The Authority of Compassion

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Tuesday of Holy Week

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?’

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 957)

AM Psalm 6, 12; PM Psalm 94

Lam. 1:17-22; 2 Cor. 1:8-22; Mark 11:27-33

David’s Reflections

Where do we as Christians find our authority for serving, for bearing witness, for viewing our daily labor in terms of service to God and others?  What right do we have to bear witness to God’s saving love in Christ and to invite others to join us in that faith journey?  Jesus’ adversaries, in today’s Gospel, were asking him where he got the authority to cleanse the Temple and to perform his unique ministry?  Did this originate with Jesus himself, or was there a divine compulsion behind what Jesus was doing?

These people were asking because they believed Jesus had overstepped his authority.  The Temple precincts were their turf, their jurisdiction.  Jesus had come onto their turf with his acted parable and called the integrity of their practices into question.  They were profiting from pilgrims by charging an exchange rate for coinage to pay the Temple tax. And they were showing contempt for nonJews by selling and bartering in the Court of the Gentiles, an area reserved for non-Jewish worshippers.  Behind their question perhaps lay a smarting anger and certainly an edge of ill intent, a desire to get rid of Jesus.

Jesus responded to their loaded question with a  counter question, a familiar technique in the give-and-take of rabbinic discourse.  He refused to fall into their trap and posited a dilemma for them with his response.  They had spurned John the Baptist’s ministry, a ministry quite different from Jesus’ own approach.  Now, they were spurning Jesus’ ministry as well.  Jesus asked whether John’s baptism was from God or of human origins.  Their waffling on that question exposed the self-interest behind their inquiry.

As Christians, we need a sense of inner authority and compulsion for living as we do.  Where does that sense of “rightness,” that sense of urgency, that sense of “We must” come from?  It is not enough to respond merely to external stimuli, like an invitation from the church or the expectations of others.  From somewhere within, we must find our rationale, our vocation, our intentionality, our reasons for living as believers.

Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic priest and theologian, initially made his mark as a writer with a classic, The Wounded Healer, which lingers in print forty years later.  Nouwen touches the nerve of this issue in one of his comments. written before male-dominant language gave way to more gender-neutral discourse.

Compassion must become the core and even the nature of authority.  When the Christian leader is a man of God for the future generation, he can be so only insofar as (they are) he is able to make the compassion of God with man --which is visible in Jesus Christ--credible in his own world. . . . Compassion is born when we discover in the center of our own existence not only that God is God, and man is man but also that our neighbor is really our fellow man. . . . For a compassionate man nothing human is alien: no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying. *

Compassion as our authority—how simple, yet how compelling.  Could we not say that compassion lay at the heart of Jesus’ sense of authority?  The Gospels attribute many of his miracles to feelings of compassion.  Can we not feel his compassion in these Holy Week readings?  Can we reframe following Jesus as sharing in his compassion and find our authority there?  If we were to experience Jesus’ compassion within and express it in the living out of this day, what would we do differently?

* Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer (Garden City, NY:  Doubleday, 1972), pp. 40-41.   

Collect for the Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday

Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 219)

A Collect for Peace

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. (BCP, 99)

All the Good I Can

Dear God, guide me to

Do all the good I can

By all means I can

In all ways I can

In all places I can

To all people I can

As long as I can.

Bill Pittman and  Lisa D., The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2:  More Twelve Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings Prayers  (Center City, MN:  Hazelden, 2007.)

A Collect for the Presence of Christ

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen. (BCP, 124)

A Collect for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:  Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  (BCP, 100)

Daily Office Gospel, Mark 11:27-33

27 Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?’ 29Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.’ 31They argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven,” he will say, “Why then did you not believe him?” 32But shall we say, “Of human origin”?’ —they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer