After Pentecost Devotional - Day 70

“I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don’t have anything to eat. Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home.” Mark 8:2-3

By what definitions were Jesus and the disciples responsible for feeding the crowds who had run out of food? Had the people not made the choice to follow Jesus to hear him teach? Had they not failed to prepare to stay three days with Jesus by not bringing enough food? Should the onus not have been upon the crowds to provide for their own needs?

This was not the 21st Century with laws governing the gathering of large crowds, health inspections of kitchens, toileting facilities, and the like. Jesus had not invited the people to come out to hear and follow him. He had not sent out flyers announcing his presence or charged admission for the crowds who wished to hear him teach. Why would he feel responsible for those who had come on their own volition and with an obvious lack of preparation?

We could find myriad reasons to deny that Jesus should have been held responsible for them. The disciples themselves found it absurd that Jesus would assume responsibility. They also balked at the idea that they had the means to acquire food to feed the crowd before dispersing them.

Jesus was not driven by laws, social expectations, and our norms regarding responsibility for others. He was drive by something altogether different. He was driven by compassion.

Compassion does not seek to determine who is responsible. Compassion does not really care how we arrived at the situation before us. Compassion is unconcerned with casting blame. Instead, compassion looks to the needs before us with a desire to address them. It seeks to alleviate suffering, whatever the cause and whatever the cost.

Instead of blame and looking for individuals and groups to be held accountable, it is much more concerned with tackling the issues before us. Is there room for uncovering the causes of injustice? Sure. Is there room for doing something to avoid the same scenario repeating itself in the future? Sure. In the meantime, however, compassion sees a need and responds to meet that need.

Jesus did not interview people to discern anything about why they had come unprepared. He did not address the issue of who was worthy of being fed. He did not measure the crowd according to anything other than the need before him. He did not allow the disciples to discount or disregard that need. He called on them to address it directly, for such is life in God's reign.

We are not called by Jesus' words and example to judge the worthiness of those to whom we would minister. That is what the Pharisees did with their definitions of ritual purity. What Jesus calls us to is to meet the needs around us, trusting God to provide the resources with sufficiency. It is compassion that should rule our actions and reactions.

Take a moment to assess what role compassion plays in your responses.


"Lord, grant me the courage and will to respond first and foremost with compassion."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin  http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/ 

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