Jesus and His disciples were looking forward to a vacation. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks. Jesus had recently returned to His hometown to share with his childhood friends the words of everlasting life, but they didn’t want to hear what the carpenter’s son had to say. Jesus lamented, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”[1] Discouraged but determined Jesus turned His attention to the nearby villages. Calling the Twelve to Him, He sent them out in groups of two and gave them authority to drive out demons and heal the sick. Verses 12-13 of chapter six describes their work, "12 They went out and preached that people should repent. 13 They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them." The disciples worked hard calling people to repentance and performing miracles in a land ruled by a king who had just beheaded John the Baptist and filled with an unwelcoming people who would not listen to them. We do not know how long they labored. We get the impression it was more than a day because Jesus gave them instructions on where they should spend the night in the different towns they were sent to, but even if it was only a day, preaching a sermon, driving out a demon, and healing a sick person would no doubt leave a disciple a little haggard.
Our gospel lesson for today tells us the haggard disciples “gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.” In the Coast Guard they call this a “hot-wash”. A hot-wash is a debrief that happens immediately after the completion of a mission before everyone “cools down” and facts become foggy. The main purpose of a hot-wash session is to identify strengths and weaknesses of the mission in an attempt to improve future missions. Think of it like a structured “so, how did it go?” session. Jesus and His haggard disciples are in the midst of a hot-wash about the disciples’ recent evangelism efforts, but they are having trouble getting their work done, they keep getting interrupted. Mark tells us “so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat.”
You can imagine how haggard and hangry Jesus and the disciples were. You know what it feels like to work hard. Your weeks are filled with long days in the shop, late nights in the office, miles behind the wheel, hours in the air, in endless meetings. You have labored in the house watching children while doing limitless loads of laundry, cooking meals, and cleaning toilets. In any given week you are dealing with the draining drama of friends, family, and others. You can imagine how haggard and hangry Jesus and the disciples were.
Jesus recognized that His haggard and hangry disciples could use a break, so He says to them, “31 Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark tells us, “32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” Now, I would love to use this text as a biblical mandate from God to my wife to let me buy a boat. When preachers are tired Jesus tells them to go boating. What do you think Michelle, don’t you think Jesus telling us to buy a boat? No? I’m missing the point? Well, the boat ride doesn’t prove to be the getaway that Jesus and the disciples were hoping for anyway.
Mark tells us, the crowds of people saw Jesus and His disciples set sail in that boat “33 … and [they] ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them.” They had to recognize that Jesus and His disciples were exhausted; they had to realize they needed some rest. It was impolite of the crowd to impose on Jesus and His disciples; it was rude of them to show up where they had not been invited. The crowd was not being very considerate of the disciples’ needs; they were not being very thoughtful. The crowd was being selfish and insensitive.
How do you think these haggard and hangry disciples felt when they saw the crowd of people waiting for them on shore? I know how I would feel. Can you imagine the disciple might not be all that happy to see the crowd; can you imagine them not being filled with warm fuzzies for them? I think if I were one of those haggard and hangry disciples I would have stepped off that boat in a rather foul mood.
Mark does not tell us how he and his fellow disciples were feeling about the crowd, but he does tell us how Jesus felt. Mark tells us, “34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them”. Jesus had compassion on them. We might say His heart went out to them. For us the heart is the seat of emotions, but the Greeks have a better way of expressing what Jesus was feeling. Using the Greek language Mark tells us Jesus had σπλάγχνα for the crowd. The word “σπλάγχνα” describes the inward parts of a sacrifice; the guts if you will. I like the Greek expression more because it ties what Jesus was feeling for the crowd to an action. It ties what Jesus was feeling to the action of making a sacrifice. When Jesus saw the crowd, He did not just feel bad for them, He did not merely empathize with them, He was not simply sympathetic to their plight. Jesus, as haggard and hangry as He might have been, was moved to sacrifice for them.
Is that how you feel about the crowds of people that have gathered around you? Is that how you feel about your family and friends when they exasperate you with their attitudes? Is that how you feel about your neighbors and coworkers when they take advantage of your kindness? Is that how you feel about your associates and acquaintances when they impose on your time? Do you have σπλάγχνα for them? Is it compassion that you feel for them or is it some other feeling? People can be impolite and rude, they can be inconsiderate and thoughtless, they can be selfish and insensitive. Maybe compassion isn’t the best description of the feelings you have for the people who have gathered around you. Maybe frustration or irritation, maybe annoyance or anger, maybe even resentment or rage are better descriptions of how you feel about the crowds of people that gather around you?
Jesus had compassion on the crowd that gathered around Him. Mark tells us He had compassion on them “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus looked past their rudeness, past their thoughtlessness, past their selfishness and He saw people in pain. He saw how vulnerable they were, He saw how lost they were, He saw how scared they were. And what He saw, filled Him with compassion.
When Jesus looks at you He see the same thing. Even though we can be as rude, thoughtless, and selfish as the next guy, Jesus with eyes of mercy, sees how vulnerable you are to the one who prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He sees how easily you lose your way in a world filled with temptations. He sees how scared you are to stand before a holy and righteous God. Jesus sees your pain and has compassion on you.
Jesus has had compassion on you. In response, He would like you to have compassion on others. He invites you to look at the crowds of people that have gathered around you and see them, really see them. Don’t just see people who frustrate or irritate you, annoy or anger you, don’t just see people who fill you with resentment and rage. See beyond that. See people in pain. The people around you are broken and hurting. Often the people who are impolite and rude, inconsiderate and thoughtless, selfish and insensitive are the people who are hurting the most, they are the people most in need of your compassion. Everyone is in pain, even the people you think have their life together and it looks like they have got everything figured out. They might hide their pain better than others but trust me they are in pain and they too need your compassion. You have no idea what is going on in someone else’s house. You have no idea what kind of pain they are dealing with. You have no idea how much they need your compassion.
The compassion that Jesus has is a σπλάγχνα compassion; a feeling that is tied to an action. Jesus looked at the crowd and sacrificed for them. Even though He wanted to be alone with His disciples, even thought he was tired and needed some rest, even though he was hungry and needed something to eat, Mark tells us Jesus sacrificed what He needed and “began teaching them many things.” Jesus has had σπλάγχνα compassion on you as well. He did not just feel bad for you, He did not merely empathize with you, He was not simply sympathetic to your plight. Jesus was moved to sacrifice for you. Latter saint Mark tells us “with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.”[2]
As He has done for you, Jesus would like you to tie your feelings of compassion for the crowds gathered around you to an action. I bet if you tried hard enough you could hug the rude right out of a person. You might be surprised how a simple compliment can make a thoughtless person think. And sometimes all a selfish person really needs is for someone to listen to them talk. Notice your compassion does not have to be this big grand gesture; a big hug, a kind word, and an attentive ear are often all that people in pain need. Having compassion costs you very little but it is priceless to the crowds gathered around you.
Jesus and His disciples never really got what we might call a vacation. Later that night Jesus did find some time alone to pray and the disciples took another boat ride, but as soon as they landed on the shore, crowds of people surrounded them once more and Jesus’ ministry of compassion continued. Jesus has never stopped having compassion on people. He has had compassion on you, He has had compassion on me. Like Jesus, may we never stop having compassion for the crowds that are gathered around us. Amen.
[1] Mark 6:4
[2] Mark 15:37