The Lord’s Compassion

Matthew 14: 13-21

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost  (Proper 13)

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen.  The sermon text for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Matthew 14.  Wouldn’t be great if we could get away from our problems?  Wouldn’t be wonderful if we could catch our breath and not have to deal with the troubles that we face?  We live in a world that has been ruined by sin and so we will all have problems and troubles.  Don’t you ever wish that you could get away from them for just a little while?  We all have things that we have to deal with in our life.  Some of us have the responsibility of raising a family with all the time and energy that it takes to do it right.  Some of us might be in the middle of a conflict that is weighing heavily on our heart. Some of us are living with pain or sickness.  In some cases we know that we are not going to get better any time soon.  Some of us have a great deal of pressure put on us at our work or in our home.  Some of us are dealing with loss, loneness or depression.  All of us are facing some sort of problem.  Many of us have to deal with several problems throughout the week. Wouldn’t be awesome if we could get away from them?  Wouldn’t it be nice if our life was a bit easier?   

The same could be said about all the troubles that we see in the world.  When we look at the world we see corruption in the government.  We see wars and violence happening around the world. We see propaganda in the media. We see people hurting each other with their words and actions.  Wouldn’t be great if we could get away from all the troubles that we see in the word?     

All of us need a breather. All of us need to take a break.  I do indeed recommend taking a vacation every so often. Vacations can be nice.  Taking a breather can be helpful.  But the reality of our situation is that taking a break does not take our problems away.   We could go to any place in the world, and we would see the same problems of corruption, greed, pride, and selfishness.  Taking a vacation for a little while does not free us from our personal problems either. Most of our problems will just follow us wherever we go and the ones that don’t will be waiting for us when we get back.  We can’t fully get away from our problems because we can’t fully get away from sin. 

In our Gospel reading for today we see Jesus Christ our Lord in the middle of all sorts of problems. Our text takes place during our Lord’s ministry near the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus saw the problems that people had living in this fallen world and so He did something about it.  He preached the word of God to the people because they did not fully understand God. He also healed the ones that were sick. The word spread about Jesus and so more people came to Him.  The crowds of people had multiple problems and so the Lord walked among them and helped them.  Jesus also had to deal with the problems that His disciples had.  Our Lord would teach them the Word of God and yet all too often they failed to understand.  His disciple’s lack of understanding is something that the Lord had to continually deal with.

Jesus was taking care of His disciples and He was taking care of the crowds when He got word that John the Baptist had been killed.  John’s death was another example of the fallen nature of this world.  Some of you might recall the circumstances of John’s death. It was quite evil.  John was beheaded by King Herod.  When Jesus heard the news about John, He withdrew in a boat to a desolate place to be by himself.  Our Lord wanted to get away for a while.  Jesus is God but He is also human.  Due to His human nature He became tired.  I imagine He felt great sadness because of John’s death.  He left the crowds of people so that He could pray to His Heavenly Father. 

Matthew tells us that Jesus withdrew to a desolate place to get away but His break did not last long. The crowds of people followed Him and found where He was.  All the troubles of this world once again surrounded Jesus.  The crowds still needed His help.  His disciples still needed His instruction.  All the troubles of the world surrounded Jesus but notice how our Lord reacted to what was happening.  Matthew tells us that Jesus looked out at the great crowd, and He had compassion on them.  Jesus Christ responded to all the troubles of the world with compassion.  Jesus went to the crowd and healed the sick.  When He noticed that they were hungry He fed them all with five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus performed a miracle not for his benefit but for the benefit of those around Him.  The crowd was provided for and His disciples gained understanding about the power and compassion of God.

Our Lord’s response to all the problems in this world is to have compassion for those who are suffering. The ultimate demonstration of our Lord’s compassion is of course seen at the cross.  Jesus faced all the problems and troubles and sins of the world when He died on the cross.  Jesus faced all of our problems and troubles and sins when He sacrificed Himself for us. Our Lord’s compassion can be seen very clearly in His death and resurrection.  It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that brings God’s grace to us all.

Our Lord’s response to all of our problems, His response to all of our troubles is to have compassion on us.  We benefit from our Lord’s compassion every day.  Each and every day God provides for both our physical and spiritual needs. God has given us the gift of life and He has provided what we need to sustain that life.  We have been blessed with food and clothing, house and home. We have been blessed with family and friends.  The Lord has given us more than what we need not because we deserve it but because of His compassion. 

Each and every day the Lord provides for our temporal needs but He also provides for our spiritual needs. He forgives our sins and He restores our hearts.  He gives us His Word to strengthen our faith and encourage us.  He gives us our church so that we can grow together.  He hears our prayers and answers them according to His good and gracious will.  He gives us the assurance of eternal life with Him.  Jesus gives us a sure and certain hope of our life in heaven with God.  It will be a life free from all the problems and troubles that we face right now.  It will be a life that will consist of everlasting peace and joy.  The Lord gives us these things not because we deserve them but because of His compassion.

The problems and troubles that we face in our life can be a great burden.  Wouldn’t be great if we could get away from them?  The truth is that we live in a fallen world so we will never be able to fully escape our problems and troubles on our own.  Not in this life.  Our only hope is the Lord.  Our only hope is our Lord’s compassion. When Jesus looked at the crowd of people He had compassion on them.  When Jesus looks at us and sees our troubles and sorrows He has compassion on us.  It is the Lord who provides for our physical and spiritual needs.  It is the Lord that restores us and makes us strong.  It is the Lord that will bring us to the Heavenly Father.  What is the one thing that can overcome all the problems of this world?  The answer is quite simple.  It is the compassion of our Lord.  Amen.