July 20, 2003; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Every 11 Seconds

A wildfire is raging. And it's wiping people out.

All across Africa, an out-of-control inferno is consuming people at the rate of 6,500 per day. The death and destruction is horrifying -- with men, women and children being killed around the clock. And yet, our Western countries haven't given firefighters the resources they need to put it out because the water bill isn't paid.

6,500 people. Every day. One person every 11 seconds.

That's why the rock star Bono, lead singer of the group U2, is jumping up and yelling "Fire!" He feels he needs to shout because few other people are raising the alarm. "It's not a cause," he says, "it's an emergency." Forget the water bill -- let's put this inferno out!

The wildfire he's worried about is not a real fire, racing across the landscape. He's concerned about something far more deadly: AIDS. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome.

AIDS is the reason that an entire continent is going up in smoke.

"Six thousand five-hundred people are dying every day, for the stupidest of reasons -- money," Bono says. "Two and a half million Africans will die next year for lack of drugs we take for granted in Europe and America."

Africa can't buy drugs to fight AIDS because it owes the West so much cash. African nations are being crushed by onerous international debt, and they currently spend twice as much for debt repayment as they do for health care. African countries suffer from trade inequities, and have a hard time getting their products on American shelves.

One bright spot on the horizon is our President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, recently passed by Congress and signed into law. It will provide $15 billion for AIDS prevention, treatment, and care, in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.

Here are the shocking numbers, as reported by John Filiatreau in The News of the Presbyterian Church (USA): 3.5 million Africans will be infected by HIV
next year. 2.5 million will die. 500,000 babies will get the virus from their mothers. By 2010, the continent will be home to 25 million AIDS orphans. (John Filiatreau, "Rock star in the pulpit," The News of the PC(USA), December 20, 2002, 14-17)

The statistics are stunning, almost more than we can comprehend. But it is important that we not get overwhelmed by the extent of the emergency, and not get intimidated into inaction.

Jesus and his disciples certainly knew what it felt like to face intense and seemingly intractable human need. They had been traveling the countryside, casting out demons and curing the sick, and were working so hard that they weren't even finding time to grab a bite to eat. So Jesus called the apostles to hop into a boat with him and go away to a deserted place, to enjoy some rest and relaxation. But the desperately needy people of the region saw where Jesus was headed and hurried on ahead of him, so that when his boat hit ground there was a huge crowd waiting for him.

Did he dis them and blow them off? Not at all. Surprisingly, Jesus wasn't annoyed that his much-deserved day off had been interrupted ... he wasn't irritated that these people were unable to help themselves ... he wasn't even frustrated that the need all around him was so enormous.

No, Jesus had compassion for them (Mark 6:34). Nothing but compassion -- which means, quite literally, to "suffer with" them. Jesus had a sympathetic awareness of their distress, combined with a strong desire to alleviate it.


Do we feel this same sense of compassion when we hear about the devastation of AIDS in Africa? Do we "suffer with" the men, women and children who are infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, but are unable to afford the medication that will keep them alive?

Or are we merely annoyed, irritated, and frustrated?

Bono recently toured the American Midwest with a quiet African woman named Agnes. "I am from Uganda," she told a crowd of Christians in Louisville. "I once had 10 children ... and we were very happy."

Then her husband, a migrant worker, tested HIV-positive, and Agnes couldn't afford the medication necessary to keep him alive. "We bought it until we couldn't buy it any more," she explained, "and then we watched him die, without treatment."

She learned that she too was infected, but she gained access to the anti-retroviral medicines that can keep AIDS in check. But then she found out that her youngest child was suffering from AIDS, which pained her deeply.

"He's innocent," she said, "and he got the HIV from me. It was very difficult to me, but I tried to gain courage, and I prayed my Lord."

So, how does this story make you feel? Are you getting a stirring of … compassion?

Jesus certainly would.

Mark tells us that Jesus had compassion for them, young and old, male and female, black and white, moral and immoral. He sensed that they were sheep without a shepherd, and so he taught them and helped them and healed them (v. 34, 53-56). He healed everyone, without discrimination, and without asking how they managed to get sick in the first place.

Pay attention to this last point. It may be, you see, that some people would be quick to pass judgment on Agnes, or on her husband, for becoming infected with the HIV virus in the first place. Now it is certainly true that God will finally judge them, as he judges each and every human being on earth. But God will also judge us, as individuals and as a community, on how we responded -- or failed to respond -- to the AIDS crisis. God will ask us how we let an entire continent burst into flame, and let 6,500 of ourbrothers and sisters die every day.

One every 11 seconds. Men, women, and innocent children.

There is much we can do to help douse the flames that are eating up the people of Africa. We can start by supporting international Christian mission efforts that are focused on preventing the "diseases of poverty" -- tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS. Good efforts are already underway to prevent these diseases and treat their victims, and Christian hospitals continue to be the source of much of the available healthcare in areas of maximum poverty. They need our prayers and our financial support.

Tragically, our Western world tends to think in terms of winners and losers, and it looks down on the poor, who can pay little for services such as healthcare. Those who cannot pay anything do not count at all, and are seen as losers. But for Christians, writes a member of the Christian Medical Fellowship, "any man, woman or child who is a loser is of strategic importance because Jesus came to seek and to save the lost." (David Clegg, "Is medical mission still relevant?" Global Connections newsletter, June 2001, www.globalconnections.co.uk/pdfs/medicalmissionClegg.pdf)

That's an unexpected emphasis, isn't it? For Christians, losers are more important than winners, because Jesus came specifically to seek and to save the lost.

Are we following in his footsteps?

It is so important to have compassion for others, because Jesus has compassion for us. Every one of us, at some time or another, has been lost, and Jesus has found us. Every one of us, in one situation or other, has been a loser, and Jesus has reached out to us and embraced us. Every one of us, over the course of our lives, has made a number of poor decisions, maybe even as life-threatening as the decisions made by Agnes and her husband in Uganda. In such situations, we cannot save ourselves, we cannot pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. Instead, we need help … we need mercy … we need compassion.

"Forgive, and you will be forgiven," says Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, "give, and it will be given you" (6:37-38). If we show compassion, we will receive compassion, "for the measure you give," says Jesus, "will be the measure you get back."

The giving and receiving of compassion are such central elements of the Christian life, and they should never be downplayed or ignored. As hard as it is for me to show compassion in certain situations -- with people on the streets or folks wandering into the church office -- I know I must. I must, because when I've been lost, when I've felt like a loser, when I've made poor decisions … it's been at those times that I myself have been saved by compassion.

Now it's true that saving 6,500 people a day is an enormous challenge -- one of the biggest that the world has ever faced. But it's something that can be done, sometimes through the administration of a simple shot, one person at a time. We can support this work in the name of the One who loved, touched and healed the suffering people of his day, and saved them from destruction. We can do it with the help of the One who assisted everyone, without discrimination, and without passing judgment on their illnesses or economic conditions.

The time has come to put some water on the fire called AIDS, whether the water bill has been paid or not. As followers of Jesus Christ, people who have received his compassion ourselves, we can do no less. Amen.