Sheep Without a Shephed

Now when Jesus heard that John had been murdered, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them….

He had compassion for them. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them. I've always liked this story of Jesus, and his compassion for the people. But I prefer the story as Luke tells it in his gospel: Luke says, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

That's us, alright - harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. I like that. Of course, it's not very complementary: calling us "sheep" - a flock of "sheep". I mean, you know what sheep are like. They're not very bright. They tend to wander off and get lost. Their thick, shaggy coats get tangled in the briars and the brambles. They can't defend themselves. And they tend to go along with the crowd like … well, like sheep!

And yet, you know, one of the most beloved descriptions of God's love for his people - for us - is the image of the shepherd and the sheep. It's in the Old Testament: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." It's in the New Testament: "I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and I call them by name." It's all through the Bible.

In Luke's version of our gospel this morning, Jesus has compassion on the crowds, "because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." And while it may not be very flattering, it might even be a little offensive to think of ourselves as sheep, the gospel suggests there is a sense in which we are like sheep … sheep without a shepherd.

When I read this gospel, one of the first images that pops into my head is the pictures on TV of the refugees in Darfur - in places like Somalia and Rwanda - huge crowds of people, milling around, helpless and confused, not knowing where to go, what to do, cut down by violence and starvation and disease. "And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

We see those images on television and they boggle the mind. It's incredible! All those homeless, hungry, desperate people. There are no words to capture the magnitude of the suffering in our world today. But as touched as we are by tragedies like Somalia or Rwanda or Haiti, let's not forget that hunger and homelessness are a fact of life - right here in Brockton. Our little food pantry - Food for Friends - is rapidly being overwhelmed by clients. Every month the number grows - people who don't know where else to turn: families who simply don't have enough to pay the rent and put food on the table. Right here in Brockton.

And as for the rest of us - well, we may not be driven by hunger … at least, not the physical kind of hunger … but there are plenty of people out there who are lost and confused, harassed and helpless

• people who don't know which way to turn,
• people looking for something, for someone, to help them make sense of it all,
• people who know there's something missing in their lives, but don't know just what it is or where to look for it.

And let me tell you, there's no shortage of volunteers ready to play the role of shepherd, offering to lead us into greener pastures, if we only follow them. From the commercials on television to the politicians in Boston or Washington, everybody seems to know what we really need.

"Follow me," they say, "I can solve your problems. I know the way. You need … to drive the right car! You need to drink the right cola! You need the right kind of credit card. You need to vote for the right candidate!

But we learn pretty quick, don't we? We're not all that naïve. Those who claim to have all the answers are usually more interested in fleecing the sheep than in leading them. NBC news even had a segment called "The Fleecing of America". Remember? Oh, there's lots of folks out there claiming to have just what we need. But follow those shepherds and you're liable to end up minus your shirt … or more!

So who can we trust? Who can we believe … or believe in? In the end, you see, we are - all of us - like sheep: sheep in search of a shepherd. And when Jesus looked out over the crowds that flocked around him that day, what he saw was the same confused, lost, helpless people that we are.

"And Jesus had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus looks on us, on our world, with compassion. He looks on this lost, confused, rudderless world -- a world where some enjoy enormous wealth and most live in squalor and poverty - a world filled with heartache and pain, death and despair - Jesus looks on our world with compassion, and his eyes fill with tears.

Did you notice, the gospel doesn't say Jesus "felt sorry" for the crowds. It doesn't say he "pitied" them. It says he had compassion for them. 

Compassion. Compassion is more than pity - it's more than feeling sorry, more than shallow sentimentality. Compassion is how we feel in the pit of our stomach when we see those pictures of starving children in Darfur, or the victims of war and bombings in Iraq, or the homeless and the hungry in our own streets and cities.

Jesus had compassion on the crowd, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The word "compassion" comes from two other words that literally mean to "suffer with" - to "suffer with" someone. Compassion is more than that old cliché, "I feel your pain". To have compassion for someone means to walk with them, to share their burden, and to share their suffering.

Compassion means to care - to care so much that I'm willing to actually do something about it - to care so much that I'm willing to put my life on the line for the other guy … the way Jesus put his life on the line for me.

But we know that! I mean, isn't that the very center of our faith - the "crux" of it, so to speak? Doesn't the gospel say that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him might not perish, but have eternal life?

In Lent and Holy Week we remember the "passion" of Christ - the suffering of Christ, for our sake - and we remember that it was the compassion of Jesus - his compassion for those harassed and helpless people like sheep without a shepherd - his compassion that led to his passion on the cross.

It was precisely because he loved us that Jesus died for us. That's why he did it. And because Christ had compassion on us - because God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to die for us - we are moved and inspired to have compassion on all those who suffer today. We are the body of Christ. We are the only way that Christ is present in this world today - in us and through us. So if Christ is going to have compassion on our world, it will have to be through us.

Think for a moment of all those we refer to as "saints" - the ones we hold up as models of the Christian life. Aren't they precisely the ones who, because of their experience of God's love in their own lives, had compassion on the pain and suffering of others?

• St. Francis, embracing the leper he met on the road,
• Mother Theresa nursing the dying in the streets of Calcutta,
• Albert Schweitzer, healing the sick in Africa,
• Martin Luther King, Jr., marching with the persecuted and the oppressed…

They saw a need, they cared, they had "compassion" - and they responded.

And isn't that the calling of every Christian? Isn't that what God requires of every one of us? Oh, we don't have to jump on a plane for Somalia, or work in the inner city. Most of us are not called to those ministries. But there are plenty of folks who live just next door, people we meet on the street, or the grocery store, or the office, who bear heavy burdens, or whose lives are filled with pain and sorrow, who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Whether it's the hungry, or the poor, or the sick, or the unemployed, or the victims of poverty, crime or ignorance - Jesus still has compassion on our world. The crowds are still harassed and helpless, like sheep in search of a shepherd. But today, you and I are the ones he sends, the ones he calls to be his shepherds, to bear his cross, to follow his way, and to care for his sheep … with compassion. Amen.

~Pastor Russell Norris~