Jesus sees a woman and is moved with compassion to respond. But what about all the other women, humans, creatures, who also needed his compassionate response??? And what about the root causes of her suffering - Shouldn’t he have fixed the systems instead??? Jesus sees a woman - really looks at her - and is moved to respond. May we who seek to follow Jesus do the same. May we, out of (legitimate!) concern for scalability and systems, never overthink our way to paralysis when given the opportunity and impulse to respond with compassion. Goodness knows, our country and our world need all the compassion that each one of us can muster.
Sermon begins at minute marker 6:02
Luke 7:1-17
Resources
- BibleWorm podcast: Episode 625 – A Centurion's Slave and a Widow's Son, Amy Robertson and Robert Williamson, Jr
- “A Jesus Who Troubles,” sermon on this text by Pastor Megan Ramer (sermon begins at minute 15:35), 2021.
- "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it." (Rabbi Tarfon, from the Pirkei Avot, 2:16)
- “Blessing in the Chaos,” by Jan Richardson; also appears in her book The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief (79), 2016.
- Kate Bowler quote, from an instagram reel, February 2025.
- Vivek Murthy quote, taken from the Kate Bowler reel linked above.
- VT Hymn 647, There Is A Balm in Gilead. Text & Music: African American Spiritual. Permission to podcast the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE, license #A-726929. All rights reserved.
