Proper5C, Sullivan Park Care Center, June 9, 2013 by Annette
Fricke
In verse 13 of our gospel text, we read, “When
the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not
weep.’ If we pay attention only to the
second part of that verse, we get the impression that Jesus didn’t understand
what was going on. However, when we look
at the first part, we know that Jesus does know and responds in a way that we
might find difficult to understand.
Jesus had compassion for a non-Jewish woman whom he didn’t even
know. One rendering of this word that is
translated into English, meaning compassion is this, "his heart was gut-wrenched"
for her. That sense of being gut-wrenched is like having all of your insides mangled
together, painfully pressing you to act.” At seminary, many years ago, we were
taught that the culture of the area where Jesus taught saw this emotion as
coming from the bowels or entrails of a person.
It is a visceral moment that originates from deep within. It is much more than sympathy or pity as my
Greek dictionary defines it. Notice that Jesus is not asked by the woman, but
Jesus takes the initiative, reaching out to her in her grief. They were a last surviving unit, just mother
and son. A mother alone in that society
had no identity. If we were to fast
forward to the gospel of John, to the scene of the crucifixion, in John 19:26-27,
we find the following words, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom
he loved standing beside her, he said to this mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’
Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the
disciple took her into his own home.”
Luke is defining for us what kind of
prophet Jesus is by a series of stories that illustrate it. We are again reminded at the end of this
chapter 7 in Luke where we are told, “Go and tell John what you have seen and
heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to
them.” In this case the dead are raised,
but that is not the full import of this story or any of the other stories. Healthcare in those days, above all, meant a
restoration of relationship to family and temple worship. A central function of Jesus’ ministry is to
lead those whose lives have lost cultural meaning back to their proper purpose
and direction in life. The death of a son is tragic enough, but for a widow it
is double jeopardy since she relies on that male next-of-kin for her very
livelihood. Jesus effectively saved her
life by restoring her son to his
life.
A woman named Julia in England had a
son named George who, no matter what she tried, would not speak although she
herself always kept trying. He would cry
and be agitated, wouldn’t smile or connect with her in any way. She was unable to touch him or hold him. She
suffered from years of gossip and cruelty by others.
She had many tests done and he was finally diagnosed as having Asperger’s,
which is a type of Autism. But the
diagnosis didn't leave her with any clues as to what she could do. She was still bewildered as to how to produce a
normal emotional growth for her son. Then a cat suddenly appeared in their garden. The
cat was bloody, so she told George that he had probably got tangled in
someone’s fence or something. When George saw the cat, he amazingly spoke for
the very first time in seven years saying in a high-pitched voice, “Baboo!
Baboo!” She was so excited that she called everyone she knew in the phone book both
friends and relatives and he continued to call, “Baboo! Baboo!” He bounced around, taking down
the Christmas tree and the decorations in celebration. They became the best of friends and George’s life came alive. He had the cat eat at the table with him and
whatever he ate, he gave also to the cat.
If he had fish sticks, so did the cat. One day, the cat rubbed himself
against George and George asked his mum what the cat was doing. So she said, “The cat is trying to show you
that he loves you.” George took that
information and rubbed against his mother in the same way. The gossip about the mad lady began again. People outside the household wondered about her when they saw her son George do the same as the cat,
rubbing against her leg. And then the
cat suddenly disappeared for about three months.
The mother and her son were in Egypt on Holiday. They received a phone call that the cat had
been found, so the next day, they returned home. The family that found him was actually about
80-90 miles from their home and invited Julia to tea. She was lavished with a wonderful spread, and
saying truthfully that it was all very lovely, but she was anxious to see the cat. She was taken to a room. They opened the door and out came the cat,
named Ben by this time. Ben jumped into
her arms and would not let go. She took
the cat home to George and what a grand homecoming it was. George was reunited and a few other cats were
welcomed into the family as well. Even
though the mum had grown up with several cats and grew to have a distaste for
them, the fur all over and the cleaning, this was the key to George’s growth as
a human being and his happiness. George
is now nineteen years old and in college.
He still has his struggles relating to others, but thanks to the love of
a cat and a mother, George is whole and healed. Healed does not always mean
cured. You see healed sometimes just
means that things are in proper alignment or equilibrium. They are balanced. They are restored.
Evil, sickness, and even death will
continue but for this one day, the woman in the gospel lesson who grieved the
loss of her son, had been restored to wholeness with society, and her family
which had been taken away by death was once again renewed.
As we read in Psalm 23, "Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil." The psalmist does not pretend that evil and death do not exist.
Death lies ahead for all of us, saints and sinners alike, and for all
the ones we love.
There are few other descriptions that I know that better describe the love of
God in the actions of Jesus. Jesus had
deep compassion. What kind of prophet is Jesus? The dead are raised. Jesus is the embodiment of compassion (splanknidzomai)
and calls us to be the same. God has
always been and always will be there to strengthen us, no matter what our
journeys may bring or where they may take us.
God sees what we need and fills that need. Blessed be God. Amen.
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