Seventh Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, July 15th, 2018
We read in the Eighth Chapter of St. Mark's Gospel his account of the "Feeding of the Four-Thousand." In this first verse we read that Our Blessed Saviour called the disciples close to Him and told them: "I have compassion on the multitude" (St. Mark 8:1) He had compassion because He saw that the people had been with Him for three days and had nothing to eat. He saw that they were hungry. He saw that they were exhausted. He saw that they needed nourishment. Two things I would like for us to consider briefly.
Number one, Our God is concerned with us and for us. Our Saviour notices things like this because He was here on earth. In other words, He is not some distant, far-removed god who could care less about the people. No, God cares so much for His people that He sent His Son into the world to be with His people. Christ spent time with the people. He ate with the people. He worked alongside the people. Our Blessed Lord not only spoke with the people, He listened to what they had to say. Our Lord is not distant; He is near. He is near to us because He wants to be. He listens to us. All we have to do is to reach out to Him. He is waiting.
The second thing I would like to point out in regards to this "Feeding of the Four-Thousand." The reason why Our Lord noticed that the people were hungry was because He was taking the time to notice. This sounds very simple, doesn't it? Too simple, in fact. And yet, today, how many of us do not show compassion because we do not take the time to notice others around us. And the reason why we do not take notice of those around us is because we are too focused on ourselves. We look more inwardly than we do outwardly. We spend our days satisfying our own needs, our own wants, our own desires. We spend our days only concerned with ourselves and our needs. If we stand in line behind someone who is having difficulty, are we more concerned that she gets her problem resolved or are we focused on the fact that we are being "inconvenienced" by waiting in line? Like our Blessed Saviour, do we take the time to notice those around us and if they are hungry . . . or sad . . . . or worn out . . . or depressed . . . Do we take the time to notice things about others? Do we take the time to be interested in others? Or are we simply too busy to notice because we are too busy being interested in ourselves? Do we take interest in others or do we only take interest in ourselves? As Christians, we are called to be "Christ-like." As such, we should try to do what Our Blessed Saviour would do. While we may never heal lepers or cure the blind like Jesus did, we can have compassion like He did. We can have compassion on those around us: our family members, . . . our neighbors, . . . . our coworkers, . . . . But first we have to take the time to notice those around us and quit focusing so much on ourselves.
Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Join us as we join together as God's family and worship Our Heavenly Father. Join us as we come to the altar to be fed the Precious Body and Blood at Communion time. And, finally, please stay after Mass for some fellowship at our coffee hour.
St. Margaret Anglican Church worships at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Mass begins at 9:30 AM.
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