A ministry of word and deed

3. Jesus' ministry of compassion

15 February 2009

Mark 1:40-55

We continue our exploration of Mark’s gospel but, on this occasion, we view its message through the lens of Ordination. This combination is not difficult to achieve, as we meet the theme of compassion. It is a well-worked word in relation to ministry … but first let me say two or three things about Ordination which I hope are helpful:

It remains an acid test for the future of the church.
It becomes increasingly meaningful, as we seek to remain faithful to the gospel and our calling.
It is an event which involves the whole church.

My own ordination was twenty-seven years ago in the context of a Methodist Conference, which was meeting in Plymouth where I was a ‘Probationer’ minister at The Central Hall. I was conscious of being surrounded by colleagues in ministry, members of the church, college and university staff and family. It was not a private affair, but involved the whole Christian community.

I recall receiving many notes, cards and letters, one of which was from an Anglican Bishop who had recently resigned the Episcopate to enter the Order of St Benedict. He said I would never forget the occasion – and he was right. I have recalled the moment at the most difficult of times.

Ministry inevitably means being open to other people’s worlds. We cannot be cocooned in a world of our own. Our spiritual alertness is so important.

Thomas Merton, reflecting upon ministry, wrote, “To keep ourselves spiritually alive we must constantly renew our faith. We are like pilots of fog-bound steamers, peering into the gloom in front of us, listening for the sounds of other ships, and we can only reach our harbour if we keep alert. The spiritual life is, then, first of all a matter of keeping awake. We must not lose our sensitivity to spiritual inspirations. We must always be able to respond to the slightest warnings that speak, as though by a hidden instinct, in the depth of the soul that is spiritually alive.”

Mark 1: 41 –
Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”

This text arises as a man with leprosy (a generic description for a skin disease) turns to Jesus for help. We must, of course, capture the sense of rejection that was attached to such a skin disorder. This would no doubt be compounded by the attendant ritual uncleanness.

Here is a helpful starting point for any conversation about ministry, because the greatest challenges to ministry do not lie in intellectual debate, skills and resourcefulness, or the management of people and developing appropriate understanding …. Rather they lie in the handling of the needs of those who are outside our comfort zones, those rejected by the wider community and whose difficulties disturb our own deep-seated sense of stability.

Formerly, much ministerial training (in seminars, college and university or for that matter in the on-going continual further training) focused upon harnessing skills and resources. I am glad that now we focus much more upon the formation of the minister, which is a life-long journey.

When I exercised responsibility for a larger area of church life, one of my tasks involved the continual development of ministers and I always enjoyed working with those senior ministers who retained their sense of joy in Christian growth and personal development. They were an inspiration to me.

We celebrate ministry – not as a conclusion, but as a starting point. By observing Jesus crossing social and religious boundaries to bring healing to a leper, we acknowledge pointers for ourselves.

A powerful response to what easily spoils life

When Jesus touched the man with leprosy (v.41) this would have shocked onlookers. The religious uncleanness is as significant as the illness. Eduard Schweizer commented upon the leper: “The rabbis considered him a living corpse and his cure as difficult as a resurrection from the dead.”

A preacher, addressing a group of Ordinands, asked if strangers could identify the common occupation of the group; would they be able to see through the disguise as quickly as one does that of plainclothes policemen, Mormon missionaries and all-in wrestlers at a party. He wondered whether they looked like civil servants, school teachers or a group of trade unionists.

We come in all shapes and sizes and our variety is part of our gift. What unites us is our desire to move away from all that would spoil life:-

In ourselves

In Christian ministry, there is an inner-life to which we must constantly pay attention. In ministers, as in all people, there are the same traits of human character and, in point of fact, often more prevalent … a truth that can disturb folks who have an idyllic picture of ministry which is far removed from reality.

It is not what we are that distinctively orientates ministry, but how we are what we are … day by day. We are so very different from Jesus in this one matter – and yet we can be sufficiently in touch with ourselves so as to deny that which will spoil life.

In others

Christian ministry often brings us into contact with aspects of human nature that we do not like. I find it helpful to consider those who were negative in their reactions to Jesus and observe his compassion towards them.

There are some who exercise ministry in comparative isolation and believe this to be the ideal. I am not comfortable with such a view and suggest that it is our encounter with hate, bitterness, hurt and selfishness that makes us more alive to the deepest needs of people.

In the world around us

We can live in the context of today’s world and too often remain untouched not only by human need, but also human greed and unkindness towards others. We see it in the dysfunction of people’s lives … it is patently observable in the stories of selfish folks who want easy wins at the expense of others, as revealed in factors that have contributed to our current worldwide economic crisis.

The real challenge is to live on the prophetic edge which is unafraid to raise the issues, but not to become condemning and bitter in our analysis and application of faith in the world.

The way of Christian holiness is a key to understanding ministry … but not an unhelpful inner-piety which can appear superior.

Archbishop Helder Camara wrote on this theme: “There is no single definition of holiness: there are dozens, hundreds. But there is one I am particularly fond of: being holy means getting up immediately every time you fall, with humility and joy. It doesn’t mean never falling into sin. It means being able to say, ‘Yes, Lord, I have fallen a thousand times. But thanks to you I have got up again a thousand and one times.’ That’s all. I like thinking about that.”

We remind ourselves of the words of Isaiah –

“When you pass though the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.” (Isaiah 43:2)

A deep reaction to human suffering

Early and reliable manuscripts speak of Jesus being ‘filled with anger’ rather than ‘pity’. This is surely more accurate, but can read clumsily without explanation. I recall Morna Hooker reminding us of how this more correct translation has been relegated to the margins by almost all editors of the text.

I understand why people prefer the gentler ‘pity’. Anger should not embarrass us. It is not directed at the leper, but at the forces of evil which placed the person at a point of alienation and rejection.

Jesus did not accept the common notion of sin and sickness – and did not regard the leper as unclean. Much suffering results in blanket condemnation of situations, rather than feeling at one with people in their need. The people of Victoria and the fire-ravaged areas will struggle beyond imagining in coming to terms with the devastation.

The same kind of challenge exists for those who have lost their whole livelihood as a result of the economic situation that surrounds us at this time.

Many will also struggle to know how to handle some of the anger that will inevitably exist … Jesus’ response to need is a helpful starting point.

The continuing frustration in ministry

The reality of working in the world turns ministry into something which can frustrate. Learning to live with frustration is not a negative, but a positive. The victory of faith will call us to see the possibility of good news in every situation.

Some of the prevailing aspects which frustrate are:-

Simplistic expectations of ministers by others.
Unrealistic expectations in ministry by ourselves.
Unhelpful alienation of the Christian voice.
Church folk who replace one model of authority with – ‘The church says!’
The on-going focus which gives shape to ministry

This ‘compassion’ which was so prevalent in the total ministry of Jesus is the key to the ways in which we can ‘do his works’ today. It will ask how we respond to those who feel unclean, somehow unacceptable to God and rejected by society. It will mean we shall need to live on the upside of faith … while many religious people accept the shallow analysis that condemns.

The inner-sense of fragility which is ministry

Ministers are often vulnerable – even fragile! This is not that fragility of over-sensitivity, but the choice to stand with people in need … which does expose us. Calling embodies:-

A willingness to be open to the possibility of rejection.
A wariness of all that makes for self-adulation.
The wisdom of making difficult calls which may be costly to live with.

Herbert Bayard Swope said, “I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure – which is: Try to please everybody.” As you live and speak in the difficult place, be sure of God’s grace which will be confirmed in your vulnerability.

Last week I referred to Karen Armstrong, the former nun who became dissatisfied with dogma and is now charged with putting together A Charter for Compassion.

She lived with epilepsy for many years before it was finally diagnosed – it was extremely frightening. She wrote about it in her memoir The Spiral Staircase and talks about being marginalised and misunderstood. She writes, “Once it was diagnosed it was easier to deal with, but I found people preferred to hold onto their own fictional version of what it meant.”

There are times in ministry when we feel disillusioned! … They can be great moments of growth. I would go as far as to suggest that the deeper the disillusionment, the greater good it can render us. It can mean we are led through what Arthur Chandler called ‘disgust or disappointment with one thing after another’. Discontent can bring us to the place of real spiritual growth.

A God-centred reason for all ministry

All ministry is lived and exercised in the context of God in Jesus Christ. This is what it means for us to talk about ‘life in the Spirit’.

John 14:15-21 is a key passage in relation to our conversation on ministry – understood in the wider context of John 13-17. ‘Love’ and ‘Obedience’ are inextricably bound together and grow out of our understanding of what it means to respond to God’s call.

A God-centred ministry is seen in a:-

Call from God and confirmed through need

When referring to Christian ministry, folks are usually ready to talk about the call. Call must not be restricted to a particular order of ministry, but Ordination to a Ministry of ‘Word and Sacrament’ must be understood in relation to call. Such a call comes to people in various ways:

Through prayer – often under the conviction of the preaching of the gospel.
By the witness of a person and the perceiving of a gift fanned into flame … the power of holy friendship.
But also by seeing a need and responding to it.

We cannot understand ministry without seeing it in relation to the huge need around us. I am just as convinced about ministry when I face an intractable problem, when I see circumstances out of control or a hopeless situation … as when everything is running smoothly.

Such a perspective puts flesh on the Bonhoeffer concept of ‘no cheap grace’ and also makes sense of his writing: “The responsible person seeks to make his or her whole life a response to the question and call of God.”

Content which brings dignity and worth to others

The content of our ministry matters, which is why we must continue to be people who -

Pursue an appropriate and growing devotional life.
Practise a life of on-going professional development.
Promote within our own ministry what it means to be ‘a reflective practitioner’.

If we are growing in ministry, we will never be free from books, commentaries, theatre, cinema, friends … all help us to grow as human beings!

From such a place we are able to help others and bring meaning to their lives. You will fail at times and a recognition of this is the starting point of deepening growth. So often the potential of a world sustained by the very being of God is marred because of our failure to live by what we perceive as its possibilities. Our failure can be willful and culpable … but, thank God, it is not the end of the story. As those who affirm life, we speak about ‘grace’ and ‘possibility’.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Character borne out of authenticity and growth

The action of Jesus in ‘reaching out and touching’ the person in need is a familiar feature in healing accounts, but so significant in these specific circumstances. The touch carried with it power which -

Restored the life of wholeness in the person.
Affirmed the importance of this life to God.
Commended the inner-life of God.

We are called to display something of the same life towards others … and especially the marginalised.

We are always under the microscope as ministers. Will Swanton was right when he observed that nobody cared about the Australian test selectors when the team picked itself … but now they are all being criticised!

In ministry there will be moments of deep satisfaction, but there will be times when it is tough and you will be tested to the limit. These times will reap the real benefits of your growth in Christ.

We cannot study Mark without recognising the importance of the way of the cross. It is central to all authentic ministry. C F D Moule points out that Jesus doesn’t use cross-bearing to describe the human experience of carrying a burden through life. It is much more comprehensive than that. “People carrying crosses were people going to execution.” As a follower of Jesus, cross-bearing involves giving your whole life over to him. The flip side is that this is a way of total freedom. Those twin aspects lie at the heart of all ministry.

Oscar Romero observed: “We should not wonder that a church has a great deal of cross to bear. Otherwise, it will not have much resurrection. An accommodating church, a church that seeks prestige without the pain of the cross, is not the authentic church of Jesus Christ.”

In Plymouth I became acquainted with an amazing person who was recognised because of her courage in Chile. Sheila Cassidy then developed an early hospice, after working closely with Dame Cicely Saunders. Her words have proved helpful:

“Lord we are afraid,
we are afraid of you,
of what you may ask.
We yearn for your coming,
for your love, for your passion,
but we are afraid.
We cling to the familiar,
to people and things,
terrified of trading
the security of the known
for a future beyond imagining.
Give us your courage
to say ‘Yes’.”

Christian Life