lonely and insecure, when it was the first day of school spiritually and we had no friends, God said to us, “You can sit here if you want.” Do you remember that day? Now God bids us to extend that same invitation to those in our life who are injured emotionally, physically and spiritually. You can be the sweetest voice in the wide world or you can shake your head and say in your heart “seat’s taken.”
Forrest tells Jenny, “I’m not very smart, but I know what love is.” People know what love is and that is what they need from us. What does our compassion compel us to do? We see in Goando, the Samaritan, a heart of compassion that compelled him to action.
You know what, did I mention Goando’s last name? It’s Likewise. Go and do likewise.
And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
