Imitating Christ's Compassion
Sermon preached by Dn. Jeff Smith on Sunday, August 17, 2025
Good morning.
In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he tells them that “I am a fool, I am weak. I am hungry and thirsty. I am homeless and without clothes.” He says essentially, “I am garbage. But I am also your father. So, imitate me.” And as he asks the Corinthians to imitate him, so does St. Paul imitate Christ, who was also declared to be nothing, and was condemned to be killed.
How did these obscure men conquer the world after centuries of Roman corruption and violence? The answer is through faithful people like you and me whose lives were changed. With exasperation Jesus asks his disciples, how long am I to bear with you? If you had faith the size of a mustard grain, you could move mountains, but your faith is weak. The healing of an epileptic boy is not so much of a miracle for Jesus, as it is a simple act of compassion. Healing is his natural reaction to suffering, and it can be our reaction as well. It is not so far up there, this miracle, as it is just giving from his heart. This kind of compassion, reaching beyond ourselves, reaching out to reduce the suffering of others is what we are called to do every single day. The boy’s father kneels before Jesus and begs him to act, and Jesus instantly heals not only the boy, but through his exasperation, he heals his disciples as well.
And Jesus also calls us to fasting and prayer. What are we doing here this morning? We are fasting. We are praying! And so, we can focus our minds and direct our thoughts just like we are doing here today in this liturgy. With fasting and prayer, he calls us to a deeper level of kindness and compassion, where there is no stranger among us. We say that in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no sighing or suffering, but we also say, “Our Father, thy kingdom come, now.”
What does it mean for us to pick up our cross and follow him? For the apostles, they literally followed Jesus to crucifixion and death. Just as St. Athanasius rebuked his followers before being eaten by lions when he said, “do not deprive me of the honor of being killed with Christ! I am ready to die with him.”
I do think we have to answer this question for ourselves about how we are ready to make a sacrifice for the sake of Jesus, so that we can each follow him in our own way. I do know that for each of us, there is a softening, and the more we give, the easier it gets. To make ourselves less in order to lift up another can become a habit, a frame of reference for daily acts of kindness, which reverberate throughout the world.
So, we encounter opportunities to “die” in this way every day, to make soothing ourselves, and protecting ourselves, secondary to soothing others, to get out of our heads, where we are always remembering and planning, and just be with each other in the holy spirit of mercy. This is our calling. This is our mountain to climb. This is our mountain that we can move. So, my brothers and sisters, with a little faith, let us go out and move mountains, and nothing will be impossible for us. Thanks be to God.