"A Tender Heart"

Sermon: “A Tender Heart” 06.06.10

A little girl was sent on an errand by her mother. She took much too long in coming back. Her mother, therefore, demanded an explanation when she finally did return. The little girl explained that on her way, she had met a little friend who was crying because she had broken her doll. “Oh”, said the Mother, “then you stopped to help her fix her doll?” “Oh no,” replied the little girl. “I stopped to help her cry.”

Tenderness and mercy are the themes of the readings from 1st Kings today and the gospel of Luke, The texts are very close in content: a widow, a son, a recovery and praise given to a great prophet.

Luke’s depiction of the miraculous resuscitation of the boy at Nain is very low-key. Jesus comes upon a funeral procession and his followers become intermingled with the mourners. There are no questions asked. We know nothing about the boys’ age or how he died, so we can assume that Jesus and the disciples overhear this information as the bier, or funeral pallet is passing through the crowd.

Notice that it is Christ who initiated the dialogue and the action. No one calls out to him from the other side of the road. The lame, the blind, and the possessed are not being dragged forward to reach him. There are no masses to feed after a long sermon.

And he is not asked by anyone to step into this situation by anyone there. The Bew Revised Standard version of the bible that we use herein church says that Jesus had compassion for the widow. I prefer the New International Version’s translation: He heart went out to her. His heart went out to her.

Based on this feeling of utter tenderness, Jesus acts in rapid succession. He approaches the bier, speaks words of kindness to the widow, commands the boy to rise, and returns him to his mother.

By the standards in the gospels, this is hardly a “Big” miracle; there are no loaves multiplied to feed the thousands, no swine flying over a cliff and into the sea, no high drama such as the paralytic man being brought through the roof of the house in Bethsaida to reach the pool of healing water. Jesus has made an unscheduled stop on his ministry tour to show simple care and concern. With only three years of ministry, he is keenly aware of time constraints. And yet, he shows up when hope is lost. All other agendas will have to wait.

In Luke’s gospel, the word compassion appears only 3 times. The Greek is very hard to say: splagknizomai. It is used when Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan when Jesus asks the crowd who they thought the good Samaritan was and they replied, “The one who showed compassion. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, it is used to describe the father’s state of mind when he sees his son coming down the road. The text tells us that he was filled with love and compassion.

Much of the imagery that we have for Jesus does not depict him wearing his heart on his sleeve. We see him as the risen victorious King of Kings, and the suffering Savior on the cross. We see him as a potent Lord calming the turbulent seas, and the one who has a gift for teaching in the synagogue. We see him as someone who is critical and angry with the scribes and Pharisees, and often impatient at his disciples” ignorance.

Jesus- the tender-hearted is barely on the radar. Even when he invited the little children onto his lap, the gospels say nothing about his tenderness. It is only here, in Luke’s passage, that we get a glimpse of true empathy for the widow’s plight. And we find a new quality in our Lord, who understands our pain and loss.

What a powerful example we have in today’s gospel. Jesus is willing to cry with us. He is willing to come to our aid, even when we don’t ask for it. He may not be able to fix your broken lives all the time, but there are perhaps some miracle each day that occur from his tenderness that we are not aware of.

Again, in the passage, there is no discussion of what the widow may have said to Jesus after he had brought her dear son back to life. I’m sure that “Thank you” was part of her response. The text tells us that those who were gathered around thought that he was a great prophet. But I also think that she was grateful that he had a tender-heart, and the willingness to do a good deed that could never be rewarded.

In our world, marked with cynicism and sarcasm and distrust, it would be refreshing to find more people to practice the random acts of kindness that the bumper sticks promote. Jesus was, and continues to be, a walking billboard for care and concern.

There is an old hymn that I would like to close with, by reciting the verses and I invite you to picture this kind of Jesus in your mind.

Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See at the portals Christ waiting and watching, waiting for you and for me. Come home, Come Home. All who are weary come home. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling O sinner come home.

The holy one of the most high stopped, looked and listened as the funeral procession went by. It tugged at the strings of his heart, and performed a kind deed for the widow and restored her son to life.

Jesus has compassion for us and calls us to life as well. Softly and tenderly he is calling, calling for you and for me.