I shop at the Walgreens store on Lincoln Avenue. It is located at an intersection of two major thoroughfares in Chicago which is perhaps why it has become a gathering spot for those who are seeking assistance from passer bys. There is after all a much greater chance of assistance if you have access to a lot of people passing by. However, I often wonder how much more damage happens if you have to watch so many people power past your plight. What does it feel like to sit with a cup in need of coins when the average consumer that passes you has just spent thirty five dollars mostly on items they didn’t know they needed when they entered the store?
I’m no better than most of those that pass by. I too have put my head down and powered past, picked up my cell phone and pretended to be occupied or placed a few coins in the cup to placate my conscience. But in recent years I have found myself less and less capable of continuing my course when there is human in my path that could use my care. I’d like to think it’s because there is becoming less of the me that can walk past and more of Jesus within me that can’t help himself but care for those he passes.
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Matthew 9:35-37
Perhaps if this Jesus comes to live within us we too will begin see the crowds. Perhaps we will no longer just see a mass of people but instead maybe Jesus will heal our eyes so that we will notice Joe who used to love to play basketball before he lost his leg in Vietnam, or Violet who left her home to avoid the abuse, or Enrique who comes to class exhausted because his family slept in a shelter last night. I think if Jesus would place his hands on our eyes and heal our blindness perhaps we would no longer pass by Joe and Violet and Enrique, for we would be able to see that they are harassed and helpless. And perhaps if we could see things for what they really are compassion would well up from within us.
Jesus actions are more often than not moved by compassion rather than duty, duty is a start but compassion is more Christ like. The original Greek word for compassion is expressive of the deepest emotion; an emotion that comes up from the bowels of a person as they are moved from the innermost parts of their being. Moved with compassion he touches their eyes so that they can see. Filled with compassion he reaches out and touches the leper. Having compassion he could not send the hungry crowds away. Something from within in him welled up and worked its way out of him. Compassion created a compulsion within Jesus that insisted that he not just walk by the helpless and harassed.
In chapel today we also begin our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month and we are delighted to have Reverend Alexia Salvatierra with us this morning. Rev. Salvatierra is determined to discredit what she calls the “great lie” that some people are worth more than others. An ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church, she is a leader in the New Sanctuary Movement, dedicated to protecting immigrants in the US who face a range of human rights violations, from racial discrimination to deportation. As executive director of CLUE-CA, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an organization of more than 800 religious leaders and congregations in Los Angeles County, Alexia advocates for economic justice at the local level, helping the urban poor in their struggles for living wages, health benefits, and safe working conditions. She earned a master’s of divinity from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, CA, and a bachelor’s degree in sociology and religious studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. Come and be challenged today by the call of Jesus to look out at the crowds and have compassion upon them.
May God grant us the ability to see and a compulsion for compassion.
