Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Emotions are an important part of human life. Sometimes when I come before God or even celebrate Mass, I am not looking for greater understanding, or an increase in my faith, or an answer to my questions, or an answer to a prayer, or forgiveness of sins. Sometimes, my need is purely emotional. I just want to feel God’s presence. I understand that faith is not mere emotions and emotions are not the most reliable test of faith, but sometimes my spiritual need IS emotional.
I am deeply touched with Mark’s words about Jesus that “His heart was moved with pity.” Jesus responded to a pastoral need emotionally. But then, Jesus’ response went beyond emotions. We have lessons we can learn from Jesus and draw some practical implications for our own life and spirituality.
Emotions and Faith
Twice in today’s gospel reading Mark tells us about some tender moments in the life of Jesus. First, becoming aware of how tired his disciples were, he invites them to come away to a deserted place and rest for a while. Jesus was sensitive to the needs of the disciples. And then, unable to get the rest he was hoping to get because the crowds kept rushing towards them, Mark tells us, “His heart was moved with pity for them [the people] for they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mk 6:34).
The Greek word that translates “pity” in Mark’s gospel refers to the “guts,” to the seat of emotions in the deepest part of the being and to depths of the heart. The word that we identify most closely with it is compassion. However, pity is more than compassion. In the Hebrew Bible, it is not merely an emotion but a quality of God. The word that best expresses its meaning is, “compassionate or love.”
When Mark says, “his heart was moved with pity for them,” he was saying that Jesus was moved with “gut-wrenching compassionate love”, and that Jesus personified God’s “gut-wrenching compassionate love.” Jesus was God’s gut-wrenching merciful love in human flesh. Jesus was God’s heartfelt compassion in person. No wonder, then, that people kept coming to Jesus. He was fulfilling their emotional need. In him, they could touch God’s “gut-wrenching compassionate love.” In Jesus they could experience the kind, loving, merciful, compassionate presence of God.
Faith Beyond Emotions
Whereas there is room for human emotions in faith – faith is not all emotions. We learn this most of all from Jesus. He touched people’s lives but he also called them to follow him radically. Following him was not about emotion. It called for and transformation of life. Jesus himself gave us an example. Jesus’ heart was moved with pity, but it was not all emotions. His “gut-wrenching compassionate love” led him to the cross. Our salvation was not accomplished by emotions. Our salvation was accomplished by God’s gut-wrenching compassionate love that translated into self-sacrificing commitment.
There is difference between mere emotionalism and faith beyond emotions. One is a feeling, and the other is a commitment. For example, emotions are important part of marriage, parenthood, friendships, and even relationships at work. But marriage is not built on emotions but commitment. Parenthood and friendships are not built on emotions but on commitment, gut-wrenching compassion, and merciful love.
This has implications for our spiritual life. We don’t pray only when we feel like praying. Rather, prayer is a commitment to a life with God. We don’t go to Mass only when we feel like going for Mass. Rather, our worship is a commitment to our baptismal covenant. We don’t practice faith only when we feel like it. Rather, faith is a life-transforming and self-sacrificial love of God and our neighbors. In other words, emotions are an important part of faith but maturing in faith takes us beyond pure feelings and emotions.
Compassionate Love: Receiving and Giving
What lesson shall we take home with us? First, when we feel lost like the people in the gospel; when we feel that we are falling apart; when we feel overcome by our weaknesses; when we feel abandoned; when we feel alone, we can believe that Christ is with us because our God is a God whose heart is filled with gut-wrenching compassion and merciful love. We can believe that God is with us because God’s merciful love led Christ to the ultimate commitment on the cross. God is for us, with us, and in us all the way from here unto eternity.
Second, from within our own experience of God’s compassionate love for us, Christ invites us to be the “gut-wrenching compassionate love” to those who are lost, those in pain, those who are falling apart. Just like Jesus, we can be God’s “gut-wrenching merciful love” in person. To those who are in need, we can be the presence of the Christ whose “heart was moved with pity.” Nobody should feel lost and abandoned, because Christians are the “gut-wrenching compassionate love” of God.
This Eucharist is not emotionalism. It is a Sacrament of God’s merciful love made real in the bread and the wine in Christ’s Body and Blood. Jesus is here as really as he was with the people in the gospel. And his heart is moved with pity. As we receive this Sacrament, let us ourselves become the sacrament of God’s compassionate love in the world. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph