Compassion Helps Us Be Brave
For the month of July, children and families from our church and in the Decatur community will be participating in a take-home VBS called “Compassion Camp.” Families will spend five sessions learning about the different ways compassion helps us and the world around us.
Each week from now until July 29, our devotion and daily prayer will focus on the theme from that week’s VBS session. Many of the stories that you will hear will be familiar, but I want to encourage you to hear them with new ears and see them with new eyes- and through the lens of compassion.
Scripture
Mark 2:1-12 (Illustrated Ministry paraphrase)
One day Jesus visited someone’s home. Everyone heard he was there. They were so excited to see him because they’d heard he healed and helped people be a part of their communities again. A friend who was paralyzed had his friends take him to see Jesus.
When the group got there, it was so crowded! There was no way to get to Jesus through all the people. They had an idea! They climbed up onto the roof of the house and made a hole in the rood above where Jesus was. Then they lowered their friend into the room. When Jesus saw their faith, he was encouraged. He told their friend: “I see you and I love you. You are made whole for your community. Your sins are forgiven.”
Some temple leaders called scribes were watching Jesus. When they heard him say this to the friend who was paralyzed they were angry. They thought to themselves: Who does Jesus think he is? Only God can say these things!
Jesus could tell the scribes disagreed with him, so he said to them: “I know what you are thinking right now. But what’s easier? To say, ‘I see you and love you,’ or to say ‘Get up and walk?’ I’ll show you it’s possible to do both!”
With compassion, Jesus turned to the friend who was paralyzed and said, “Get up, pick up your mat and go home. You’re healed now!”
He stood up, amazed. He picked up his mat and went home with his friends. Everyone was so happy they praised God because they had never seen anything like this before.
Reflection
The theme for this session of VBS is “Compassion helps us be brave.” As we read this story, we might think that it is obvious who the brave people are in the story. My immediate reaction is that the brave people in this story are the friends who climbed onto the roof and lowered their friend down to see Jesus.
But as we unpack the story a little more, we see a couple of other types of bravery. The friend who was paralyzed was brave because he asked his friends to help him. If you are anything like me, it is not easy to ask for help. I can imagine that he had to show a lot of vulnerability and have a lot of trust in his friends in order to bravely ask them to help him.
But Jesus is also brave in this story. He is gathered with people all around him, and some of those people are there just to tell him that what he is doing is wrong. After Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man, he could have just sent him on his way. But when he saw that the scribes from the temple were questioning his actions, he took it one step further and healed the paralyzed man. Jesus showed bravery by not just healing a person, but by forgiving them for what they had done wrong.
And yes, the friends who brought their friend who was paralyzed were also brave. They showed up for their friend and helped him when he needed it most.
Being brave looks like a lot of different things. But when we have compassion, we can understand better when we need to be brave for ourselves or for other people.
Exercise
Take some time to reflect on these questions:
What does it mean to be brave? What does it feel like?
How have you been brave for yourself?
When have you been brave for someone else?
Reverend Kristen Koger has served as the Pastor for Children and Families at FBC Decatur since June 2017. Kristen loves working with the youngest of God’s family as she helps them realize that they have some of the most important gifts to offer the family of God. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her dog Dietrich “Bonehoeffer,” cooking, knitting, and playing board games.