"learning To Fill The Empty Spaces"

“Learning to Fill the Empty Spaces”

Matthew 14:13-21

What a year this has been.

We are social creatures.

So, it's no surprise that COVID-19 fatigue has set in for so many of us.

We humans are wired to come together physically, but social distancing has just made that nearly impossible.

Obviously, there is no playbook for COVID-19.

There is no guideline that explains how isolation should be done, how hospitals should be prepared, or what we can expect when and if things start to go back to normal.

The truth is, much of what we are doing is unscripted, unknowable, and uncertain.

And that, it turns out, is creating a great deal of anxiety, fear, and even depression for Americans.

A lot folks have been telling me that they feel a kind of emptiness inside them.

It’s as if, perhaps, many of us are grieving what we have lost—the ability to have backyard cookouts with our friends, get-togethers at Church, in-person worship…

…or even being able to go out to eat or grab a cup of coffee with a friend.

Others are struggling to piece together money to pay bills, or they’re worried about their health and safety (or that of everyone in their house).

Today, Americans are reporting more symptoms and signs of depression, anxiety, and fear than historic norms.

It’s easy to feel lonely when so many people are staying close to home, avoiding gatherings, and many businesses are shuttered.

Social connection is essential to our well-being, and prolonged isolation can increase the risk of depression and anxiety, and emptiness.

But that doesn’t mean we just throw up our hands.

What it does mean is its time to start doing something about it.

This morning’s Gospel Lesson from Matthew is the only miracle, aside from the Resurrection, that is included in all four Gospels.

This should tell us something about its importance.

One of the things I like best about the feeding of the 5,000 is that this miracle captures Jesus’ concern for both the material and spiritual needs of people.

In this story Jesus heals the sick, encourages people when they are sad, and when they are hungry—he feeds them.

And the key word that holds all this together is “compassion.”

“Jesus…saw a crowd” and “he had compassion on them.”

Of all the descriptions of how Jesus views us—that is my favorite—by far.

In the Gospels, we are told that Jesus had compassion on folks before He healed them, compassion for sinners, for the lost, for the lonely, for the sad, and when he was traveling through the different villages we are told that “he had compassion on [the people], because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

That is Who our Savior is—that is what our God is like.

The verb “have compassion” is always evoked by a need that Jesus sees.

Jesus is very observant.

He looks at the crowds with a heart sensitive to their needs.

And what Jesus sees is the helplessness of people, and that touches Him deeply.

He feels compassion.

He is moved to help people and to teach His disciples the great necessity of really seeing people and having compassion for them.

Compassion is a feeling, and like any feeling, it’s not something we can just decide to have.

It comes in reaction to something.

I personally believe that our capacity to have compassion is shaped by how we look at others.

It’s a way in which we are able to identify with people, and it seems to me that this empathetic identification with others begins when we listen well to the other person.

This is what Jesus did and does.

I mean, to hear someone is one thing.

To really listen is to hear and also to appreciate where someone else stands, how someone else feels, how someone else thinks.

It’s a means by which we take another person seriously and thus give them dignity.

We can’t have compassion unless we enter into another person’s life by identifying with them.

And that is what Jesus does.

That is also what, we, as Jesus’ followers are called to do as well.

And when we do this, it helps to fill our empty spaces.

Our Gospel Passage this morning starts in the middle of something else that is going on.

What do I mean by that?

Well, just look at verse 13 where we began.

It says, “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.

Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.”

What has Jesus just heard?

King Herod has executed Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist.

He had been beheaded as a party favor for Herod’s daughter.

It’s no wonder Jesus needed some time alone to pray and grieve.