17 minute read
My pulpit message notes: Go in Compassion
from TT 174
by TIMES TODAY
Go in Compassion
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It’s very interesting that at times we think we have gone through the Bible over and over and think we have read the gospels especially well. But at times there are things we have not seen. For example the Syrophoenician woman may be foreign to us.
In many ways we may not have interacted with the Syrophoenician woman, but even in our own lives there are people who are foreign to us and we have not interacted with them. There are people who are not of the same tribe, gender, or socio-economic status as us and we have not interacted with them.
Today’s passage tells us how Christ goes in compassion especially to people who are unlike us. Both passages have one thing in common, Christ is reaching out to Gentiles and they respond to Him.
Even for us who live in Africa, in many ways we are Gentiles whom Christ reached out to us. We are not the Jews who are originally whom Christ came for and as Paul says in Romans 1:16, “First to the Jews and then to the Gentiles,..” We are the beneficiaries of Christ’s love as foreigners and so in many ways this passage is going to teach us that as we grow and go, we must go in compassion especially to those who are unlike us.
Have you interacted with people who are unlike you in especially church settings? We get used to people who are like us. After the Service the people we mostly interact with are our friends, family, people whom we share the same hobbies, or investment groups, or go to the same schools with. But what about people who are unlike us? People who do not understand our language? People who are not of the same socio-economic status as us? How and where is the opportunity for us to show them Christ’s love even as we grow and go?
The English have a saying, ‘birds of a feather, grow together’. It is not a wrong saying, it is good one. It is our human nature to flock around people who are like us. But what if God is calling us to reach out to those who do not have the same feathers as us. God is calling us to reach out to those who do not even have feathers so that even they may experience the love of Christ that we have experienced.
I always remember my first interaction with muslims on the topic of prayer. I used to come for Prayer Service and they would ask me, ‘are you going for prayers?’ And I would answer yes. Something about our conversation was a bit off. I would say ‘prayer service’ and they would say ‘prayer’ and it would seem as if we are not interacting well. Later on when I went into a class where I was learning about Islam I finally got to learn that it is because of how they view prayer and how I view prayer that we were talking at cross-purposes.
If I had never interacted with them that is something I never would have learned and possibly now when I go to interact with a muslim friend of mine, knowing how they view prayer enables me to better explain the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes when we interact with those who are unlike us that makes us able to explain the gospel of Jesus Christ much better, much firmer, much easier.
If you are someone who follows current affairs and world politics, there is something small and subtly happening where there is a rise is nationalism. More and more people are coming together and telling one another that we as a nation are the best and many times would want to expel those who are not from this nation. If you look in parts of Europe and South America, the elected leaders who are coming along now are people who are giving that kind of vibe of that ‘we are the best nation and only the people who are of our nation belong here and possibly we should seek to see how to get rid, or diminish the influence of those who are not like us.
But that is counter the gospel, for the gospel calls us and recognises our differences and calls us to reach out to each and everyone.
The Syrophoenician Woman
The description we are given in the passage of Mark, we can come to the conclusion that this was a woman who was born a Phoenician and within the region that had initially been conquered by Syria. This is before the Romans came and took over the world at that time.
There is a similar passage in Matthew 15:21-28 and it is possibly this same passage that is given because the similarities go down even to the interactions. In fact, the story in Matthew has more interactions between Jesus and the woman. But in Matthew she is called a Canaanite woman.
In many ways this shows us that it was very counter cultural even as Jesus was talking to her. Jesus had just come from talking about clean and unclean, but here He was speaking to a Canaanite / Syrophoenician woman, a Gentile,
someone whom the Jews considered unclean. And the passage in Matthew something happens which is very interesting. Jesus seems to be ignoring her over and over again and the more she persists in wanting to talk to Jesus, the more the disciples come and tell Jesus, ‘send her away.’
Possibly the disciples were thinking this woman is not like us, so let us send her away so that she stops disturbing the Rabbi. But Jesus is quite interesting in His interactions. In verse 27 he talks to her and tells her, “27 “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
Jesus here is given a parable. He is speaking in a riddle which the Syrophoenician woman understands. In the tradition of those days people used to first give food to their children and if there are any crumbs that are left are given to the dogs. But for the Jews, how they considered dogs is unclean. They would not even give food to the dogs. But for Gentiles, the Greeks like this Syrophoenician woman they had domesticated dogs, the pets that we have nowadays. So she understood what Jesus said. First let the children eat then give the rest to the dogs.
Essentially what Jesus was saying is that He had come first for the Jews. So He was focusing first on the Jews then the gospel would expand to the Gentiles. This was the implication that Jesus was giving, but the woman in response, understanding what Jesus was saying said,
“Yes Lord”, first recognising Him as Lord, then says “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
What the woman is referring to is that even though she is a Gentile, she is still open to this love that Jesus is giving. That is why Jesus now responds the way He does and says ““For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
For the Syrophoenician woman, she knew that her only hope was Jesus Christ. This is something that we see regularly throughout Scripture, even in the Old Testament (O.T.). For people who were not Jews and who submitted to Jesus Christ, the moment they believed in God, they were favoured. They were part of the covenant. We see this most effectively with Ruth who tells Naomi, ‘Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.’ In essence she is then treated as one of the covenant God had made with the Israelites on Mount Sinai and gains the favour that God is bestowing upon his people.
The Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man
Here we see that as Jesus is walking by, He leaves Tyre, goes to Sidon, then down to the Decapolis. They had already been at Decapolis before. In Matthew 5. We see how Jesus went to Decapolis and exorcised a demon possessed man whom nobody knew what to do with. And who was being isolated. The people living there had possibly been there and seen what Jesus had done. Now they are seeing Jesus come again and now they are bringing this man who is deaf and mute.
Something interesting they come and do is they ask Jesus to lay his hands on him. This cannot be the same as them asking Jesus for healing. It is possible that they were not expecting a healing to happen, but all they wanted was for Jesus to lay His hands on that man and for a blessing to fall on him.
To their astonishment “37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” Jesus actually healed the man. As they say, ‘He makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak’. Even for the people at Decapolis, they were not the Jews, the common people whom Jesus had come for. But they realised that if they submit to Jesus, then Jesus will perform a miracle and that is exactly what Jesus does.
In these two stories we see that people who were not like the Jews, people who are Gentiles come and submit to Jesus and Jesus’ love is so powerful. His compassion goes beyond and even though they were people who were not like Him, essentially a Jew, He still pours out His love out to them.
Therefore how are we called to go and grow in compassion? I see three things that we need to do that will help us in ministry, in giving out the gospel. This gospel is very contagious. As we see in these passages and others in Mark, Jesus tells them, ‘Do not speak of this’, but they cannot help but just speak of what they have gone through.
A few weeks back, Pastor Mokaya preached on how we are beneficiaries and benefactors of love and by virtue of us being beneficiaries of love, we are left with no option but to be benefactors of God’s love. We are left with no option, but with that same compassion that has shone on us to shine upon other people.
But for this passage specifically, speaking of people who are not like us, perhaps we can glean three things: \
1. We need to get out of our comfort zone.
Jesus within this passage is going in areas which are full of Gentiles. We do not know why some people speculate that maybe He was trying to hide from Herod, having been in the previous chapter been so famous that even Herod is recognising Him and is thinking that He’s John the Baptist revived. But actually, Jesus is going to several places that are designated as places where Gentiles live and Jews do not stay. If we compare these places with the OT there are places who that were outright enemies of the Israelites.
- A place like Tyre which constantly came at the Israelites. Sidon, named after the first born son of Canaan, the son of Ham was cursed and that’s why the Canaanites eventually become enemies of Israel. Going out of our comfort zones is what Jesus is asking even as we seek to of and grow in compassion.
- I remember in 2019 December, I had the privilege of going to a mission in Marsabit. That was a place out of my comfort zone. Even before we went there were some rumours that maybe there is war going to breakout there. People are fighting, will it be safe? My parents worrying, will it be okay for you to go there?
- This was out of my comfort zone in so many ways. First, the place where we slept was totally different from the bed which I have at home. But also the sense of the Service was very different from the one we have here.
Even now as I preach there is a timer going on and even if I decide to ignore the timer there is a very big clock staring at me. It’s keeping me within the boundaries of a timeframe that I have been given. - But when we were in a church is Marsabit there is no timeframe for a church service. Church service starts and it will end whenever it ends.
Also what was interesting for us was that praise and worship took one hour twenty minutes. Here we try and limit to 30 to 35 minutes if we are generous. But they sang continuously unto the Lord. But then also, the preaching of the Word was given only ten minutes. Here when you get to 45 minutes you are really stretching it. There is too much to say from the Word, but there it takes only ten minutes.
- This was outside my comfort zone and I would not be able to related to someone from that area if I had not been in that space. To recognise that the reason they only have the Word for ten minutes is that because of literacy levels being low. Not everyone has access and can read this Word. So when I read and quote Scripture you like good Bereans go back and read through to see if what I am saying is true, they do not have that privilege. But the Word of God must still go to people in such circumstances.
And the only way we will be able to go out in compassion is when we go out of our comfort zones.
- We need to identify which areas we have become comfortable in and see how do we go outside that. For Christians we have a standing mission objective. Every single day is Mission Day for us. Whenever we hear there is a mission somewhere, the first thing we think of is how will we get there? How are the roads? What will we eat? Where will we sleep? But growing and going to people who are not like us causes us to get out of our comfort zone and say, I am doing this for the LORD.
2. We must recognise our biases and prejudices.
Getting out of our comfort zones helps with this because there are certain things we do not know are our own biases and prejudices, but a lot of this will call us to be counter cultural to what we are used to.
- When COVID broke out in 2020, many articles were written about how throughout history Christians have reacted when plagues hit. One which really stuck in my mind was how when a certain plague, as the people who considered themselves rich, ran away from the cities and went to the hills to hide because they could.
The Christians went into the cities and took care of those who were ailing from plagues, some of them to the detriment of their own health and some their lives. These were people who did what was counter cultural. They realised that their biases and prejudices could cause them to be like others, to flee from where the trouble was. But the Christians of old went to where the trouble was.
- What usually happens is that once the plagues were over, something always came along. The Christianity rate rose. Because people who saw Christians coming to them out of compassion in their times of need recognised that this Christianity must be true.
In many ways that is the truth at the heart of the gospel. Christianity is the only religion where God comes to us at our time of need. Comes as a human beings, walks our earth, breathes our air, and suffers the same comforts and discomforts that we go through. He cries at our funerals, rejoices at weddings and ultimately He dies.
- Once you see that, why wouldn’t you become a Christian? Once God has done that for us why wouldn’t we become Christians? In the same light, as Christians who are called to go with that compassion, why wouldn’t we go to people who recognise that we are going to them outside of our own biases and prejudices. Why wouldn’t they seek to follow the message that we carry?
3. Let us actually believe the truth of this gospel.
In 2008 a British politician and writer came and travelled to African in Malawi. It was during Christmas and he had to write an opinion piece in the times. This is what he labelled it: As an atheist I truly believe Africa needs God. Sampling some of the things he wrote he said,
“Traveling in Malawi refreshed another belief. What I have been trying to banish all my life. But an observation I have been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to quit my worldview and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God. As a confirmed atheist I have become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. In Africa, education and training alone will not do. In Africa, Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.
- This is an atheist telling us that our gospel is true. How much more then should we, who take on this Christianity believe that it is true.
- One of the reasons I specifically love Holy Communion Service, a day where we come and remember Christ’s death even as we proclaim His coming back, and as we rejoice in that feast, the other thing that I love about this Service is that we come together as both youth and old. Those barriers of age broken down. And this is just a tiny glimpse of eternity. How much better it will get eventually when all tribes, nations come together to proclaim Him as worthy.
- But this will not happen if we do not go in compassion to those who are unlike us. If we do not go to those whose feathers do not look like those of ours. If we want a multicultural church which is the vision that God has for us then we must get out of our comfort zones and recognising our biases and prejudices while believing that this gospel is true, go to those who are unlike us.
- Reflect on the cross because that is where it starts. Without the cross, we are not looking forward to a place where we are all brothers and sisters. Without the cross people who are unlike me are not being called and being saved. Without the cross, then my anger when I am speaking to a muslim or an atheist and hoping that God just comes and shows them, this is true and they are actually going to hell, my anger is not abased knowing that is only in love that we will be able to reach out to them. The cross is where ultimate compassion was born.
