THE DIVINE COMPASSION

Sermon delivered on the 6th Sunday after Trinity, the 31st July 2011 by Fr Nicholas JG Sykes in the congregation of St. Alban's Church of England, George Town, Cayman Islands.

Scriptures: Isaiah 55: 1-5 Romans 9: 1-5 S. Matthew 14: 13-21

Matthew 14: 15f The disciples said, "Send the crowds away ... to buy food for themselves." Jesus said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

HOILIDAY BREAKS

Holiday breaks of one kind or another are no doubt in many people's minds just now - some are on holiday at the moment. We always look forward to a break, or perhaps a retreat or a conference, and I think most of us, while enjoying it, know also that home is a very good place to be and are always glad to have returned. Rest and recreation take many forms. One of them could be a church retreat. This would be a worthwhile thing for us to do to when the opportunity is presented, and the church council has discussed the possibility of a 2-day retreat in Cayman Brac early next year.

JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES EMBARK ON A RETREAT

The account of the Feeding of the Five Thousand begins also, at least in the synoptic gospels, with Jesus and His disciples trying to take a break. In all three of the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke, this desire to go to a lonely place away from others forms part of the narrative that occurs right after they receive the news of the assassination of John the Baptist. St Matthew's Gospel seems to imply that this circumstance, which will provide something of a turning point for Jesus' own ministry, is the actual reason for the desire to withdraw to a lonely place. St. Mark and to a lesser extent St. Luke link the desire for retreat to the return of the apostles from the exhausting ministry to the towns and villages to which He had appointed them. It's probably a waste of time trying to discover the exact circumstances. Suffice it to say Jesus and His disciples were intending to retreat to a lonely place apart from others, but in the event they were spotted and followed by crowds of people. No doubt Jesus could have dismissed them immediately, but it is recorded that he had compassion on them and healed their sick. The compassion took precedence over the original intention, and I believe this is something we must always bear in mind about God's modus operandi, his propensity to form a "Plan B". In our own intentions and timetables, too, we must allow ourselves to be made flexible, not by irresolution, but by compassion, if as disciples of Christ and children of God, we would reflect the divine mind.

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY?

When in the evening of a day of heavy ministry the disciples came to Jesus and suggested to Him that it was time now to send the crowds away, they were not without compassion, because they knew that the people would need to get something to eat, and how else were they to feed themselves but to buy food from the inhabitants of nearby villages? Yet it would be surprising if some self-interest were not involved. Their intended quiet day with the Lord had, after all, been completely disrupted. At least now, they thought, they could reasonably divest themselves of responsibility for all these people. They can't have been too pleased when Jesus put the responsibility for them right back into their own lap. He said, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat."

THE SALVE OF COMPASSION

In the account of the Feeding of the Four Thousand, which St. Matthew records not long after the Feeding of the Five Thousand, and which some scholars regard as a fifth parallel account of the same miracle, Jesus talks about His own motivation. He says: "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way." The account of the desert temptations which He had undergone shows us that it could be a sin for him to demonstrate His power by miraculously producing food. In the context of the desert temptations the miracle would have been done at the suggestion of Satan and in the interest of Satan. Now, however, a not dissimilar miracle at the hands of Jesus is recorded as being motivated by pure and disinterested compassion. We can reasonably conclude that the presence of compassion makes the exercise of divine power safe. For whatever power God gives to man to be exercised becomes a dangerous thing in the wrong spiritual context, and, notably, in the absence of compassion.

THE DIVINE COMPASSION FOR ISRAEL

In our Old Testament lesson we see the Lord’s gracious and consoling appeal to the kingdom of David, namely Judah, which was in crisis. The whole of this middle section of the book of Isaiah demonstrates not merely the disastrous effect of Israel’s hard-headedness, hard-heartedness and foolishness, resulting in being carried off in captivity and the destruction of the nation, but also the divine compassion. “Incline your ear, and come to me;” says God. “Hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”

THE ENDURING COMPASSION OF GOD

The second lesson too shows the apostle Paul feeling great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart. This was because of his compassion and sense of identification with his own Jewish kinsmen, in their state of alienation from the Christ that through their official representatives they had cast out. We cannot but conclude that God Himself regards His own ancient children the Jews, who even in recent history have been the butt of the rejection of Gentiles, with the compassion that St. Paul was experiencing, though tragically their alienation from their Christ seems to endure with undiminished strength.

One of my favourite Old Testament stories is to be found in Genesis 32: 22-31, where a shadowy figure with whom Jacob wrestles all night represents God Himself. Jacob comes away from the ordeal somewhat worse for wear, and yet the sense of divine compassion is still evident from this ancient report. Jacob is compassionately permitted to prevail in the contest. He is even allowed to look at his adversary, though only in the hours of darkness. The fact that the divine figure must go before daybreak is usually supposed to be evidence of the primitive nature of the story, but it could be interpreted as showing the divine compassion for Jacob, since no human may clearly see the face of God and live. Above all, though Jacob has to wrestle for it, he is blessed as he requests, and this is where he is given his new name Israel. If and when we too have our times of wrestling with God, we do well to remember that though He is appearing as our adversary, it is He who is compassionately giving us the grace to endure and He who must in the end define us and our destiny.

Whether it be in rest, retreat, or the lack or loss of them, in suffering or spiritual travail, the knowledge of the enduring compassion of God revealed for all time in the Passion of Christ, our reception of it and our participation in it, is the key to our destiny and our victory.