8.3.08 L18 Kingdom & Compassion

• There is a famous poem that circulates in several different forms that goes something like this:
  "When Hitler attacked the Jews
  I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
  And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
  I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
  And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
  I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
  Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
  and there was nobody left to be concerned."
• Those words have been attributed to Martin Niemoller, a decorated German submarine commander from World War I who later was an early supporter of Adolf Hitler, but who then became an opponent of Hitler, a leader of the confession church in Germany, a pastor who led the German Church after World War II to confess its sin of complicity, and finally a leader in the world peace movement.
• The sentiment is simple – first the powers of this world get one person, then another, and if you don't oppose those powers, they will finally come after and even get you!
• Jesus must have had this feeling
  • Immediately before our gospel reading, the nasty ruler Herod had first imprisoned John the Baptist, and then in response to his foolish promise at a dinner party, following the very pleasing dancing of his step-daughter, Herod granted her wish to have the head of John the Baptist served on a platter to the dinner guests.
    • So John, whose mother Elizabeth had been so pleased years earlier at John's stirring in her womb when the young, pregnant Mary had come to visit…
    • John, who had drawn crowds with his prophetic preaching in the wilderness…
    • John, the one who had called people to repentance and baptized their repentance in the wilderness…
    • John, who had announced that he was not worthy to even untie the laces of Jesus' sandals, and that this Jesus for whom he prepared the way was nothing less than the Lamb of God
    • This John, was no more – and soon, all too soon, Herod and all the powers that be would come after Jesus
  • And so when Jesus heard that John had been killed, Jesus tried to go off to a lonely place to grieve and to pray
• But the people heard that Jesus was hiding out in the lonely wilderness, and they went there and sought him out
  • And looking at the crowds that gathered around him, although his own heart was weighed down with grief, the gospel says that Jesus had compassion for them, and he healed those who needed healing
  • But there was more – it was now late in the day, and the people hadn't eaten
    • Furthermore, there was no place to buy food for them
    • The disciples were helpless in the face of so many hungry people
  • You know the story – taking five loaves and two fish, Jesus blessed them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples and the crowd
    • The multitude was fed
    • And there was even enough for another feast when the disciples gathered up the leftovers
• The bitter truth that first John, and then Jesus was to endure, was that when the Kingdom of God is announced…
  • When the powers of this world are challenged…
  • When God is put first and King and country are knocked down to at least second place…
  • When sin is first exposed, and then forgiven…
  • Even when compassion is shown for the hungry…
• …when this Kingdom was first announced by John, and then embodied by Jesus, it was their death sentence!
• The powers and rulers of this world are not comfortable being at least second to the kingdom of God, and the powers of this world are far more comfortable with power than compassion
  • Today, living in one of the most civilized and freedom-loving countries in history, even honorable men like Obama and McCain have to prove that they are tough and strong, because compassion is neither popular with the powers, nor popular enough with the people to get elected
    • Between now and November, listen to how many times power, toughness and strength will be used to try to persuade us to support someone
    • And then listen to how seldom the attributes of the Kingdom of God – justice, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion – will be invoked to get our vote
  • To be fair, it's not just them – they're only telling us what they think we want to hear, and deep down, we too want to take comfort and refuge in power
• Our calling as Christians, however, is to be the church, the Body of Christ
• …to rely on the death and resurrection of the compassionate God who not only feeds, but in feeding graciously forgives and promises life
• …to rely on grace and forgiveness, because we do not have the strength to save ourselves
• …to put on and wear compassion, not as a charity on the side, but as a way of life in the face of a world that spends most of its time and energy coercing with power
• …and to share the Good News of this Jesus Christ who forgives and feeds, and who also calls us to break from the busy-ness, and even to break away from the griefs of our lives, in order to share the compassion of God with others – compassion, not the least of which is to see that for God's sake, the hungry are fed.

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