Opening:
Brothers and sisters, Advent is our time for preparation. We’re preparing for His coming!
What better way than to admit how we stand in need His forgiveness and His mercy.
I confess, etc.
The Gospel Matt 15:29-37
At that time:
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,
went up on the mountain, and sat down there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,
and many others.
They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.
The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,
the deformed made whole,
the lame walking,
and the blind able to see,
and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus summoned his disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
for they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
I do not want to send them away hungry,
for fear they may collapse on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place
to satisfy such a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,
gave thanks, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.
After the Gospel:
Jesus had compassion for the crowd, away from home and hungry.
He saw the problem and helped.
He exemplified compassion all through his ministry on earth.
When the crowds brought with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, he saw their problems and healed them.
When He saw the fatigue of today’s crowd and their hunger, He invited them to rest and gave them something to eat.
When Jesus saw Lazarus’ friends weeping at the tomb, he wept alongside them, then he called Lazarus forth.
When the woman described as “bent over” and “unable to stand up straight” came into the synagogue as Jesus was teaching, he interrupted his teaching, called her over,
and healed her.
When Jesus entered the city of Nain as a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his widowed mother, Jesus saw her, and said, ‘Do not weep.’
Then He touched the open coffin, and commanded ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’
And gave him back to his mother.
Words and feelings don’t get things done. We can feel sorry for someone, we can express our sympathy, but compassion is going a step further and actually doing something about it, taking action to help them.
The word “Compassion” may not show up much in our everyday conversations, but it’s something that has to be constantly in our hearts, and show up in our actions.
As the Letter of James puts it;
“Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and be well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is that?”
Our compassion must be like that of Jesus, prompting us to act on the behalf of the hurting.