“Grabbed by the Bowels”

A sermon based upon Colossians 3: 12; Luke 10: 25-37

By Rev. Charles J. Tomlin, DMin

Flat Rock-Zion Baptist Partnership

The Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 21, 2013

“As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion,..  (Col 3:12 NRS)

“What kind of clothes are appropriate for church?”  

When I was pastor in Greensboro in 2001, we hired a new college guy to work with youth.  He was a great young man, and talented too.   One Sunday I asked him to play his guitar and sing for worship.  He did a great job and the youth and adults loved his music.   But not long afterward one of our older members came up to me and said, “Preacher, he stands in the pulpit with his shirt-tale out.  Don’t you think this is inappropriate?”  

Dress codes and clothing styles are always changing, at church and everywhere—now even in China and Afghanistan.  Has anyone worn a “cloak” lately?   We all see constant changes in how people dress.   I can remember when the question at church was “do you have to wear a coat or suit?”  Later, it was the question of whether a woman should come to church in pants.  After that, people wondered if you needed to wear a tie or a at least a white shirt?  Can you wear shorts to church in the summer time?  The main concern was this: What kind of clothes make you look like a Christian?  

The concern for what makes for a Christian wardrobe can go too far.  Faith is supposed to be mostly concerned about what’s on the inside, not what’s on the outside.   As Jesus suggested “It’s the things ‘from the heart’ of a person that contaminates us, not the things on the outside” (My translation of Matt. 15 18-20).   Not only can the concern for dress codes go too far, other times they don’t go far enough.  In our text, Paul is worried that some Christian have not gone far enough in considering what it means to ‘dress’ like a Christian in their daily lives.   He sees that they still have on the old clothes of the old life and have not fully “put on’ their ‘Easter’ clothes of the new life.   These ‘Easter’ clothes are the kinds of clothing that make us look like Christ.   When we look like Christ, this is when we really look like a Christian.

In the coming weeks, we will consider some of the main outfits which make up the Christian wardrobe.  Today we begin with the first item in Paul’s Christian clothe closet, when he says at the beginning of verse 12,  “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion….”  

A WORD TOO BIG, ALMOST

The very first article of Christian clothing is a very big word; the word “compassion.”  But even as big a word as ‘compassion’ is, it’s still not big enough.  In fact, in the King James translation, we see a truer reflection of original Greek text of the New Testament which uses ‘two’ words to express  it.  The King James uses the phrase “bowels of mercies”.  Bowels are talked about a lot in the King James; a lot more than we’d like to talk about them at church, especially if we are constipated or about to have a colonoscopy. 

While I haven’t used the word ‘bowels’ much in sermons, in my first pastorate I did use the word ‘belly’ once to describe how full I was after a delightful meal at a member’s house.  A refined, gentile, elderly lady came up to me afterword and complained saying, “How dare you use the word ‘belly’ in the pulpit!”   My answer was, I’m sorry, but don’t blame me, blame the Bible.  How dare the Bible say that Jonah was 3 days in the belly of a big fish?  How dare the Bible talk about bowels and a lot of other things that should make it “R” rated?     

Such ‘uncomfortable’ and outdated language is why most of us prefer newer translations.  They translate these two Greek words in more appropriate ways like put on ‘tender mercy’ (NIRV), or put on “compassionate hearts” (NAB) or even better, ‘be sympathetic’ (GWN), or as the most Basic English translation has it, “Let  your behavior be marked with pity and mercy”.   These are all well and good, and accurate, but none of them quite grab you like being grabbed by the “bowels” do they?   Really, there is a lot of meaningful ancient logic here.   In the ancient world, that is, in the world before Science, it was believed that the seat of our deepest human emotions were not in our head, but were in the stomach or in the bowels where they are often felt.  The things that mattered most to people were those things that could ‘grab you’, yes, ‘grab you in the bowels’. 

Early scientists came to reason that emotions were concentrated in the spleen.  Today ‘brain research’ has given us all kinds of understandings about emotions, feelings and passions, but don’t think for one minute anyone has or can explain everything---especially when it comes to what creates feelings of compassion in people.  Even the smartest people, people who seem to have everything figured out, can still fail to understand or have compassion.  Hitler and the Nazis were smart people, maybe among the smartest people in the history of the world, but they were also among the least caring and compassionate in history.  And don’t forget this: When the Nazis killed 6 million innocent Jews they also thought they were being Christian.  Such a lack of compassion, from so called ‘Christians” should still grab us by the bowels too!  Much too often the brightest and best among us fail to put on the most basic Christian clothing we call “compassion”.

OUR SOURCE OF COMPASSION

Before we think about what having ‘compassion’ might mean for us today, let’s also think about where Paul got this idea anyway?  Where is Paul coming from when he begins his list of Christian traits as having “compassion?”   Why is ‘compassion’ the very first word on Paul’s list of proper Christian clothing?  

This concept of compassion is a word taken right out of the gospel description of Jesus.   Perhaps the most basic image of Jesus in the whole New Testament is that Jesus was a person who had great ‘compassion’.      As Matthew, says: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (9:38, NRSV).  Central to everything Jesus was about, from his teaching and healing ministry in Galilee, even to his challenging and confronting the religious and political corruption of Jerusalem was about having compassion.  Right as Jesus entered Jerusalem, in Luke’s gospel, we find Jesus acting out of compassion, wishing that he could ‘gather (Israel) around him like a mother hen gathers her little ones” (Luke 13.34).   Here we see into his heart of compassion that Jesus not only wants to be ‘with’ those who are suffering and hurting, but Jesus wants to help, heal and guide them to find peace, even if it kills him.  And it did.   Having compassion for others can hurt you.  It’s like putting on Sunday clothes that are not comfortable, at least at first.   And for Jesus, having real compassion for real people means being grabbed in the bowels by the pain and hurt of people you love, and even by people you don’t like.

But what does it mean to have compassion like Jesus had?   Let the Bible take all the guess work out of it and bring us right up to date in the real world we live in.   Once, the great Swiss theologian Karl Barth said we all need to read the Bible in one hand with the Newspaper in the other.  Susan Sparks aptly illustrates how the biblical story of Blind Bartimaeus updated for today, can still teach us about what it means to have compassion.  Susan writes:   As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.  When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

               Several of the disciples went over and said, "Be quiet and wait your turn.  Can't you see there's a crowd waiting to see the Messiah?"

            As Bartimaeus paused in silence, he felt a clipboard being thrust into his hands.

         "Now," said John, one of the bossier of the disciples, "fill out the following thirteen forms.  We need name, address, social security number, next of kin, and whether you have an HMO, PPO, or POS.  Please indicate whether you have additional vision and/or dental coverage.  Check the box on page five if this is a work related injury.  Fill out the duplicate form if you have any secondary insurance, and read and sign the privacy statement at the end and return it to me with your insurance card."

             Bartimaeus paused, "I can't read...I'm blind."

"Well then," said John in a huff, "just give me your insurance card and we'll try to get you in the cue anyway."

            Bartimaeus shook his head in shame, mumbling something under his breath.

"What did you say?" John demanded.

          "I'm uninsured," Bartimaeus said quietly, his eyes averted. 

         "I still can't understand you!" blurted John.

         "I-AM-UNINSURED!" yelled Bartimaeus.

A gasp came from the disciples.  "Uninsured!!??" they said looking at each other with disgust...and the crowd began to back away from Bartimaeus.

          "Do you have cash?"  John demanded?

"No," said Bartimaeus.

         "Do you have a credit card?"

 "No."

         "Do you have a job?"

"No."

         "Well," snapped John, "then you're just gonna have to find another messiah."

 Bartimaeus cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus heard the man, stopped what he was doing and said, "Who is that? Call him here."

        And they called to the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, you've apparently been pre-qualified."

       So throwing off his cloak, Bartimaeus sprang up and came to Jesus.  Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?"  Bartimaeus said to him, "My teacher, let me see again."  Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well."  Immediately, Bartimaeus  regained his sight.

         And as he left, Jesus turned to the disciples and said, "Under no circumstances is this man to be charged a co-pay."  (http://day1.org/1871-the_true_universal_health_care).

Would Bartimaeus be able to get help today in 2010?   Even though national health care has been approved and may be mandated in a nation where 46 million go uninsured, it still can be reversed.   And even if it isn’t, this is still no guarantee that Health Care will be compassionate.   Think about that nurse in California who wouldn’t administer CPR to a dying resident in a care facility because it went against procedure?  Can a nation that has forgotten God and losing all common sense, really carry out the biblical mandate to care for the sick, to care for the downtrodden, and to care for the poor without doing it for money and profit?   Can people who have lost the ability to care in their closest relationships, know how to care for the stranger?   Can ‘compassion’ really be a part of our everyday vocabulary when we think meaning and life comes from following after our own passions?   Scripture says we should ‘cast all our care upon him because he cares for us” (1 Peter. 5:7).  Galatians 6:2 urges us to "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."  In Matthew 10:7, Jesus offers directs his disciples, and says, "As ye go, proclaim the good news, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers...freely give as you have received."  But can we be a people like this when we lose the whole concept of “going’ of ‘good news’  and of ‘giving’ because we live in a world of ‘bad news’ and taking, holding on, and we have become hooked, if not addicted, to having much more than we will ever need.  How can we dare to believe we can have compassion like Jesus had compassion in a world that is losing compassion fast?

THE WAY OF CHRISTIAN COMPASSION

When Jesus wanted to teach a compassionless world how to have compassion, he gave them an unforgettable story---a story to grab them by the bowels---the story of the Good Samaritan.    

In the story of Good Samaritan, Jesus wanted to teach a lawyer who his neighbor was.   Now, you would think an educated lawyer would already know who his neighbor was.   But there are something they don’t even teach you in law school---or any school, except maybe Sunday School and who goes to Sunday School anymore?  So, to help this lawyer know who his neighbor was, Jesus told about a man leaving Jerusalem who was robbed and beaten and no one, not the priest nor the Levite, would stop and help him.  Then a half-breed Samaritan comes along who not only stops, but takes care of the man, dresses his wounds and pays for his care.   It’s rather embarrassing, that it is the person that nobody liked who became God’s hero.

After Jesus tells this shocking story, he looks at the lawyer, who was so good at asking hard questions so Jesus asked him a simple question one, which was very easy, but also terribly hard for him to want to answer.  Jesus asked the lawyer, “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”   So the lawyer gave the right answer, because he had too, he was a lawyer.  He said the one who was a neighbor was the ‘one who showed mercy to him’ ----that is, not the one who only ‘felt compassion’, but the one who actually stopped and got into the ditch and ‘showed’ his compassion with an actual deed of mercy.    

Then Jesus turns to his disciples and says, "Go and do likewise."   Don’t you just hate it when the preacher points you out?   But Jesus looks directly at us and says, Ok, here it is---here is compassion, loud and clear, “Now, you---yes I mean you who think you already done enough---you who think you don’t have time—you who already have too much to do----you who don’t want to get involved …YES JESUS MEANS YOU…. GO and DO likewise---be compassionate to each other like this Samaritan was.  You will do this, Right?  Right?  Ok, we’ll pay the preacher to do it.  That’s how we’ll do it.  Yeah, right! 

I’ll never forget it was one of our first Sunday’s as a pastor of a German Baptist Church.  We stayed after the service to have an extended prayer meeting.  During the prayer time, while prayer requests were being voiced, we heard someone crying in the street.  My wife and I both looked at each other.  Being new in town and unfamiliar with the surroundings, we didn’t know if it was normal or not.  We looked for signs in the faces of the others.  Everyone was preparing to pray and paying it no attention.   No one seemed concerned.  The cries got louder and louder.  Finally, my wife spoke up and asked the prayer leader,

       “Shouldn’t we go and see what’s the matter.  Someone sounds as if they are hurting.”  

       “Oh, it’s just the children next door.  It’s nothing.”

We were submissive to our new, more experienced church members.  We didn’t get up and go to the window.  We didn’t want to disturb what we were doing, or what they were teaching us.  We tried to block the screams from our ears and get on with the prayer meeting.  After a while, it finally stopped.   We kept on praying.

The very next morning, while trying to read the German newspaper, I read that a child had been struck by a car in the street that ran along beside the church.  The paper said that the child lay their awhile before anyone came to his aid.   Fortunately, the paper did not say that it happened right beside where we were having church---where we kept on having church and ignored the screams of an injured child.

I didn't see the finale of the hit TV show Seinfeld, but I know how it went.  In the conclusion of the Seinfeld Series, the show assumed that everyone knows, even people who have never been to Sunday School or Church----about the GOOD SAMARITAN.  In that final show, the four main characters, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, ---find themselves stuck in a small town in Massachusetts.  At one point, they make their way along a sidewalk, and they end up standing by and watching as a very fat man gets robbed.   Rather than help the man or call for the police, they look on and laugh at the chubby fellow’s plight.  As a result, the four of them get arrested, charged with violating the town’s Good Samaritan Law, a law that requires people to do what the Good Samaritan did---the have compassion and to show with a deed of mercy  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Finale_(Seinfeld).

Do we need a law like that?  We already have a law like that----It’s called God’s law.  In the end, this is the only law that will stand up in court.  In the end, this is the only kind of clothes we are required to wear.  In the end, we will realize that the hurting person on our own street is Jesus.   Do you hear him crying?   Will you put on the right clothes and go out to help?   Does his hurt grab you in your bowels—that deep?   

Social Historian Rodney Stark says that the rapid growth of the early church could be attributed to one major factor.  When epidemics and diseases overcame pagan communities, most of the pagan people, even their doctors would scatter.  For the most part, in a world before hospitals and hospice, they would leave their very sick patients and family member behind so they could saved themselves.  But as they were going out the door, leaving town, or running for their lives along the road, who did they meet along the way, but Christians.  Christians who had the compassion and care of Jesus in their hearts so strong, that they didn’t care what happened to them---they were only worried about what happened to those who were left behind.  So these Christians, these ‘real’ Christians, went to care for the sick and the dying, even at the risk of their own lives, because they cared like Jesus.   

Since they had given their lives to Jesus completely already, the risk and the danger to themselves didn’t matter.   Their lives were not their own.   In this world they were going to be care for people because Jesus cared for people.   It was out of such compassion, that both hospitals and church houses were built.  To have compassion like Jesus meant to move toward the hurt and pain, and not to run from it or to ignore it. (“The Rise of Christianity” Chapters 4 and 5, Rodney Stark).  

This kind of compassion contributed to the rise of Christianity in the pagan world.   And this kind of compassion can raise up a dead church or a spiritually dead people today.   These are the clothes of life we must put on so that the cries and needs of others will grab us ‘by the bowels’. Amen.