"Jesus wept" is the shortest sentence in the Bible, yet it is saturated with meaning. Mary was weeping at Jesus' feet over the death of her brother, Lazarus. Jesus wept with Mary in her pain. This scene would be the prelude to one of Jesus' greatest miracles.
Our region has been one of the hotspots for the COVID-19 virus from which many have died. Some have hunkered down and chosen to wait it out. Others have hoarded food and supplies without a thought for the needs of anyone else. Still others have chosen to use their time, talents, and skills to try to make the lives of others a little bit better.
One day, I returned home to find in my driveway the man who helps feed the seniors in one of the low income residences which Bread of Life serves. As he was loading his car with the food we had given him, I offered to pray for him. As I prayed for the Lord's healing and provision for these seniors, tears started to roll down his checks and eventually he began to quietly sob. I could not hug him as I wanted so I stood there watching him unsure of what else to do. The picture of his anguish over the plight of these seniors is forever etched into my memory. Some of the seniors whom we feed have suffered and died unnoticed and alone from this virus. Others are living in extreme fear of getting sick and are isolated, lonely, and desperate.
What I saw in my driveway that day was compassion. He felt the pain, loneliness, and fear of those for whom he cared so much. He stood in my driveway and wept as I prayed. I prayed for a miracle.
Jesus wept and then raised Lazarus from the dead. This is what faith motivated by compassion can do.
"Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. compassion requires is to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human."
Henri J.M. Nouwen
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Food donations may be dropped off at 65 Orchard Avenue in Rye. Financial donations may be made via Venmo Bread Life @Bread-of-Life or www.GivingTreeGlobal.org.
THANK YOU. WE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU.
