individuals in a crowd

Back to a study of empathy in the gospel of Mark, while on several occasions Christ responds to the needs of entire crowds of people, those moments when He heals an individual with an identifiable need always seem to stand out most of all.  Naturally, these are much more personal interactions than Jesus healing the countless but faceless masses.  That said, these feats must have been made up of personal interactions to Christ as well, no matter how rapid in succession or otherwise unrecorded for us.

A few previous posts have touched on individually recorded instances of compassion, involving Simon's mother-in-law, the paralytic lowered through the roof and the man with the withered hand.  Interestingly, the first healing was followed by a crowd of people who sought Jesus out because of sickness and demon-possession, the second took place in an overflowing room of people (hence the lowering through the roof), and the third happened in a public synagogue.  Following are a few more individual healings, each of which also takes place in a crowd:

healing of bleeding woman by Paolo Veronese, via The Yorck Project/Wikimedia Commons

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Christ, lacking empathy?

Picking back up on a study of empathy in the gospel of Mark, after a rather long layoff, I was looking at my index card of notes and remembering that the next passage doesn't quite fit the template which the others have set.  With Christ being so prolifically compassionate throughout the gospel, healing specific individuals and entire crowds of needy people from any number of life-threatening diseases and other ailments, and so tender on so many occasions, it rather stands out when He appears to lack empathy in a situation which would seem to warrant it.

(painting by Ludolf Backhuysen (1695), via Indianapolis Museum of Art/Wikimedia Commons)

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empathy and legalism

Continuing a study of empathy in the gospel of Mark, the third chapter opens with one of the Pharisees’ many lowlights in their interaction with Christ and His followers:

(photo of Byzantine mosaic courtesy Sibeaster/Wikimedia Commons)Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.  And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.  And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”  And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?”  But they were silent.  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (3:1-6, all passages ESV unless otherwise noted)

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I think I need a hospital

Continuing a study of empathy in the gospel of Mark with a passage which has received much traction in the context of missional outreach and evangelism, and occasionally as a point of self-reflection for those of us who are a bit further removed from our own conversion.

We tend to forget what state we were in when Christ called us, and what state our hearts remain in tension with and are prone to wander back to.  We tend to especially forget when we look around us, even in our own pews … 

And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.”  And he rose and followed him.

(artwork by William Hole, courtesy One Year Bible Blog/Wikimedia Commons)

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sheer cheek

continuing a study in the gospel of Mark ...

(image credit below)And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.  And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.  And he was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

... he said to the paralytic — “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”  And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (2:1-5, 10-12, ESV)

I love Adrian Plass' reflection on the passage in Never Mind the Reversing Ducks: A Non-Theologian Encounters Jesus in the Gospel According to Mark:    

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filled with compassion

There are an astonishing number of references to Christ healing throughout the gospel of Mark, and hopefully I'll be able to feature a few more.  But the following accounts, of Jesus' concern for the extended family of one of his own disciples and His compassion toward a desperately trusting leper, are among the first personal incidents recorded:

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.  And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. ...

painting by John Bridges, courtesy Wikimedia Commons/KunstKopie.ch

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such a depth of doubt & discouragement

I'm going back through the few reflections on empathy in Mark to this point, and updating and expanding on the posts, as well as hoping to add to them in the coming weeks.  I thought it might be a good opportunity to relaunch the series in the meantime ...

I began reading through the gospel of Mark a few weeks ago, and thought I'd take the opportunity to do so alongside some reflections from one of my favorite authors, the very funny and always deeply human Brit, Adrian Plass.  He wrote the devotional commentary Never Mind the Reversing Ducks: A Non-Theologian Encounters Jesus in the Gospel According to St Mark (Zondervan '02), and I'm finding both it and the gospel itself to be saturated with the theme of empathy.

I hope to share more from both, but wanted to first pass along some thoughts from Plass which stood out to me regarding John the Baptist, who makes an appearance in the first verses of Mark as a bold and oddly fashionable  "messenger" preparing the way for Christ.  But Plass' comments actually recall John in a later, much more fragile state in Herod's prison, when he sends his disciples to Jesus to ask if he really was the promised Messiah (Matthew 11)?

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not once did he hint at fatalism

This quote from Philip Yancey poignantly synthesizes accounts of Christ's empathy, such as those we've been looking at in the gospel of Mark.  What a far cry from the amivalence and platitudes too often directed at others, directly or indirectly ...

Jesus never gave a poor or suffering person a speech about "accepting your lot in life," or "taking the medicine that God has given you."  He seemed unusually sensitive to the groans of suffering people, and set about remedying them.  And he used his supernatural powers to heal, never to punish. …

Jesus himself spent his life on earth fighting disease and despair.  Not once did he hint at fatalism or a resigned acceptance of suffering.

(from Where is God When it Hurts? (Zondervan '90; cover image from '02 edition), pg. 82 & 98, a modern day classic exploration of the problem of pain)