"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:36)

I was riding down the street one day in the city where I live. As I drove I saw a man pushing an old discarded grocery cart. In the cart were lots of items that I could not make out. There was a painting or two sticking out above the rest of the things. The man was dirty and he looked ill. He moved moderately fast along the streets. I didn't see him asking anybody for anything. Although his very presence begged for something to help him along the way. I did not know what to do so I kept going.

Several weeks later I saw the same man on another street about a mile or so from where I first saw him. Where did he come from, I thought to myself? Where is he going? What does he want? He moved along, again not asking anybody for anything. Yet his presence said, I need something to help me along the way. I didn't know what to do so I kept going.

A third time I saw this same man now across town quite a distance from the last place that I saw him. Does he have a motor on that thing I thought jokingly to myself. But this time I was close enough to look in his face. Pain, confusion and maybe anger were etched across his rugged looking face. Before I had only seen him from a distance, but now, I saw a face to go with the situation. Still I didn't know what to do so I kept going.

However, this time the look on his face stayed with me, one block, two blocks then three. I had just left a Church meeting and talked about helping people, and was on my way to pick up some personal things before I retired to my warm bed for the evening. I made that last turn and thought I had gotten away. But that inner voice kept saying, "go back." Do something. You may not change his life but don't completely ignore the man. This is the third time. Have a heart. Show some compassion. That's some mother's child. That's some one's friend. That's a fellow human being.

"Well," I said, I'll drive by and reach a piece of money out of my window. Then I will feel better and this man I keep seeing can't say I completely passed him by. As I got close to where he was that inner voice again spoke up. Don't be so impersonal. Get out of your car. Put the money in his hand. Tell him who you are. Ask if you can do something else for him.

I did. I parked on a side street. I got out. I introduced myself. I gave him the money. I tried to hold a conversation. He looked embarrassed. He looked sad and pathetic. He tried to smile but it would not come. He acknowledged the gift. His body language said to me, thank you, now leave me alone.

I left because I did not want to make him uncomfortable. I haven't seen him since. I think of him sometimes and wonder if I could have done more. The small amount of compassion I showed wasn't enough for neither he nor I. It fed him for a night or two, but what about the rest of the days?

That's the dilemma we face isn't it? There are people in the world that genuinely need help. Where do we kick in? When have we done enough? Compassion has a beginning but does it have an end? Surely a one time effort to one man is not all that Christ calls us to do.

But it is a start. People are in pain. People are hurting. People do need help. Not all of them are bums and derelict. Some just can't make it. Some are too weak to fight. Some are no match for the fast paced technology of the world today. Some cannot get from under the iron shoe of oppression and injustice.

That one man with his grocery cart moving from place to place with no visible means of support represents the throngs of people who are being ignored by those of us who have been blessed with God's abundance. He represents those who fall through the cracks of government programs that sometimes put more in to red tape than in helping people. He represents those the Church is called to show compassion, as did Jesus to the crowds he met almost everywhere he went. Compassion is in the call.

Now for sure there are some who run a game on the public. There are some who make a living coning the unsuspecting guilt-ridden public. They are out there in the crowd. And they will sometime get over on us. But that cannot be the reason we don't do anything at all. We are called to compassion through the person and voice of the Savior himself, "who looked out on the crowd and had compassion on them."

I must say as well that I have noticed that there is a growing group of compassionless people in our world today. These are people who see every beggar as a con artist. These are people who see every welfare person as a chiseler. These are people who could step on and over and around any plea to help without any remorse at all. I judge not because the supreme judge already knows what's going on.

The challenge for us in the modern world is to be compassionate as Jesus was. He looked out on the crowds and had compassion for them. The text shows us that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

At the times of the text the powers put heavy taxes on the people beyond their means to comply. The religious leaders even put a spiritual tax on the people that added more weight to their already heavy burden. The text further says they were harassed and helpless. They were like sheep without a shepherd. They were leaderless and helpless.

Jesus wasn't about to let that situation go unattended. He no doubt was tired and weary from the demanding schedule he kept. Mark says as much. Jesus and the disciples were looking for solitude. But the crowds came to them. Jesus did not turn them away. He made time to take care of their needs. "the crowds did not irritate Jesus they inspired Jesus. His call was to be the shepherd of the sheep.

Only now the disciples were to get involved in the ministry. Jesus was not to do it alone. He, like Moses of old, would delegate some of the work for those called to be his disciples. Compassion is not an option for the Disciples of Christ, but a necessity for those called to help Jesus renovate a broken and battered world.

What then is involved in the compassion that Jesus calls us to have in the world today?

Notice first if you will, verse 9:38 as Jesus says, "Pray therefore for the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field." Compassion involves prayer and prayer in this instance is not just words. It is words divinely ordained. It is words from the heart that reaches the heart of God and the hearts of those called to do the work, and the heart of those receiving the blessings. Prayer is words that uplift. It is words that motivate. It is words that convict and convert. It is words that make a difference in people's capacity to do the work.

Prayer is also action. It is not a substitute for labor.

"More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of. What are men better than sheep or goats, that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God they left no hand of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friend." Tennyson

We are always praying for more laborers in the vineyard. We are always praying for more resources to get the work done. We are always praying for divine guidance as we do the work. We are always praying for positive results for our work. We pray like everything depends on God and the work like everything depends on us. Compassion is controlled by prayer. And God answers prayer.

Compassion also involves purpose. Verse 10:5b, Jesus stating the purpose for the mission. It was to preach, heal, raise the dead, cleanse, drive out demons, freely you have received now freely give. The theology here is clear. Don't do this in order to get a blessing. Do it because you have already been blessed.

Oh what joy that brings to the heart of the compassionate person. We give because we have something to give. We sing because we have a song to sing. We serve because we have already been served in Christ. We sacrifice because a sacrifice has already been made for us. He paid a debt he did not owe. We have a debt we cannot pay. But each day we can pay on it. We can give. We can go. We can get involved.

"If I can help somebody as I pass along,
If I can cheer somebody with a word or song,
If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong,
Then my living will not be in vain."

Compassion has a purpose in it that is congruent with the purpose of Christ and that brings joy to our hearts.

Compassion involves prayer. It also involves purpose. It involves prayer. Jesus gave the disciples the authority to do the work they were to do at verse 10:1. Now of course this authority was not to be abused like it is in so many circles today. Modern disciples are fighting more over who has the authority than we are planning what to do.

Someone said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This work we are called to do is not about power. It is about the care of souls. Our young people are facing the temptations of drugs, violence, premature sex, peer pressure and the likes while we adults are fighting over who is in charge. Our young adults are struggling to hold families together and keep careers in tact and we are fighting over power and control. Our senior persons are trying to find and hold onto their dignity and self-worth as the world ignores them. And we are fighting over power and control.

There is but one power that means anything in this world. That's the power of God's love for all creatures. That includes the Ph.D. and no D. That includes the owner of the bank and the person who cleans up the bank. That includes the haves and the have nots, the learned and the unlearned. God love us all. That's the same power that rules the world. That's the power that brought the Prodigal home after he had gone from a palace to a pigpen.

That's the power available to us as we seek to be compassionate in an increasingly compassionless world. It is not the love of power that will get the job done. On the contrary it is the power of love that makes things happen.

The same power Jesus gave the disciples He gives to us. Compassion is "the pain of love." Compassion is "life shared in love." "We love because he first loved us." That's our power. That's our authority. God is love, we are made in the image of God. Therefore God's love is in us. With the power of love in us the half has not been told what God can do with us. We have power because we have love. That means compassion is our goal that the world can't stop us from making a difference in people's lives.

The late great Roberto Clemente was killed in a plane crash New Year's Eve, 1972. He was a long time player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was on a relief effort to deliver supplies to earth quake victims in Nicaragua. His devotion to help others cost him his life. His teammates described him as a compassionate man and his work bore that out.

His own words tell his story. "Any time you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this earth."

There is a man pushing a grocery cart who needs our help. There are victims of the troubles of life who need our help. There is a soul lost on the way to destruction that needs our help. There is a country somewhere needing all the help it can get. Compassion is in the call.

Jesus calls us as He did the first disciples to be compassionate. For if we don't do it, it just might not get done. If not now, when. If not us, who? He looked out on the crowd and had compassion on them Let's follow our Lord.

Eternal God you have shown great compassion to us. You have loved us even when we were disobedient. Now Lord, help us to show the same compassion to our sisters and brothers in need. We dare believe that's what you want us to do. In your name, we go where you want us to go. Amen.