A man gets on flight 618 From Dallas- Fort Worth to New Jersey last Tuesday.  His name is Arthur Lundeen, and he is from Arizona.  And he is racist and homophobic as well as violent and a real pest who gets very drunk and starts to yell racial and homophobic slurs at the flight attendants and the other passengers.  So the passengers in the flight took over and duct taped him to his seat.  This isn’t a cartoon of Scubi  Doo where you expect the villain to be bound until the police arrive.  This is a person who has very strong tape all over his hairy body and twisted around his seat. 

I have read that this action is a sign that the tides have turned and we in America aren’t going to take this foolish behavior in society or in politics any longer.  But a few horrendously insulting tweets later from the top of the ranks of government, and we know it was just the dream, that abuse has not stopped with making one person uncomfortable in an extraordinarily public and embarrassing fashion.

We might even think back to the 1990’s when someone near the man might have on a WWJD bracelet. What is it that Christ wants us to do with unruly and rude people in our society?  I don’t know that answer.  Jesus would recognize the man’s obvious pain and internal turmoil as well as the pain that the man was spewing all over the cabins of the aircraft and maybe silenced him with a touch of his hand. He could still a storm on water, why not a man in first class in an American airline bound for New Jersey.  But what do we do?  How do we show radical kindness/

Thanking the cashier and wishing him a good day is kind.  But I am talking radical.  Jesus is not at all interested in revenge behavior, but when have we returned good for evil?  What is going on in your life right now that could use a Jesus sized dose of radical kindness?  Who among your friends or family members is going through a tough stage or situation?  Maybe we can not change the outcome, but we can change the attitude of the environment in which the decisions are made.  We know we are told to love our enemies and to do good for those who don’t deserve it.  We understand that we are told that in the face of evil, we are to do good acts of gentleness, kindness and grace. How much more are we expected to be there for our friends and family? How can we be radically kind?

 The game of killing Jesus was already afoot when we read Matthew 9: 35-38. He has already healed on a Sunday, turned water into wine, and blessed a Canaanite woman.  The Pharisees of thos days were looking for a way to get rid of this man.  But it says that Jesus did not let this stop him from his acts of kindness.  The verses that Mike read tell us that he went about all through the towns and villages and taught in all of the synagogues proclaiming good news and healing every disease he could come to.  He was not hiding or holding his kindness for just those who deserve it and promised to follow him.  He healed all manner of people who told about it when he said not to.  But he kept being kind.  It says that he had compassion on them. To him they all looked like sheep without a caregiver.  He called them two words that are defined in the English versions of the Bible as harassed and helpless.

In Matthew 9:36, the phrase “harassed and helpless” translates the Greek words eskylmenoi (from skyllō) and errimmenoi (from rhiptō), describing a state of being bruised, exhausted, and cast down like neglected sheep

• Eskymenoi is derived from skyllō, meaning to flay, skin, mangle, or severely trouble. It presents a picture of someone worn out, battered, or distressed by heavy burdens.
• Helpless (ἐρριμμένοι / errimmenoi) is from the Greek word rhipto which means to throw down, to reject and abandon in a way that leaves the thrown thing face down in the dirt.

It is a sad sight to envision.  Not just helpless but beaten up by life and left in the road.  Jesus was moved by compassion and showed kindness. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, compassion dictated his choices and actions.  Not pity.  Not sympathy.  He was moved to become heartfelt and interactive – he felt compassion. He responded with gentleness, even though he knew what the end would be for his life on earth.  He didn’t make any of the people he healed to follow him and be so loyal that they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him.  The compassion flowed one way for the most part.  Those who do not seem to be on the right path – gently redirects them.  He was only as harsh as he absolutely had to be, generally to the other Pharisees who were supposed to be those shepherds that the people were missing.

Even further in the Bible when we are told about the church at Ephesus, Paul is writing to the church from his prison cell.  And he tells them that to follow Christ they are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We are to be kind like Jesus has been kind to us.  So this example of kindness where he is walking through feeling compassion on all the people, we need to have compassion for everyone as well.  We are to be the workers who spread this compassion, kindness, and gentleness to the world, radically.  In situations it would make no sense at all for us to be compassionate, we extend ourselves and provide goodness and grace, like the good Samaritan provided to the man thrown in the ditch.

Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry on earth instructed us to participate in radical kindness.  He said in Luke 6 ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

It is important to give radically, to forgive radically, to do good for others in radical and hard ways.  Think about your life.  When has someone done something radically kind for you?

• When have you experienced radical kindness and how powerful it can be?
• When have little acts of kindness helped you to have a better day?
• When has kindness changed a whole situation for the better?