{"id":2964,"date":"2016-01-16T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T00:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2964"},"modified":"2021-11-26T08:20:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T00:20:14","slug":"135-the-ministry-of-compassion-and-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2964","title":{"rendered":"144. The Ministry of Compassion and Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, \u201cDo not weep.\u201d<\/span><\/strong> [Luke 7:13<\/span>, NRSV<\/span><\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Miracle at Nain<\/span><\/span><\/em>, by Mario Minniti,\u00a01620.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is an extremely dangerous thing for members of two opposing groups in gangland to accidentally cross each other\u2019s path. Some lives will be lost that day on the street. The word \u201ccompassion\u201d does not exist in their dictionary. For the gang members, their reality was to kill or be killed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 7 of Luke\u2019s Gospel tells a gripping story of a different type of chance encounter on the street of a town called Nain, right at the town gate actually, also involving two entirely different groups. More accurately put, it was two completely different processions. The procession heading out of town for the burial ground was one of death and sorrow; the procession heading into town for communal interaction was one of new life and hope. At the front of the first procession was a man who had been defeated by death; at the front of the latter procession was a man who would enter death only to defeat death and to emerge from it glorified. Right on cue, Scriptures are about to tell us a stunning act by the Almighty Power.\u00a0At the encounter, compassion wins and precipitates a new lease of life. Compassion is the key. Compassion has the power of bringing new life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke is telling the story of Jesus raising the son of a widow in Nain [7:11-17]. Imagine this scene in a small town near Nazareth. A large crowd, women wailing and a funeral procession is passing by. The most pitiful sight is the more elderly woman whose son lies dead in the coffin. This poor woman has already lost her husband. Now, her only son is dead as well and all her future security and status has died with him. With her sole support gone, she is left behind to fend for herself. Her heart is pain-filled, and her grief is raw, for all to see. Jesus, accompanied as usual by \u201chis disciples and a large crowd\u201d, sees her grief and feels her pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Right there at verse 13, Luke employs a word that appears many times in the Gospels to describe the essence of who God is. Rather than defining God and his Christ in philosophical and dogmatic categories of “substances” and \u201cessences\u201d, the Gospels speak of God as a God of compassion. This God is best perceived and understood in active outreach and not as an Unmoved Mover. The word in the original Greek text is esplagchnisthe<\/span><\/em> which is a compound word meaning to feel so much compassion and empathy for the one suffering that one\u2019s inner bowels are twisting and churning. This is a vision far from the theoretical essences and the Unmoved Mover of Greek philosophy. According to the Scriptures, for the love of the sufferers, this God is interiorly and deeply tortured.<\/span><\/p>\n

The compassion of Christ drives him to action.<\/span><\/p>\n