A doctor, a teacher, an architect, and an IRS auditor were arguing about whose profession was the oldest. The doctor pointed out, “Well, Eve was made from Adam’s rib, so there must have been a doctor available to perform the operation.” “Agreed,” said the teacher, “but how would the doctor have known what to do if he hadn’t been taught? There must have been a teacher there first, to teach the doctor.”
“Maybe so,” said the architect, “but before that the world was in chaos. Someone must have brought order out of chaos and that sounds like the work of an architect.” The IRS auditor just smiled and said simply, “But who do you think created the chaos?”
My brothers and sisters, we are all competitive. Each of us likes to be first, best, the champ. That is the best reason I can think of for paying close attention to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus became one of us to show us what being our best selves really looks like. He is what we are called to become. When we look at him, we see clearly where we are supposed to be headed.
Today’s gospel captures the essence of Jesus. He had just heard about the brutal execution of his cousin, John the Baptist. So he went off to a quiet spot to be alone with his memories and to pray. But as always someone found out where he was and a crowd gathered. Now here is the point where Jesus showed what made him so special. Despite his own inner pain, the gospel says Jesus looked at the crowd and “his heart was moved with compassion.”
The word “compassion” says a lot more than we usually notice. It’s from the Latin, cum passio, and it means “to be with the feelings of another.” In a word, Jesus looked beyond his own grief and took into his heart the feelings and hurts of the crowd, and he felt those as if they were his own. Inside himself, he knew their pains and hurts, their longings and hungers. And being one with them on the inside, he
reached out and responded to those needs as naturally as if they were his own. He had to act. To ignore them would have felt like ignoring himself.
Why is it so easy for us to ignore one another’s needs, so easy to be cruel or harsh even to those we love? Perhaps because we so rarely listen to the inside of one another and so rarely take what we hear into our hearts. We stay on the outside, where it’s easy to judge or reject or simply forget that we are family, all of us. We stay on the outside where it’s too easy to fall for the lie that we can live as happy islands insulated from the rest of the world.
Jesus has shown us what a real life looks like, a life that transcends our instinctive competitiveness, a life that leaves no one an island. Jesus has not only shown us what that looks like, he’s shown us that it’s possible for human beings like us. And he’s made it clear that it’s the only way to happiness. So why not give it a try? Why not, indeed!