The Weary World Rejoices
Week Two - A Time for Compassion
Isaiah 40:27-28 and Luke 7:11-15
27 Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. —Isaiah 40:27-28
God doesn’t get tired…
…and Jesus specializes in
11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”
14 Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. —Luke 7:11-15
In Jewish tradition, the dead were buried outside of the town gates because they were considered unclean. It’s the same reason they were carrying the body on a wooden bed - you weren’t supposed to touch the body. Jesus’ compassion for the mother takes him directly to the body.
Compassion and pity are very different things -
“Feeling pity is a negative emotion; compassion is a positive emotion. Compassion equates yourself with others and is close to the feelings of others; you sit with them. Feeling pity for others is not sharing their feelings and become an outsider. … A strong urge to do something for another is real compassion.” (Dr. Kazuko, writing about the experience of helping after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011).Jesus comes for a world that needs a Savior
The Lord is compassionate and abounding in steadfast love. (Psalms 103 and 145)
Where does that leave us?
Still weary - but Jesus has what we need.
Still weary - but able to show compassion.
Advent - a time for watching, a time for compassion