It’s
been a hard week this week in Toledo. According
to the Toledo Blade website: “Seven
people were shot since [last] Sunday in incidents across Toledo, continuing an
uptick in violent crime that includes five killings in less than a week. “Those
five deaths — Sarah Beacher, 31; Johnny Jones, 14; Klib Papa and Devin
Melman, both 19; and Robin Ellis, 55 — occurred from four separate incidents.
Three victims were shot, one was stabbed, and one was killed with a large
weapon, possibly a hatchet.
“Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson announced
late Tuesday the city will organize a town hall meeting to discuss the
violence. Police Chief George Kral will host the event from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday
in the University of Toledo’s Health and Human Services Building. “We want to
discuss with the community ways to address this issue,” the mayor said. “It’s
really about communities saying we want to take control and protect our
children.” (Source: Read more at
http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2015/08/12/City-calls-meeting-to-address-crime-wave.html#jHrK5zO4mbHOxJZM.99)
I know that many of you, like me, were
overwhelmed as we got reports of these incidents in our city. Some of us get
text alerts on our phones and as one after another came through we became more
and more disheartened. Especially when we read that the suspect in one case was
16 years old. Children killing children.
In times like these we need Jesus. We
need the compassion of Jesus. We need a shepherd. I know it’s a metaphor from
the Bible that may not have much meaning to city dwellers, but let’s give it a
try. A shepherd cares for the needs of sheep. He protects the sheep; makes sure
they have grass for grazing and water to drink. The shepherd protects the sheep
from predators. The shepherd looks for the lost sheep and brings them back into
the flock, never losing a sheep. We are never lost when we have a shepherd.
In our scripture for today, Mark
6:30-44 from The Message Bible for those following from afar, it says Jesus’
heart broke for the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Truth be told Jesus and his disciple were
ready for a break. Are you ever ready for a break?
The disciples had just returned from a
mission. They had been out preaching and evangelizing and they had returned to
tell Jesus all they had done. Things had gone well on their journey and they
were filled with Good News but they were tired.
Jesus, likewise, was grieving because
his cousin and dear friend John the Baptist had just been killed by King Herod.
They were all ready for a break. Jesus had said, “Come off
by yourselves; let’s take a break and get a little rest.” The scripture says: “They
got in the boat and went off to a remote place by themselves. Someone saw them
going and the word got around. From the surrounding towns people went out on
foot, running, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus arrived, he saw this
huge crowd. At the sight of them, his heart broke—like sheep with no shepherd
they were. He went right to work teaching them.”
Let’s unpack this story a little bit.
Because it shows two of our core values here at The Village. First of all we
value balance. We value the balance. We value Sabbath rest. We value taking
time to rest. The disciples had been working hard; it was time for them to
rest. Jesus was grieving over the death of his friend. He needed a break from
the crowds so he wanted to get away. They were doing the right thing by getting
in the boat and going to a remote place.
This
is something we all need to pay attention to. It is okay to rest. It is okay to
STOP. It is important to recharge. Jesus would pray during his times of rest
and prayer is an important part of renewal. We need to connect with God in our
times with renewal, God is the source of our strength and our joy. Spending
time in nature is a great way to recharge because we are connecting with God’s
beautiful creation. It’s hard not to connect to God when we are enjoying God’s
beautiful creation.
So
Jesus and the disciples were trying to get some balance and to recharge, but
the crowds followed them. They came running from the surrounding villages
because they had heard about Jesus and they wanted to hear from him. They
wanted to see him and hear him preach. Maybe they wanted to be healed. They
just wanted to be in his presence. They knew there was something unique about
Jesus and they did not want to miss their once in a lifetime chance to meet
him.
So
Jesus had a choice. He could send the crowd home so he could rest. Or he could
teach. Jesus had compassion for the crowd. That’s another one of our values
here at the Village, compassion. He said
they looked like sheep without a shepherd. Scripture says his heart broke for
them. And so he taught them. He taught them all day long. He probably told them
some of our favorite sayings. “I am the light of the world.” Maybe he told them
the story of the Prodigal son or the story of the shepherd who had 100 sheep
but one was missing so he went looking for the one that was missing, because
that is how much God loves us. God will come looking for us if we are missing.
Jesus
preached until it was supper time and then his disciples got anxious because
they did not know how they could possibly feed all those people. They said to
Jesus, “It’s time to send them home.” But Jesus said, “No, you need to feed
them.” Because you see, that was the compassionate thing to do. Compassion is another
one of our values here at the Village because it’s Jesus’ values.
The
disciples were beside themselves because they did not have the resources to
feed a crowd of 5000 people. The conversation went something like this.
Jesus
said: “You do it. Fix supper for them.”
They
replied, “Are you serious? You want us to go spend a fortune on food for their
supper?”
38 But he was quite serious. “How many loaves
of bread do you have? Take an inventory.”
That
didn’t take long. “Five,” they said, “plus two fish.”
39-44 Jesus got them all to sit down in groups of
fifty or a hundred—they looked like a patchwork quilt of wildflowers spread out
on the green grass! He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to
heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples, and the disciples
in turn gave it to the people. He did the same with the fish. They all ate
their fill. The disciples gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. More than five
thousand were at the supper.
The
supper was a miracle of compassion. You see, Jesus gives us what we need. Jesus
is a shepherd. A shepherd gives sheep what the sheep need. Even though he was
tired that day and Jesus may have needed rest, his need for balance was
superseded by the people’s need for compassion. Sometimes one value outweighs
another value.
Our city needs peace right now. We have had
too much violence. We need to pray for peace and pray for an end to the
violence. We need to pray for the meeting that will happen tomorrow night. We
need to pray for our city leaders, for the police, and for the children.
What do you need? Because, you see, Jesus
wants to give you what you need. Just like Jesus gave those hungry people a
meal with food that was over flowing, Jesus wants to give us what we need. What
do you need? I want you to think about it right now. (Pause and really think
about that for a moment).
Jesus wants to give you what you need.
Jesus has compassion for you. Jesus does not want you to be searching or
hurting or to be without anything you need. Ask and you shall receive. So,
today, let’s ask.
Let’s be bold and ask Jesus for what we
need. And then let’s watch as Jesus works to give us what we need. Will you
pray with me? Jesus we have many needs in this world. Sometimes it takes longer than we want for
our needs to be met. But we boldly ask for them now. This is what we need. Jesus feed us like you fed those hungry
people. Fill us, give us abundant life.
Amen.
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