Sermon for 19 July 2015: On taking selfies at Golgotha and a compassionate God
Sermon for Sunday, 19 July 2015
8th Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith
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Grace and peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friday was
my first day home from a week-long vacation in Sweden. (Many thanks to the Rev.
Belva Brown Jordan, the Rev. Jeff von Wald, and Rachel Leslie, for leading
worship last week and allowing me the much-needed time away with my family!)
As I got
ready for work Friday morning, once again donning a black dress, black tights,
and black shoes before walking out into the Jerusalem heat, I couldn’t help but
sing to myself “I’m back in the collar again, oh I’m back in the collar again…”
(at least, until my spouse begged me to stop!)
After a week
of rest, I should have been ready to take on the world, or at least my little
corner of it. But as can often happen after a vacation, even though I was
wearing the uniform, I found it difficult to get back into “work mode.” After a
few frustrating hours in the church office, I decided to walk around the corner
to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for prayer. I thought maybe a little time
at the cross and the empty tomb could give me the attitude adjustment I needed.
But when I
arrived at the church, a great crowd was already there. Tour groups with
matching shirts and tour guides with flags waving. Muslims, taking the chance
to visit the sites of Jerusalem on their Eid holiday. And of course priests,
monitoring the crowd’s behavior. I watched as one brother kicked out three
visitors just for wearing shorts and tank tops too near the tomb.
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| Golgotha, Church of the Holy Sepulcher Photo by Carrie Smith |
I maneuvered
my way through the crowd until I found a spot to sit, and there I prayed. I
read Scripture. I meditated on the Gospel text for today, about the disciples
and Jesus trying to get away by themselves. At least…I tried to do those things.
But the crowds kept coming! Men, women, and children from around the world,
lighting candles, genuflecting, pushing and shoving each other past the site
where Our Lord Jesus took his last breath. When the umpteenth person in a row
took a smiling selfie in front of Golgotha, I must confess that what I was
feeling for the crowd was not Christian
love. Finally, I stood up to go home, hoping to find my rest and focus
somewhere far from the crowd.
And it was
on that walk from the cross and the crowds to the comfort of my air-conditioned
home that this week’s Gospel text came into sharp focus. The disciples gathered
around Jesus were weary from their travels. They needed physical and spiritual
nourishment if they were to continue on the mission to which they were called. Jesus
could see their weariness himself, so he said, “Come away with me.” Together,
they got in the boat and traveled to a deserted place by themselves…
…except that
when they got to the other side, they weren’t
by themselves. While the disciples were sailing across the water, the crowd had
hurried to the other shore on foot. So much for their plans for a little rest and
relaxation! But after all, this turn of events should not have been much of a
surprise. The apostles surely knew by now that wherever Jesus is, the sorrows
of the world are never far behind. Wherever Jesus is, the sick and the
suffering and the oppressed are there, too. Wherever Jesus is, there are people—people
who need healing, mercy, forgiveness and love.
It’s true, the
presence of the crowd was not on the agenda for the apostles’ weekend retreat.
Nevertheless, Scripture says Jesus saw them and had compassion for them. He had
compassion for the people, for he saw they were like “sheep without a shepherd.”
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, full of mercy and compassion, began to teach, and to
heal, and to love the great crowd of needy people on the shore.
Walking home
from the Holy Sepulcher Church on Friday, still thinking uncharitable thoughts
about the crowd at the church, I suddenly felt like one of those apostles on
the boat with Jesus. Can you just imagine how annoyed they must have been when
they saw the crowd on the shore? These were real people, after all. Real people
with real aching feet and a real desire to have some “R & R”. These days,
we might file a complaint with the human resources department about not getting
our promised vacation! Finally, we’re getting a day off, and now look—there goes
Jesus, talking to the crowd. There goes Jesus, teaching another parable. There
goes Jesus, healing another broken heart and another broken body. There goes Jesus,
giving new hope and new life to folks the world has written off.
Should it
have been any surprise to the apostles that a crowd would meet them on the
shore?
Should it
have been any surprise to me that if I went to the foot of the cross, I would find a crowd
already there? Or, as it turns out, that I needed just as much compassion and healing
as they did?
Should it
have been any surprise to realize I was part of the same crowd, desperate to
see Jesus?
And there
goes Jesus, forgiving even me.
Thanks be to
God, Jesus is not put off by our bad attitudes. Jesus is never bored of hearing
the same prayers. Jesus never tires of forgiving us, even when we must confess
the same sins again and again. For we know that he has said “Come to me, all
who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” and again, “I will not
leave you orphaned” and again, “Lo, I will be with you always, even to the end
of the age.”
Sisters and brothers, we are weak, but he is strong. We lack
compassion for others, but he loves us all the way to the cross. Though we may
be weary of the world, weary of our neighbors, weary even of ourselves, Jesus
the Good Shepherd is never weary of us.
Oh, but we give
Jesus so many reasons to be weary of us. Every day seems to bring some fresh
horror, inflicted by humans on other humans: Nine souls killed in church for the color of their skin. Four
Marines murdered by a man with radical views of a different variety. Churches
are burned, black women die in police custody, and a Palestinian village is
slated to be demolished any day now, leaving dozens of families homeless. Even
after a week of vacation, I am weary of such news—weary of the endless cycle of
violence and hatred and human sin, which presses in on us like a great crowd,
never leaving us alone, never giving us rest. I’m weary of our collective unwillingness
to do anything different. Some have called this “compassion fatigue”—the burn-out
many pastors, caregivers, or aid workers experience from seeing human suffering
day after day. Those of you who are living and working here in Jerusalem and
the West Bank know all too well what that feels like.
Perhaps it’s
easy to imagine, then, how Jesus could have compassion fatigue for the world and
the pain we inflict on each other.
And yet we
read that when he came ashore,
Although the
disciples were tired,
Although it
wasn’t on the agenda,
Although the
people had followed him from village to village, not even giving him time to
eat,
Even then, Jesus
saw the crowd and he did have compassion
for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd.
 |
| A shepherd in Bethlehem, with Notre Dame Jerusalem Global Gateway student Kelly McGee |
And in a little
while we will sing, “The king of love my shepherd is, his goodness faileth never.”
This opening line to my favorite hymn is a beautiful reminder of just how good our Good Shepherd is. He is
everything we are not! When we are weak, he is strong. When we despair, he is our
hope. When we find it difficult to love, his radical love expands our hearts. When
we make war, he is our peace. When I have failed, and failed, and failed again
to love my neighbor as myself, failed to have compassion for my sister or brother,
still Jesus sees me, sees you, sees the crowd and all its sorrows, and he has
compassion for us. Even from the cross, Our Lord Jesus had compassion for the
world, saying, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” The king
of love our shepherd is, his goodness faileth never, thanks be to God!
In Jesus
Christ, we have come to know that our God
is a compassionate God! Of course this is the opposite of the god we hear about on the news and even from some
preachers. The god whose gospel gets proclaimed most often these days is one who
would command people to kill, a god who would advocate building walls and
shooting rockets, a god who would smite a nation for legalizing same sex marriage
or taking down a flag.
Dear
brothers and sisters, we know that this is not our god! Our God is the king of
love. Our God is the Prince of peace. Our God is the hope of the hopeless and
the voice of the voiceless. Our God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love. Our God is the Good Shepherd, who has compassion on the crowds.
We have come
to know this God through the Son, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. He is the
one who has broken down the dividing wall, and made us one people. He came and
proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Jesus
is healing and wholeness. Jesus is peace.
And this means
that if we follow Jesus, we can expect that the crowds are coming, too. Where
Jesus is, those who need him are never far behind. Where Jesus is, there is
work to be done. Where Jesus is, there are people – people we might like to
avoid. People who wear us out. People who need mercy, love, compassion, and
forgiveness.
People who
take selfies at Golgotha, for example.
People like
you and me.
Come away
with me, says Jesus. Come, and find rest. Come, and be healed.
Come, and together
we will heal the world. Amen.
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