Guest Writer: The Rev. Harvey Henderson
I was a graduate student in Religious Studies at McMaster University in the late 1980s. A group of us would gather regularly for a meal and some conversation. There were Christians, Jews, Muslims, a Buddhist, and a student of East Asian religions. Some of us had young children and others hoped to have children soon. One day someone asked the question: “Which is the most important trait we would like to nurture in our children?” After much conversation about this we decided that the most desirable character trait is compassion – the ability to care enough for others in need that they would try to help them whenever they were in need.
Jesus is said to “have compassion” for folks on eight separate occasions in the gospels: three miraculous healings (Mk 9:22; Mt 20:34; Lk 7:13), a story of sheep without a shepherd (Mk 6:34), the stories of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10) and the Prodigal Child (Lk 15), and two miraculous feedings (Mk 8) and Matthew 14, which we will read this coming Sunday.
The word for ‘compassion’ in the original language is visceral, meaning something like “moved in one’s innards” or more crudely “moved in one’s gut.” Compassion is greater than pity and sympathy, calling us to care enough to do something. In this account of the feeding of a multitude, Jesus delivers an abundance of food for “about 5,000 men, besides women and children.” (Mt 14:21) Perhaps the subtitle should read “Feeding 8,000 People, or More!”
Jesus took some bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to those gathered, and there was an abundance. We repeat this same holy, four-fold action each time we celebrate the Eucharist – taking, blessing, breaking, and giving bread to strengthen those who are gathered for the work of ministry.
Pope Francis said, “You pray for the hungry, and then you feed them. That is how prayer works.” When we pray “(for) the poor and the oppressed, for the unemployed and the destitute, for prisoners and captives,” let us do so with compassion, seeing the face of Jesus in all those we meet, and stooping down to give them a hand up.
Harvey Henderson
Priest-in-Charge
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Grand Forks
