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Tuesday 4th
Week Lent
St. Luke’s Institute
March 17, 2015
FIRST SIGN OF
CILVILIZATION ++++++++++++++++++++
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Several years ago I read about an interesting
insight by the anthropologist Margaret Mead
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She once was asked what constituted the first
sign of civilization in a culture
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The questioner expected the answer 2B invention
or use of some kind of tool or art form, but answer was surprising
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She said: “A
healed femur”
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Her point was that no healed bones were found
where the law of the “survival of the
fittest” reigns
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A healed bone shows that someone had to do the
injured person’s hunting and gathering until the injury healed
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Someone had to care enough for one who was hurt
so that the individual could heal
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Given that, Dr. Mead said that compassion is the
first sign of civilization
COMPASSION FOR JESUS +++++++++++++++++++++++
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Her insight reflects today’s Gospel
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No one would help this man 2 get into pool of
water
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He’d been ill, lame or paralyzed for 38 years
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He was unable 2B 1st into pool so he
could B healed
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Jesus simply asks him: “Do you want to be well?”
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The man answers “Yes” and Jesus doesn’t even put him into the water
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He just pronounces the man healed and tells him
to get up and walk, and that is what he does
COMPASSION FOR US ++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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So, like Jesus, we’re called to notice the needs
of one another and to offer loving attention
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As with the man in the Gospel, no one else may
have done that for the individual in need
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Yes, offer loving attention and expect nothing in
return, no recognition; not even a thank you
CONCLUSION
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Margaret Mead would call such an act a sign of
civilization
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We would say it is simply being Christ-like
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It is what God made us to be like and to do
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Let us live this day with some of that same
compassion
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After all, It is the first sign of civilization
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
