Ep 011 || Yes to Compassion: When Care Becomes Action

Hey there, Pando family. Welcome to the Pando exclusive podcast through Southeast online. My name is Brandon, part of the SC online team, and we just spend every week kind of walking through, uh, the sermon from this past week, talking about, you know, what we've learned, what stuck out to us and just kind of applying it as we go about our daily lives. Uh, I'm not alone though, as usual, uh, this week I have Derek with me from our online team, and we're just excited to be sharing with you all, uh, just some of what we've been talking about as, as it relates to, uh, this sermon, we were in week five this week of, uh, our series, the Jesus filter, and we had our Franklin campus pastor, Bryson, uh, talking with us about compassion and how Jesus, you know, said yes to compassion, uh, how he lived that out. And we were in Mark chapter eight, uh, which is the story where Jesus feeds the 4,000. Like earlier in, uh, in the book of Mark, he he'd fed 5,000 people. Uh, and then now we get this story of him, him feeding the 4,000 there. And we get a very specific reason why Jesus does this miracle. Uh, we see in, in Mark chapter eight, verses one and two says about this time, another large crowd had gathered and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, I feel sorry for these people or some translations, I feel compassion for these people. They've been here with me for three days. They have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they'll faint along the way. And so we see this, this compassionate side of Jesus where, you know, he recognizes the need of his audience. He recognizes, you know, how they, uh, have been there for three days, how they've been listening to his teaching kind of camped out in this wilderness area and recognizes like, Hey, they, they have this very specific, tangible need.

Uh, and so as you know, Bryson pointed out, it's not just that compassion is this feeling, right? That, oh, I feel sorry for these people. I feel compassion for these people. It's this action. I'm going to do something about it. So Derek, when you think about the word compassion, as you think about the emotion or the action or however you want to say it, what is it that keeps us from, from getting to that place of compassion? You know, Bryson talked about some compassion fatigue, things like that. But, but why is it that we struggle so much with compassion? I think for me personally, that, uh, one of the biggest things that keeps me from having compassion with someone is pride. You know, I, I oftentimes will allow, uh, my pride to come into the mix. Right. I think a lot of times, um, I mean, even like there's maybe this, this idea of compassion in my mind where it's like, it almost immediately puts me at like a higher place than the person. Right. And then it's, what do I do with that? And I don't think that's the intention of this as to make ourselves seem higher than the other person, because my goodness, like each and every day, every single one of us need compassion in different areas of our life for sure. And I think for me, it's trying to recognize and have those moments of, uh, dying to myself, dying to my own emotions of like, okay, like this is clearly someone that, uh, man, needs an encouraging word, right? Somebody that I could really do something nice and thoughtful to this person. And a lot of times my mind immediately goes to like, well, like if they would have made better decisions, you know, then like, you know, I wouldn't have to do this, but if I, if I continually say it, then I'm missing the point, you know,

I'm missing the point of the gospel that man, like we were sinners and while we were still sinners, Christ still died for us. And gosh, if anyone would be above us, which Jesus is, he would have every reason to say the same thing of like, oh, well, like they would have made better decisions and better choices. Um, and so that's where I get challenged the most with that. I love that. Just to think about it in terms of, you know, not being able to empathize or sympathize or whatever, because of pride and seeing like, hey, this is the place I'm in, you know, I think one of the things that so many people struggle with is viewing compassion through the lens of there's, there's just so much, you know, that, that we see today, so many needs that we're aware of so many different, uh, you know, avenues where, where we see people in who are hurting or in need of help and things like that. And it's hard to, you know, uh, we're, we're so connected, you know, whether you get on Facebook or whatever social media, or you, or you're just reading the news, like there's so many needs day in and day out that it just becomes, we get a little numb to it. I think too, is just, you know, it's hard for us to feel like, oh, I can contribute to that, or I can help with that. Like, where would I even start if I wanted to make a difference in this way? But I do, I do think so much of it is. you know is that element of not being able to sympathize because of our own pride and and seeing you know kind of looking down on other people because it would have been I mean you couldn't have faulted Jesus for being like well you guys should have thought about it you should have thought about bringing your lunch no one packed lunch today yeah like come on you sinners where's your lunch right like but he notices this need he not only has the sympathy for it but the empathy for it to put himself in in put himself in their shoes and then he ends up feeding the 4,000 with I think in this story it's the seven

loaves of bread and a few small fish he's able to replicate this and one of the things I love about this miracle not only this one but the feeding of the 5,000 is that you know the gospel writers tell us about it but they don't tell us how it worked right they give us no idea of like did they just keep reaching in the basket and keep finding loaves or did like they just yeah like how did this happen then you know I kind of feel that way sometimes with the the cereal box at home like you just apparently got unlimited cereal yeah but how did that work out no idea but but it was so significant and so important that I think it's the feeding of the 5,000 actually that is it's the only miracle in every gospel is that it left such an impact on them that they were like yeah like this is this is something significant that Jesus did that stuck out to all the gospel writers so so one of the points Bryson made in this week's message was talking about the idea that your compassion breaks down barriers and what's interesting about the feeding of the 4,000 versus the feeding of the 5,000 is that the feeding of the 5,000 happened in a largely Jewish area and in Mark chapter 8 we read that they're in a largely Gentile area that you know Jesus is is doing for these Gentile heroes what he had done for his own people so when when we think about compassion and how it removes barriers how it takes down that pride how does that play out like how do you see you know compassion and and though that kind of sympathetic service to other people how do you see that making a difference in breaking down some of those barriers between people mm-hmm yeah and I yeah I think compassion can be especially compassion when it is unexpected can very much so change things relationally right like goodness like I I can't help but think of like there are just there are certain times in the over the course of my life where if I've been in you know conflict with someone else and say like hey we're not talking for some reason and it's kind of been a rough relationship but then either myself or the other person reaches out in the midst of a hard season and gives an encouraging word or sends a small gift to just a hey thinking about you in the midst of this like like that is something that can be so restorative to a relationship and I

think there is so much power in that and it doesn't have to be a gift like sometimes it's you know picking up the phone or sending a text and saying hey just want you know like I'm praying for you in the midst of this and I think like number one just breaking down barriers I think that can be such a powerful thing and and I think that's one of those things that even for you know y'all watching on panda right now like maybe there's someone and in your life that you can encourage you know right now and maybe it's somebody that was within the same prison that you're in that maybe you haven't gotten along with and you know you're really trying to follow Jesus and you know they're going through a really difficult time you know like what would it look like to to walk over and say hey I'm praying for you right now you know and if anything I think that's one of the ways we can be obedient and I walk with Christ of like hey when God puts someone on our heart or on our mind like hey this would be really encouraging for me maybe I should do this to encourage them even if it's somebody that you're you know you're not getting along with right now that's good that's good yeah I think it you know one of the ways that sympathy came or compassion so I can kind of break down those barriers because it forces us to put ourselves in that other person's shoes right yeah forces us to think about you know what would it be like for me to be in that situation there's there's a sense in which compassion I think you you kind of hinted at it earlier is compassion reminds us of our common need in the gospel right that it reminds us like hey if like I could find myself in that situation I could be in that place I could that very same thing could happen to me and we start to realize right that that these times of difficulty these times of suffering or whatever somebody's going through that's part of a common like human condition right like we all go through those seasons we all go as Matt Reagan said a we all go through those storms and you know compassion kind of ask us to look at beyond the circumstances that person finds themselves in, but to see like, hey, if I were in that place, if I were having to go through that season, how would I want people to respond to me? How would I want people to treat me?

And I think that's so significant. You know, one of the most famous stories of compassion Jesus tells is the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10, right? And that is a story that is entirely designed to bring down barriers and to hint at things like that because, you know, Jesus tells the story in Luke 10 of a guy who is jumped on the side of the road coming down from Jerusalem and a priest and a Levite walk past. They don't help, but it's a Samaritan who in that culture in that day was despised and hated. It's this despised Samaritan who looks at him, has compassion on him, and helps him. And I think what Jesus is, one of the things, there are many things, but one of the things Jesus is forcing the audience to do in that is just to recognize like, hey, in times of suffering, in times when we need help, we ought to be able to look past those barriers. We ought to be able to look past those divisions and see like, hey, no, I can step in and help because, you know, no matter how I feel about that person, no matter my personal relationship with them, I can recognize that they are a person made in the image of God and they need my help and they need me to step in in this situation. Yeah. So what... Yeah, I think a great point. I think it's a great point, Brandon. And I think one of the things that makes me think of is that so many times, I think when I look at my own life, I tend to be more obedient to my emotions than I am to be obedient to Christ and what He's calling us to. And what I mean by that is that there are times when, like, for example, in that situation, you know, say it's like, man, well, it's really easy to have compassion on somebody with somebody that like you're good with, they, you know, they look just like you, they've, like, you can understand, you can see yourself in their shoes, right? Especially in this example where it's like, man, like, this is a person that in every way possible is different, you know, than I am, right? And already I've put myself kind of in a higher place than they are in my heart. And so I already have this kind of idea of looking down on them. And so what I tend to do, and I'm guilty of, is that in those moments in my life,

what will end up happening is I will be more obedient to listening to those emotions inside of me that say, nope, you need to be angry. Nope, you need to be frustrated. Nope, you need to just brush it off, and they deserve what they deserve, right? To where, you know, God calls us to compassion, right? He tells us to pray for those who persecute you and love those who don't love you. And that's hard. Yeah. Like that is hard. Absolutely. And am I remembering correctly that as Jesus is telling us that he's talking to a group of Pharisees or a group of religious leaders? Yeah, I believe so. I believe that's, it seems like most of his stories were directed at those guys. Right. It's like, hey, while you're listening, you know, because at the end of the day, like, those are the people that I would imagine most of these other people are looking at of like, okay, like these are the religious leaders, they're religious people, and yet, you know, Jesus is giving them this lesson on what compassion looks like. And even in that moment how I described that, I'm almost looking down at the Pharisees thinking like, oh, you fools, how could you not understand this? Looking down at the Pharisees for looking down on other people. Yeah, but I'm sure that I am so guilty of doing the same thing in my life in so many different ways. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you know, you said something there that made me think about, you know, one of the things C.S. Lewis said at one point, I mean, he said so many things, but one of the things he talked about was that, you know, if you feel like you can't love somebody, if you feel like you don't care about somebody, then the first step you ought to take for them is to pray for them, because it's hard to retain that sort of barrier between somebody that you're praying for over time. And I think maybe that's one of the very first steps of compassion, right? Like if you're in a place where you're struggling to find compassion on someone who has, you know, done wrong to you, or if you're struggling just to find compassion for a specific group of people even, then I think the place to start might be just to pray, you know, to pray with that spirit of compassion and saying like, hey, how would I want them to pray for me?

How would I want, if someone were going to God and asking for things on my behalf, what would I want them to say? And, you know, that may be kind of the first step in helping that heart change happen is to say, hey, I'm not in a place maybe where I can do compassion, but I can start to think compassionately by taking, you know, them before God and praying about their situation. I love that. Yeah, you know, probably a handful of years ago, you know, I was talking to a friend about someone in my life that was really frustrating me. You know, and it was just one of those moments where it's like, I was probably gossiping about this person and just frustrated about like, man, like this person does this and they do that and that makes me so angry. My friend was being kind and just listening and then he had said like, okay, well like, are you praying for that person? And I was like, and in the moment it kind of made me mad. I was like, what do you mean am I praying for this person? Like, how dare you? Of course I'm not. Of course I'm not. But like, it stung because it was like, the point was such a good point and it hit me as truth where it was like, oh my gosh, like, you're right, I'm not. And I tell you what, like, you know, guys, Brandon saying this right now, like, that's not just word service. Like, I have seen that to be true in my life, especially with people that I've had conflict with

of like, man, like, it makes a difference in my heart. And I think God does something in my heart when I start to pray for that person because I think it takes, like you said, it puts us in their shoes. It helps us to seek more than just our own satisfaction or our own good feelings or whatever it is. And because there's a lot of times to follow Christ that like, hey, we're gonna have to set aside these emotions that are controlling us. And emotions aren't always bad, but we can't be controlled by them, you know? Because if we're always controlled by the negative emotions we have, well, we're never gonna have compassion for other people. Because I really don't think it's something that necessarily comes natural to all of us. Right, right. Yeah, I think you're absolutely right. So often, because we view compassion as an emotion, we allow it to get overruled by other emotions. We allow it to just get canceled out by our feelings of resentment or bitterness or even hatred or whatever. When instead, viewing compassion as that sort of action means, you know, I can do this in spite of how I feel. I can do this in spite of my emotions about that person. So, well, one of the challenges, Bryson gave us three challenges towards the end of his sermon

to practice compassion pauses, to just find times in your day where you can stop and think compassionately, pray, or do something out of compassion. He talks about practicing the seven loaves exercise where you kind of think about, you know, seven loaves, probably to the disciples, seven loaves didn't seem like it was gonna get very far with 4,000 people. I can't divide that out, but it seems like that would be a lot of people to one loaf of bread. I took Bible college math, I don't know. So practice seven loaves of exercise, but just see like those small things that you have that you can use to, you know, serve another person, to help another person. And then finally, to engage in one act of compassion beyond convenience, right? To just find that person or that situation where you can practice compassion, even if it's difficult or even if it's uncomfortable. So Derek, as you think about those three challenges, how would you encourage our Pando audience to do one of those three things? Like how do you see that playing out? That's good, yeah, I think, yeah, if you watched Bryson's message and watched the video that I was a part of this past Sunday, part of week five

for Say Yes to Compassion, I'd encouraged everyone, you know, to kind of set aside one or two moments every day to have that compassion pause moment and think about who can you encourage, whether it's writing a letter, whether it's walking down the hall, whether it's giving someone something that's in need. I think that's applicable, you know, but as I'm sitting here and thinking about it now, I think the one, Brandon, that I would really encourage is this idea of engaging in one act of compassion beyond convenience, right? So finding a tangible way to connect with someone that you normally wouldn't. You know, one of the things that Bryson had phrased it up as, maybe it's crossing one of your dividing lines, political, cultural, lifestyle, Jesus crossed every dividing line, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, righteous and sinner, friend and enemy. And I can imagine that for everyone watching this, there are probably some people that you have that are over that line, right, on the other side of the tracks. And so my challenge would be pray through, who is it? You know, who is it that I can kind of step across that line and have compassion towards? And Brandon, like you said, maybe, just maybe that first step is choosing one person

that may be on the opposite of that line or on the opposite side of the tracks and begin to pray for that person. Maybe do that for a week, right? Maybe do that for a week. and decide, hey, here's one thing I'm gonna do for them. Yeah, I think that's good. And I think, you know, that act of prayer, you may find, you know, God tells you something in there or reveals something like, hey, this is how, you know, this is how you can serve that person, this is how you can help that person. He may begin that process of, you know, turning your heart towards actually living compassionately towards that individual. So one just final observation in the story, and Bryson talked a little bit about this, but it talked about, you know, afterward, after Jesus has fed the 4,000, they get all the leftovers of all this. And there were, you know, seven loaves and a couple fish when they got started, but there are seven baskets of leftover food when they walk away. And the number seven is very significant in the Bible as a number of completion, that, you know, the fullness of the miracle that Jesus had done, that he had satisfied everyone and then had the fullness left over after that. And, you know, I think so often we focus on compassion

and we think about what we don't have and what we can't do. And we don't realize, you know, that Jesus is enough, right? That he has it all, that it all belongs to him. So when you think about that seven fish exercise and how do we rely on Jesus in the midst of what we lack for him to, you know, take those acts of compassion and really use them. I love that. Oh, that's a question for me. Yeah, that's a question, yeah. A question for me. I mean, I thought that was like- Oh, you thought we were, ah, okay. Yeah, I thought that was like a, man, final thought here. You know, I think that, yeah, I love that because I think it's just another way for us to be intentional about what we're doing on a weekly basis. And we talk on here a lot about specific ways that we all can follow Jesus, right? Whether you're in prison or not, whether you live in Louisville, Kentucky or not, no matter what time period you lived in following Christ or right now, is that, you know, we want to find ways to specifically follow Jesus. And like, yeah, like part of that is reading our Bibles, right, part of that is praying. But there's deeper, I think God wants to take all of us deeper into a relationship with him. And I think one of the cool ways that we'll experience

more of who God is, is by learning more about his heart, right, and I think one of the ways that we learn about his heart is by having to walk through things in life that cause us have to look internally at what we're feeling and what we're thinking and what we're dealing with and be confronted by what we're feeling versus what God wants us to do. You know, Brandon says, again, like you said, looking at the seven loaves, you know, I think it's just, it's bringing to God seven things that we have, right, whatever those things are. And even like to, like what Bryson said, like sometimes God uses our weakness and our brokenness in the midst of that. And so maybe it's a meal or a donation or a conversation, whatever it is, like, I think it's just another way to be intentional and trying to follow Christ and what he wants for us. All right, well, that is a good final word. We'll take that on out there. So guys, thank you so much for joining us this week again for the Pando Exclusive Podcast. We're so grateful to have this time to just walk through the sermon, to talk through some further application and just to encourage you all on your journey with Jesus and how he is pushing you deeper into knowing him. I wanna just encourage you as we always do, in the description below, you'll find the address to write to us.

We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear your story. We'd love to hear how we can pray for you. So be sure to look up our address, drop us a line. Again, we have a team of volunteers who goes through those letters who will write you back and we'd love to hear from you. But again, thanks for joining us this week on the Pando Podcast and we will see you next time.