I was working on a sermon early this morning…the text: Matthew 9:35-40.

35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I worked on a power point presentation to accompany the sermon that reflects images of both crowds and individual people. The thesis of the sermon: Crowds of people don’t touch our hearts until we recognize that the group is made up of individuals with unique needs.

And then I drove to Plano to see an 18 year old who underwent surgery for a brain tumor 2 weeks ago today.

I commented to his dad how kind hundreds of people had been to them. People from church, and people from work, and strangers…

And then his dad shared a story with me that I can’t get out of my mind… It seems they were in the CCU waiting room not long after Jerrod’s surgery. Jerrod’s dad works for United Grocery Stores in Lubbock. United made arrangements to have a meal sent up to the CCU waiting room for the family…a group numbering about 20.

There was another family in the waiting room that evening….A family who just received the news that their son had died from a brain aneurism. A family who was obviously lacking in financial resources… A family that was not surrounded by church friends, or being supported by a minister… So Jerrod’s family approached the grieving family, and said, please let us share our food with you…Jerrod’s family knew that United had only planned for 20, and not for 40, so they figured they could easily order out for pizza later.
They just knew it was a time to share. It was the story of the five loaves and two fish repeated. There was plenty of food for everyone, but most importantly, it was a moment of compassion. The strangers in the waiting room were no longer strangers. They were real people with real needs. I was not there for the event, but as I drove back to Granbury from Plano, images of shared sandwiches, shared tears, and hearts full of love flooded my mind.