The readings bring to mind an advertising lingo, “Hallmark, when you care enough to send the very best.” God did care enough to send the very best. The Lord promised Jeremiah that he would send his son. This happened centuries later when Jesus came and cared enough to do his very best so that by dying on the cross, he redeemed us.
Twice Mark mentions Jesus’ compassion in this pithy gospel passage. Caring about his disciples, he suggests that they retreat to an out of the way place but before they could, the crowds mobbed them. “People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.” Jesus cared for the crowd as well. “Moved with pity for them, he began to teach them many things.”
The hallmark of being a Christian is obeying the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself. We fail to do that at times when our prejudices blind us from caring about others. Jesus’ concern brings to mind the tale of care-collector.
In the plaza of a certain village, collectors gathered, making a living collecting things other people discarded. The collectors discovered that once you had enough of certain discarded items, they become valuable again. The people in the village believed that if something was for sale, it must be worth buying. There were collectors of every kind, selling pots and pans, stamps and books, golf clubs and hats, along with comics and trading cards. The village had a sizeable collection of collectors.
One day an old man wandered into town and asked where the collector’s plaza was located. He carried a large sack that didn’t seem to burden him. When he found the plaza, he settled himself in a corner. The other collectors eagerly inquired about what was in his sack. He told them there was nothing in it but his lunch and jacket.
“You don’t have a collection of any kind?” they asked. “Aren’t you a collector?” “Oh, yes,” he said, “I’m a collector, but what I collect doesn’t fit in a sack. I collect people’s cares.”
The idea seemed rather odd to those listening so they asked for an explanation. “Well, you see, I learned that what everybody has too much of and always try to get rid of are cares, trials, burdens, sorrows, difficult times…all kinds of things that weigh them down and make life burdensome. So I offer to collect these cares from them and they feel better. Isn’t that simple?”
Some of the collectors who heard this thought this was silly but they left him alone since he didn’t seem to harm anyone. Soon, someone asked him how he collected cares and he replied, “Well, there is probably something in your life that is bothering you right now…some care that you have. Just tell me about it and I will add it to my collection.” “But how will that help me? Can you make the problem go away just because I tell you about it?” the inquirer asked. “No,” the care collector replied, “but you will feel better about it.”
So that person told the old man what was bothering him. When he finished, the care-collector nodded a few times and then put his hands together as if to scoop up something heavy and pretended to put it in his sack. “There, I have put it away. How do you feel?” he asked. The person who had shared his story said, “Why, I do feel better. It really worked. I think I can handle my problems better now!”
Word spread and soon others were lined up to give their cares to the care-collector. His spot became the most popular one in the plaza. Then one day he left town. Many cried when they heard that he was gone. In talking to one another, they observed that the old man really cared. “Who could possibly take his place?” they asked one another. Then someone piped up, “We can! Collecting cares still works! You can do it for me and I can do it for you! He showed us how!”
Everyone of us has felt pity at times: seeing the debris of a car wreck on the shoulder of the freeway, hearing about a friend’s illness, or seeing the devastation caused by forest fires or flooding. Whenever tragedy strikes, we reach out to others because we care. We have a hint as to how God cares about us when we care about others. All of us are capable of caring. The need to care is there but at times it’s overlooked. Think, for example, of how some people are the victims of racial prejudice or homelessness. When we care, we are living the gospel.
Jesus, our care-collector, wants to collect our cares, whatever they may be. We create this opportunity when we seek an out of the way place to pray or take time to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation. Our desert place could be anywhere we can get in touch with our God…a bedroom, our car while waiting for the ferry, a supermarket checkout line, a doctor’s waiting room… any place where we can tune out the world’s noise and turn to the Lord within us.
Any place we can sit still and listen to the Lord and find within ourselves the strength to carry on knowing that the Lord fully cares for us. In those moments, we can quietly see for ourselves the many ways we can see that the hallmark of a good Christian is being a caring disciple.