Compassion
Like many of you I’m sure this week I watched on the news as the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing was released from prison in Scotland, and returned to Libya. Suffering from cancer it is believed that he only has a short time to live, and on compassionate grounds the Scottish Justice Minister ordered his release.
Many have argued that he showed no compassion for the victims of the bombing and therefore he should be shown no compassion now, and be left to die in prison. The arguments are long and varied, and many people will have many different thoughts about the rights and wrongs of the decision that was made.
But as I read through the passage for this evening from the letter to the Hebrews (13:16-21), my mind came back to this news story. The passage we heard began, ‘Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God’.
The life of Jesus combined with these words reminds us that our doing good is not conditional upon somebody else doing good. The love of Jesus is not dependant upon our actions, and his sacrifice upon the cross was not something he did for people who had done everything for him.
The Bible tells us that for a righteous man people may die, but what about the unrighteous, the uncommitted, the disinterested or even the evil – Jesus died for everyone…
Doing good is a quality that every one of us would agree is the right quality – it is what every one of us would I am sure hope to do throughout our lives, but it’s not easy, and this passage suggests that. We should do good, and share what we have, but it is, as the passage suggests, a sacrifice.
Doing good and sharing things is not supposed to be easy ! The sad fact is that much of our human emotions are geared to looking after ourselves and those closest to us, and anything and anyone else comes some way behind.
But doing the good thing is always the right thing. In the reading from the gospel of Luke (13:10-17), Jesus heals a woman who had suffered for 18 years. It should have been an incredible celebration as people witnessed the power of God working right there amongst them, but it wasn’t for everyone. Instead of seeing the power of God, some only saw the fact that Jesus had done this work on the Sabbath day, and that no healing, or work of any kind should have taken place on that day.
This morning in the service we thought about priorities and the need to put Jesus at the centre of our lives and actions, and doing good, whatever the cost is one of those fundamental actions.
I don’t know whether the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber was the right one – it could certainly be argued that even the right to die in a prison with medical facilities and pain control was far more compassionate than the death he had forced on so many, but whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision the one thing that couldn’t be argued is that the justice minister had acted with incredible compassion.
It was a compassion that many would not understand, many in very powerful places, many who would speak out against the decision, but it was a compassion that fitted the guidelines he had to work with.
I know that the celebrations from some on the streets in Libya were certainly not right, but perhaps that is something governments who are now spending time making friends with Libya should be discussing with them. In this instance maybe political expedience was the winner, but we should not ignore the level of compassion that has been shown – compassion far greater than anything this man has ever shown to anyone else, compassion greater than many would think he deserves, compassion which involves the sacrifice of knowing that there would be many who would criticise the decision perhaps for years to come…
One of the classic discussions whenever there is a discussion about forgiveness and love is how could God ever forgive someone who has done something evil, and from a human point of view, it is often difficult to understand that, but we are assured that God’s love is for everyone, and that his forgiveness is offered to anyone who honestly turns to him and asks for it.
God’s love and God’s compassion is greater than anything we can understand, and that is why it can be painful for us to try and offer such love and compassion, but we are reminded that however painful something may be, if it is the right thing, then it is the thing we must do.
I’d like to finish with a short writing by a Canadian Author called Rudy Wiebe which talks about the society Jesus would want us to be part of – it is demanding, but it is our call :-
“Jesus says in his society there is a new way to live : You show wisdom by trusting people, you handle leadership by serving, you handle offenders by forgiving, you handle money by sharing, you handle enemies by loving, you handle violence by suffering.
In fact you have a new attitude towards everything, towards everybody, towards love, towards the state in which you happen to live, towards women, towards slaves, towards all and every single thing.
Because this is Jesus society and you repent not by feeling bad, but by thinking different.” AMEN
Many have argued that he showed no compassion for the victims of the bombing and therefore he should be shown no compassion now, and be left to die in prison. The arguments are long and varied, and many people will have many different thoughts about the rights and wrongs of the decision that was made.
But as I read through the passage for this evening from the letter to the Hebrews (13:16-21), my mind came back to this news story. The passage we heard began, ‘Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God’.
The life of Jesus combined with these words reminds us that our doing good is not conditional upon somebody else doing good. The love of Jesus is not dependant upon our actions, and his sacrifice upon the cross was not something he did for people who had done everything for him.
The Bible tells us that for a righteous man people may die, but what about the unrighteous, the uncommitted, the disinterested or even the evil – Jesus died for everyone…
Doing good is a quality that every one of us would agree is the right quality – it is what every one of us would I am sure hope to do throughout our lives, but it’s not easy, and this passage suggests that. We should do good, and share what we have, but it is, as the passage suggests, a sacrifice.
Doing good and sharing things is not supposed to be easy ! The sad fact is that much of our human emotions are geared to looking after ourselves and those closest to us, and anything and anyone else comes some way behind.
But doing the good thing is always the right thing. In the reading from the gospel of Luke (13:10-17), Jesus heals a woman who had suffered for 18 years. It should have been an incredible celebration as people witnessed the power of God working right there amongst them, but it wasn’t for everyone. Instead of seeing the power of God, some only saw the fact that Jesus had done this work on the Sabbath day, and that no healing, or work of any kind should have taken place on that day.
This morning in the service we thought about priorities and the need to put Jesus at the centre of our lives and actions, and doing good, whatever the cost is one of those fundamental actions.
I don’t know whether the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber was the right one – it could certainly be argued that even the right to die in a prison with medical facilities and pain control was far more compassionate than the death he had forced on so many, but whatever the rights and wrongs of the decision the one thing that couldn’t be argued is that the justice minister had acted with incredible compassion.
It was a compassion that many would not understand, many in very powerful places, many who would speak out against the decision, but it was a compassion that fitted the guidelines he had to work with.
I know that the celebrations from some on the streets in Libya were certainly not right, but perhaps that is something governments who are now spending time making friends with Libya should be discussing with them. In this instance maybe political expedience was the winner, but we should not ignore the level of compassion that has been shown – compassion far greater than anything this man has ever shown to anyone else, compassion greater than many would think he deserves, compassion which involves the sacrifice of knowing that there would be many who would criticise the decision perhaps for years to come…
One of the classic discussions whenever there is a discussion about forgiveness and love is how could God ever forgive someone who has done something evil, and from a human point of view, it is often difficult to understand that, but we are assured that God’s love is for everyone, and that his forgiveness is offered to anyone who honestly turns to him and asks for it.
God’s love and God’s compassion is greater than anything we can understand, and that is why it can be painful for us to try and offer such love and compassion, but we are reminded that however painful something may be, if it is the right thing, then it is the thing we must do.
I’d like to finish with a short writing by a Canadian Author called Rudy Wiebe which talks about the society Jesus would want us to be part of – it is demanding, but it is our call :-
“Jesus says in his society there is a new way to live : You show wisdom by trusting people, you handle leadership by serving, you handle offenders by forgiving, you handle money by sharing, you handle enemies by loving, you handle violence by suffering.
In fact you have a new attitude towards everything, towards everybody, towards love, towards the state in which you happen to live, towards women, towards slaves, towards all and every single thing.
Because this is Jesus society and you repent not by feeling bad, but by thinking different.” AMEN
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