Pastor Dan Mangler's Sunday Sermon

Glass of Cold Water

Matthew 10: 40-42

June 26, 2005

Glass of Cold Water

In England in the 1940s a young woman entered Oxford University. She had little focus. She had no idea what to do with her life. But she soon came under the influence of a colorful professor of English, a writer with a gift, named C.S. Lewis. She became a Christian through much of his influence.

She left Oxford, against the advice of friends and family, and began to study nursing. After five more years of rigorous training, she was certified as a nurse.

She ended up working on a cancer ward in a London hospital. Gradually, she came to realize that most of the doctors ignored the patients who were deemed terminally ill. As a result she watched many of them die virtually alone.

Greatly troubled she felt that Christian compassion needed to be expressed to these patients in a visible way. She approached the hospital administration with an idea she had for surrounding those dying of cancer with friends and loved ones during their last days, rather than isolating them in sterile rooms with strangers. Her radical ideas were quickly rejected.

Undaunted, she decided to enroll in medical school to try to make a difference even though she was already 33 years old and would not graduate until she was 39. This she did and later a movement soon grew around her ideas that made it possible for dying patients to live their days in a setting of love and support.

Her name is Cicely Saunders. Out of Christian compassion and a sense of calling to help in a specific way, she began this movement in England in the 1950s. It later moved to the Americas and is now used everywhere and in every town. It is called the Hospice Movement. It was the way she lived out the command of Jesus to give even one of these little ones a cup of cold water.

To have compassion means literally to suffer with another person. To have compassion on another person is so to identify with that person and his/her suffering as to be moved to do something about it. It is to love neighbor as oneself. No greater example of compassion can be found than that found in God's love and compassion for humankind. God so identified with us in our suffering in sin as to be moved to do something about it. "For God so loved (had compassion on) the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

In those three verses from Matthew that were our gospel lesson for this morning there is this intertwining of Jesus, his followers, and God. "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me." It ends with this interesting tag about compassion - "and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple - truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward." It is virtually impossible to escape the conclusion that to show compassion, even such a seemingly simple act as giving a cup of cold water to one who is hot and thirsty, is inextricably bound up with who God and Jesus are, and who we are to become. There is nothing particularly difficult in understanding the concept of compassion. Compassion is simply so to see and feel another's needs so as to be moved to give from oneself to fill those needs. Compassion is simply love that has taken on arms and legs.

Christianity and compassion have gone hand in hand from the beginning. John Chrysostom, who lived in the fourth century, was one of the most powerful preachers in church history. Yet he devoted more time and energy to the poor than to preaching. He established many Christian charities, hospices, and hospitals for the destitute.

Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of a great monastic movement, led many people to Christ. He also established a network of hostels, hospices, and hospitals that survive today.

John Wyclif, who translated the New Testament into English, led a grass-roots movement of lay preachers and relief workers who ministered to the poor.

General William Booth was a Methodist preacher when he started the Salvation Army. Christianity, at its best, has always been as concerned for the body as for the soul. At the center of a Christian's faith is a compassion which so identifies with the suffering of another as to be moved to his own resources to do something to correct it. It is a compassion grounded in the compassion of Christ. Listen to this fable.

A SUBJECTIVE person came along and said: "I FEEL for you, down there in the pit."

An OBJECTIVE person came along and said: "It's logical that someone would fall into this pit.

CONFUCIUS said; "If you would have listened to me, you would not be in that pit."

A PHYSICIST calculated the rope and pulley rations necessary (lbs./sq.in.) to get him out of the pit.

A SELF-PITYING person said: "You haven't seen anything until you've seen my PIT!!"

A PESSIMIST said: "Things WILL get worse!! The pit is going to fill with water."

JESUS, seeing the man, had compassion on him, took him by the hand and LIFTED HIM OUT of the pit.

A media crew composed of television and newspaper reporters in Alabama was summoned by a despondent, drunken, unemployed man who indicated that he was going to set himself ablaze. A photographer and sound technician responded to the call, and had to select between two roles once the fire began. They could fulfill a media role by recording the incident as impassive observers, or they could fulfill a humanitarian role by smothering the flames.

For some thirty-seven seconds the team chose the former. They taped this man burning for the six o'clock news and did nothing to save him for thirty-seven seconds. By the time one of the individuals changed his role and began battling at the flames it was nearly too late. Fortunately, a volunteer fireman was able to extinguish the flames and save the man.

And this, we know, is no isolated incident. We have read of assaults in Central Park going unreported by witnesses. We know of motorists refusing to stop to render aid at an accident. And the world stands by and does nothing in response to the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. If, as Margaret Mead noted, that evidence of compassion is the first sign of civilization, what does the lack of compassion say about the state of our society today? What does it say about the Christian faith?

It matters to Christians that there are people in need—not just because we are nice people but because there was a time when we were in need. We are the recipients of grace. God loved us when we were helpless and undeserving. So, we look around for others who are helpless and perhaps even undeserving so that we may pass on the love we have received.

But what about when the need demands more than a cup of cold water, or a couple of bags of groceries, or a call to the police? What can the church do facing unemployment, lack of affordable housing, expensive health care, and the growing number of families falling below the poverty line?

Some politicians, faced with the difficult choices of raising taxes or lessening services, suggest that the church re-claim its benevolent ministry. The truth is that, despite its best intentions, the church has never done a complete or a fair job in caring for the needy, and government cannot and should not excuse itself from its responsibility to its citizens. Christians exercise their compassion, too, by holding government accountable to its mandate to provide for the common welfare of its people. Christian compassion comes by the ballot box as well as the breadbox. How can we address the short-term and long-term needs of the poor?

A little kid in the ghetto was teased by another who said, "If God loves you, why doesn't he take care of you? Why doesn't God tell someone to bring you shoes and a warm coat and better food?" The little kid thought for a moment then with tears starting in his eyes, said, "I guess He does tell somebody, but somebody forgets." God's plan is to care for the needy through His followers, and that caring is the fruit of Christian compassion. Amen.

May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.