2026-06-14 Pentecost 3

Scripture Readings

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!

One evening, a man was out for a walk along a beautiful beach on the pacific ocean. As he journeyed along his way, he was admiring the gorgeous sunset and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore. He noticed another man down the beach in the distance. As he approached this other man, he noticed that from time to time this man would stoop down, pick something up and then toss it out into the water. Time and time again, this man would keep hurling things out into the ocean. As the two men got closer to one another it became clear what this man was doing. He was picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach, one at a time, and throwing them back into the water.

The man said, “Good evening, fine Sir! What are you doing?” “I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. It’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have washed up on the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they will dry out and die” he replied calmly. Puzzled, the first man said “I don’t understand. There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. And this same thing is happening on hundreds of beaches up and down this coast! Can’t you see that what you’re doing can’t possibly make a difference?!” The other man smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish. As he tossed it back into the sea he said “it made a difference to that one!”

Compassion! It can and does make a huge difference – a life and death difference! Every where we look, we see people and situations that are in desperate need of the difference that compassion makes in our world. As a word, it literally means “to suffer with.” It is entering in to someone else’s difficult situation that they might not suffer alone or have to endure pain and hardship by themselves. Our Gospel text from St. Matthew says that Jesus, as He was teaching, preaching and healing people of all their sicknesses and diseases, had compassion for them.

He had compassion on all the large crowds that followed Him around because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. In point of fact, this Gospel lesson is directed towards the Pharisees and teachers of the law of the people of Israel. They were called to be shepherds of God’s people, yet acted as ravenous wolves. Therefore, out of God’s Divine compassion, we see Jesus gathering His Disciples together and then sending them to the lost sheep of Israel to perform the mighty works of God’s Kingdom. They “upgrade” from Disciples to Apostles as they are sent out into the world with this mission of compassion from God.

We learn much about God’s compassion. In this Gospel text. It embodies Christ Himself Who came into our world and became flesh. He was incarnate not to condemn sinners, but to have compassion on us and save us. We sing about this in the great hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (LSB 700):

These are truly magnificent lyrics. For if Christ our Lord is so full of compassion, then we too as His followers should be likewise.

But perhaps we have been lacking in the old compassion department. Maybe we have not been rich in mercy, slow to anger or abounding in steadfast love. It’s like those sad World Vision commercials on TV from a few years back. You could watch all these poor little kids and compassionately try to help or you could quickly flip the channel away to something else. Or when you walk downtown in the hood and you see the people laying around on the sidewalk. Do you embrace compassion or judgment?

I remember having to read a story back in grade 7 about a man named Jean Valjean. It came from Victor Hugo’s novel called Les Misérables. You don’t even have to parler the Francais to figure it means “the miserable” or “the miserable ones.” It sounds like the name of your high-school rock band from 1973! But back to Jean Valjean. He was a man who was caught and sentenced to time in the slammer for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. Finally, after nineteen years in the prison, he was released back into the world. When he finally had freedom again, he was turned away everywhere due to his yellow passport – a document showing his recent incarceration. However, there was a Good Samaritan who had compassion on Jean. Bishop Myriel, a kind-hearted old clergyman welcomed Jean Valjean in, fed him supper, and gave him a bed for the night. Aw! How nice! What a warm and fuzzy tale.

However, Jean, in the darkness of night, took advantage of the Bishop’s compassion. He stole some silverware and silver plates and fled. The local constabulary caught him red handed and brought him back to the Bishop. The expected response would be chastisement and justice, wouldn’t you think? Lock him back up in the slammer and throw away the key! Yet Bishop Myriel tells the police that the silver was a gift for Jean Valjean and in addition, he gave him some silver candlesticks.

Even in the face of the most horrible injustice and abuse of charity, the Bishop could show compassion. Perhaps you have been burned by people in the past just like this. People who have taken advantage of your charity and compassion. It is easy to stop being compassionate as a result. Yet, we must look to our Lord Jesus. Even in the face of mockery, abuse, and a torturous death on the cross, He still willing suffered for the un-compassionate sins of the world. He suffered for our sins, for our lack of showing compassion to those around us. Instead of justice for sin, God shows us mercy. And even beyond His Divine mercy, He gives us blessings beyond our wildest dreams.

This wild compassion of God was shown by the Bishop as he gave more blessing in the face of scorn and abuse. This goes against every sinful grain of our being! How can people give blessing, and show even more compassion in the face of such abuse!? We must look to Christ for the answer. God is merciful, gracious and compassionate to us. He has forgiven our heinous sins and Has called us to be His people. Exodus 19 says “You shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (5-6).

As His Holy people, we are called and transformed by God’s grace to be compassionate. We are called and Baptized to show compassion to our neighbours, family and friends – even when it is hard and especially when we don’t want to. This is not the way of the world, and in the world’s eyes this is absolutely ludicrous! However, we are not of the world. We are of Christ. We have been Baptized into Him and He has removed our sins from us. We have been Baptized that we may show His compassion into all the world.

We see precisely this with the sending of the Apostles. Jesus told them “proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay” (MT 10:7-8). This mission embodies the compassion of God. Healing for the ill and infirm. Resurrection and life for the dead. Cleansing for the unclean. The destruction of evil and all the works of Satan. Just as the compassion of God has freely come to you, He tells them, freely give.

As we look all around us, we see people who need compassion. At times, the problems people have may seem too overwhelming to us. We wonder if even the little bits of compassion that we give out are enough to really make any kind of difference in the world! It is at those times in life when we can bend down and pick up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean, knowing that, indeed, it made a difference to that one. Thanks be to God. Amen.