Robert K Merton Have you ever heard of the “Matthew Effect?” Scientific American in 1995, reported on “The Matthew Effect,” which was first named in 1968 by Robert K. Merton of Columbia University. In his reYounsearch into the history of science, he noted that the credit for scientific discoveries most often went, not to the one who actually made the discovery, but to the most famous researcher working in the area. He dubbed his discovery “The Matthew Effect,” based on Matthew 25:29: “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Imagine that! A researcher not getting the credit due or getting what he deserves!
We live in a culture where we firmly believe that a person should get what they deserve. If you have done good things, then you should be rewarded for those things. If you have done bad things, then you deserve to be punished. And so when we see people who are often in desperate conditions because of choices they have made, it may be hard for us to have compassion on them. The former Vanderbilt football players certainly didn’t show compassion to the woman they brutally assaulted. They are getting what they deserve and most would be quick to say that they don’t deserve compassion. But is that the way Christians should look at this? Should we show compassion on those who everyone else thinks deserve no compassion but should get what they deserve? Let’s read 2 Kings 13:10-23 and we’ll see a perspective on compassion for the undeserving again based on God’s compassion.
I. The historical setting shows rampant sin in verses 1-13.
In verses 10-13, we get a summation of what the state of the nation of Israel is. This summation reflects a period of steady national decline. Israel’s enemies, the Syrians were pressing in around them and King Jehoahaz was powerless to resist them or drive them back. Verse 7 says that the soldiers of Israel were so powerless that they were dust to be trampled. Things were so bad because no one was bowing down to the Lord as the one true God. Although the people spoke the name of the Lord, the people were not submitting to God. And so when Jehoash comes on the scene, things are pretty much the way they were before. The people of Israel say they are God’s people, but they are showing disdain for God.
I. The historical setting shows rampant sin in verses 1-13.
In verses 10-13, we get a summation of what the state of the nation of Israel is. This summation reflects a period of steady national decline. Israel’s enemies, the Syrians were pressing in around them and King Jehoahaz was powerless to resist them or drive them back. Verse 7 says that the soldiers of Israel were so powerless that they were dust to be trampled. Things were so bad because no one was bowing down to the Lord as the one true God. Although the people spoke the name of the Lord, the people were not submitting to God. And so when Jehoash comes on the scene, things are pretty much the way they were before. The people of Israel say they are God’s people, but they are showing disdain for God.
Ravi Zacharias Ravi Zacharias tells the story of a little girl whose mother planned to celebrate her fifth birthday by impressing all the relatives. The mother dressed her daughter in fine clothes and said, “Now, here’s what I want you to do. You’re going to sing a song.” When it was time for the girl to sing, her mother says, “Honey, what are you going to do?” The child says, “Nothing.” The mother says, “Weren’t you going to sing?” The child says, “No.” The angry mother takes the child upstairs and shuts her in a closet. About a half an hour later, the mother goes up and says, “What are you doing up here?” The child says, “I’ve been having a great time. I’ve been spitting on your clothes. I’ve been spitting in your shoes. I’ve been spitting on your walls. I’ve been spitting on the carpet. Now I’m waiting for some more spit.” This portrays Israel’s attitude toward God: they were stubbornly rebellious and disobedient. Their rebellious actions showed that they were completely undeserving of God’s compassion.
II. But there is an even greater problem for in verses 14-19, we see the peoples’ lack of faith.
Jehoash goes down to Elisha when he heard that Elisha, now likely 85-90 years old, was dying. When Jehoash sees Elisha, he cries out, “My father! My father!” He calls Elisha his “father” recognizing that Elisha was a true prophet of the Lord. It reflects the close relationship that should have existed between prophet and king all along. The king then says, “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” This may have been the king’s realization that Elisha was truly the protection of Israel. What had kept them from being destroyed was the grace of God shown through Elisha. Now that Elisha is dying, where will their security be?
Then Elisha gives the first of two symbolic actions in verses15-17. He tells the king to take his bow and then places his own hands on those of the king. This use of his hands is showing the king that Elisha is giving his support to the king. Ultimately it was a symbol of God’s being willing to help the people in battle. He tells the king to open an east window and shoot an arrow toward the direction of Syria. Elisha says, “The arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha’s hands indicate that it will be the Lord’s victory, not anyone else’s.
Then Elisha gives the second symbolic action which ends up being a test of faith for Jehoash. He tells the king to shoot arrows into the ground, which the king did but only three times. This showed that he was not committed to the idea of God giving him the victory. Elisha sternly rebukes the king for the lack of faith and tells him that if he had struck the ground many times, God would have completely destroyed the Arameans. As it is, the Israelites will only defeat them 3 times because of the king’s lack of faith. It is likely that Jehoash didn’t really believe that God would defeat the Arameans for them.
II. But there is an even greater problem for in verses 14-19, we see the peoples’ lack of faith.
Jehoash goes down to Elisha when he heard that Elisha, now likely 85-90 years old, was dying. When Jehoash sees Elisha, he cries out, “My father! My father!” He calls Elisha his “father” recognizing that Elisha was a true prophet of the Lord. It reflects the close relationship that should have existed between prophet and king all along. The king then says, “The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” This may have been the king’s realization that Elisha was truly the protection of Israel. What had kept them from being destroyed was the grace of God shown through Elisha. Now that Elisha is dying, where will their security be?
Then Elisha gives the first of two symbolic actions in verses15-17. He tells the king to take his bow and then places his own hands on those of the king. This use of his hands is showing the king that Elisha is giving his support to the king. Ultimately it was a symbol of God’s being willing to help the people in battle. He tells the king to open an east window and shoot an arrow toward the direction of Syria. Elisha says, “The arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha’s hands indicate that it will be the Lord’s victory, not anyone else’s.
Then Elisha gives the second symbolic action which ends up being a test of faith for Jehoash. He tells the king to shoot arrows into the ground, which the king did but only three times. This showed that he was not committed to the idea of God giving him the victory. Elisha sternly rebukes the king for the lack of faith and tells him that if he had struck the ground many times, God would have completely destroyed the Arameans. As it is, the Israelites will only defeat them 3 times because of the king’s lack of faith. It is likely that Jehoash didn’t really believe that God would defeat the Arameans for them.
Israel did not have faith in what God had promised to do and were not deserving of God’s saving them. Many years ago, the city fathers of New York contemplated the future growth of the city. The laid out the streets and numbered them from the center outward. When they began, there were only six or seven streets. In their planning maps, they projected how large they thought the city might grow. Reaching beyond their wildest imagination, they drew streets on the map all the way out to 19th Street. They called it “Boundary Street” because they were sure that’s all the larger New York City would become. But history has proven them to be shortsighted. At last count, the city had reached 271st Street -- far exceeding their expectations! Israel didn’t believe that God would save them and so were undeserving of God’s love.
III. Yet, we see God’s love, faithfulness and compassion in what happens in verses 20-23.
With that Elisha dies and is buried, but even in his death marvelous things happen. This must have happened some time later for now all that is left of Elisha’s body are the bones. Realize that in those days, bodies were buried in a chamber or cave in the rock. Every spring, raiders from Moab would come and terrorize the area where Elisha was buried. This happened again one time just as some men were burying the body of another man. When these men saw the raiders, they tossed the body in the burial chamber and took off. Now here’s the amazing part: as soon as the dead body touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man came to life and stood up on his feet. What is the point of this rather bizarre little episode? This may have occurred to give hope to God’s people. It is a symbol that Israel, like this dead man’s body, will rise again. But they must look to the prophets of the Lord who are teaching the Word of the Lord.
The last part of the chapter is easily overlooked but I believe it is perhaps the most important part. Listen again to verses 22-23: “Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.” Here we have a picture of the covenant relationship God has with his people. Hazael, the king of Aram, continues to harass and oppress Israel because the people refuse to give themselves over fully to the Lord and yet the Lord was compassionate to them.
Why? Because of the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In this one statement, we pull together the past 1300 years of history. It wasn’t just that God felt sorry for his people. God remains faithful to his covenant even when His people do not. In spite of the broken covenant, there will be forgiveness and restoration if they repent. The people of Israel were unfaithful, rebellious, unbelieving and as such were undeserving of God’s faithfulness and care... and yet, God showed compassion on them.
IV. That should help us as we strive to show compassion to the undeserving.
One of the things we see here is another example of God’s grace and compassion. Over and over we can see how God continues to try to bring his people back to Him. Sometimes He did it very powerfully by saving them in miraculous ways. Often it was through strong discipline with the hope that they would return to Him. But it was always motivated by God’s tender love, compassion and grace. That is still true today. Sometimes God powerfully saves us; sometimes He strongly disciplines us. No matter what we do or how we have messed up or what God may be doing to get our attention, the goal is the same: He wants us to be living in close relationship with Him.
Moreover, we see God’s compassion in Elisha who anticipates Jesus. While the man raised to life anticipates a nation restored for the Old Testament, it powerfully points to the new resurrected life we have in Jesus. Through Jesus’ resurrection, we who believe in Him can have new and resurrected life. We read this story of this man’s resurrection and we think, how amazing! People don’t just rise from the dead when they touch some dead bones. People don’t just rise from the dead..., except when Jesus is around. Whenever Jesus is around, people are raised from the dead all over the place! Jesus brings not only spiritual life, but physical resurrection life. We need not fear death for Jesus has won that victory over sin and death completely when He died and rose again. Jesus’ resurrection displays both God’s amazing power and his amazing compassion for us who are not deserving.
With that Elisha dies and is buried, but even in his death marvelous things happen. This must have happened some time later for now all that is left of Elisha’s body are the bones. Realize that in those days, bodies were buried in a chamber or cave in the rock. Every spring, raiders from Moab would come and terrorize the area where Elisha was buried. This happened again one time just as some men were burying the body of another man. When these men saw the raiders, they tossed the body in the burial chamber and took off. Now here’s the amazing part: as soon as the dead body touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man came to life and stood up on his feet. What is the point of this rather bizarre little episode? This may have occurred to give hope to God’s people. It is a symbol that Israel, like this dead man’s body, will rise again. But they must look to the prophets of the Lord who are teaching the Word of the Lord.
The last part of the chapter is easily overlooked but I believe it is perhaps the most important part. Listen again to verses 22-23: “Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To this day he has been unwilling to destroy them or banish them from his presence.” Here we have a picture of the covenant relationship God has with his people. Hazael, the king of Aram, continues to harass and oppress Israel because the people refuse to give themselves over fully to the Lord and yet the Lord was compassionate to them.
Why? Because of the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In this one statement, we pull together the past 1300 years of history. It wasn’t just that God felt sorry for his people. God remains faithful to his covenant even when His people do not. In spite of the broken covenant, there will be forgiveness and restoration if they repent. The people of Israel were unfaithful, rebellious, unbelieving and as such were undeserving of God’s faithfulness and care... and yet, God showed compassion on them.
IV. That should help us as we strive to show compassion to the undeserving.
One of the things we see here is another example of God’s grace and compassion. Over and over we can see how God continues to try to bring his people back to Him. Sometimes He did it very powerfully by saving them in miraculous ways. Often it was through strong discipline with the hope that they would return to Him. But it was always motivated by God’s tender love, compassion and grace. That is still true today. Sometimes God powerfully saves us; sometimes He strongly disciplines us. No matter what we do or how we have messed up or what God may be doing to get our attention, the goal is the same: He wants us to be living in close relationship with Him.
Moreover, we see God’s compassion in Elisha who anticipates Jesus. While the man raised to life anticipates a nation restored for the Old Testament, it powerfully points to the new resurrected life we have in Jesus. Through Jesus’ resurrection, we who believe in Him can have new and resurrected life. We read this story of this man’s resurrection and we think, how amazing! People don’t just rise from the dead when they touch some dead bones. People don’t just rise from the dead..., except when Jesus is around. Whenever Jesus is around, people are raised from the dead all over the place! Jesus brings not only spiritual life, but physical resurrection life. We need not fear death for Jesus has won that victory over sin and death completely when He died and rose again. Jesus’ resurrection displays both God’s amazing power and his amazing compassion for us who are not deserving.
And once again, as we are clothed with compassion, we must show that same compassion to others who are also undeserving. We can all think of people whom we might think do not deserve any compassion. Think of those chilling videos where the ISIS terrorists horrifically kill their captives. I think of sexual predators like the former Vanderbilt football players who raped the young woman and many others like them who sexually prey on the young and the weak. I think of murderers like the men who are accused of murdering Holly Bobo who seem to show no remorse, guilt or shame. Many in our culture would say that they don’t deserve to be shown any compassion. Now, let’s be clear that I am not saying that we condone what such people say and/or do. We may not even show them mercy and instead we have them punished to the full extent of the law, but we still have an attitude of compassion toward them and pray for their souls. Remember we don’t deserve what God has done for us either and yet he shows us compassion.
And let’s be careful before we judge anyone because things may not be as they appear. It is tempting for us to not have compassion on those who are in difficult situations because of apparent poor choices. Craig Barnes tells of a time when some very successful and professional people decided to go to a local soup kitchen to help out with what they considered to be “bums.” Instead of just doling out food, they were told to eat with the homeless people there and soon some amazing stories started coming out. One of those homeless “bums” was a young mother of four children. They could see some traces of the fading beauty from her rough weathered face. She didn’t plan on moving her kids around from shelter to shelter or living in cars. Barnes writes, “In better days she was somebody’s date to the prom, the quiet girl who lived down the street and even the pretty bride who walked down the aisle confident that she had the world by the tail. But physical abuse, or drug abuse, or just the abuse of a hard world put an end to those days. Now she is lost.” The undeserving in our estimation may be the victims of injustice, violence or abuse.
So how do we show compassion? First, we pray for those who are in trouble. Let’s ask God to give us compassionate hearts and attitudes for those whom many others would want to simply forget or write off. Second, we can try to envision ourselves as being in that situation. Those middle class do-gooders in that soup kitchen realized when they looked at the face of that young mother that given just a few bad choices or bad breaks, that could be them. At the very least, they could begin to envision what they it might be like to be in that situation. To have compassion, we have to take on and imagine the pain and suffering of others. Third, we must treat those who are suffering with respect. They are created in God’s image as we are and we don’t deserve God’s compassion either. Let’s think about how we might want to be treated if we were in that same position in life.
So how do we show compassion? First, we pray for those who are in trouble. Let’s ask God to give us compassionate hearts and attitudes for those whom many others would want to simply forget or write off. Second, we can try to envision ourselves as being in that situation. Those middle class do-gooders in that soup kitchen realized when they looked at the face of that young mother that given just a few bad choices or bad breaks, that could be them. At the very least, they could begin to envision what they it might be like to be in that situation. To have compassion, we have to take on and imagine the pain and suffering of others. Third, we must treat those who are suffering with respect. They are created in God’s image as we are and we don’t deserve God’s compassion either. Let’s think about how we might want to be treated if we were in that same position in life.
Yes, there are people who do bad things and deserve what they get in life but we Christians are to be clothed with compassion. On October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls, aged 6–13, killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse. In Instead of seeking revenge, dozens of Amish neighbors mourned the death of the man who killed five of their young girls in October 2006. About half of the 75 mourners at the burial of gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV were Amish. Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain, commented, “It’s the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed.” He said the killer’s widow, Marie Roberts, was also touched by the compassion of the Amish mourners. “She was absolutely deeply moved, by just the love shown.
God is a God of compassion and he has shown us amazing compassion in Jesus. Now wear the clothes of compassion to those others who are also image-bearers as well.
God is a God of compassion and he has shown us amazing compassion in Jesus. Now wear the clothes of compassion to those others who are also image-bearers as well.
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