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Amazing statements have a powerful way of burning themselves into our memories. Examples of this are statements that are filled with care. I recall the cry of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he stood at the Lincoln Memorial: "I have a dream...." And as he preached that sermon, it seemed that everyone knew the problem. It wasn't about race or rights, it was about getting a nation to care about all her people.

When you feel that you are neglected or mistreated, you feel that no one cares. The act of truly caring transcends the problems of race and rights. Caring may be the one commodity that can transform a person's being and behavior. It has the most powerful motivation. It will send nations to war. It will cause men and women to give their greatest gifts for that care to be accomplished.

I recall hearing Dr. Fred Craddock preach a sermon about caring. One of the things he pointed out was that the seven deadly sins, the list of mortal sins during the Middle Ages, began with "sloth," This first sin had its root in the meaning "I don't care." For example, you see an old woman pushing a shopping basket with all her worldly goods inside, and your response is, "Well, she's not my mother." Or you see a starving child with a distended belly, begging for food, and your response is, "Well, he isn't my child."

The most painful thing for a person to know is that he or she is not cared for. There is, however, another pain that can cut just as deep. It doesn't have to do with someone caring for us. It has to do with us caring for someone else.

It is painful when someone has accused you of being uncaring. One of the greatest insults to anyone would be that they had no care or concern for those closest to them. It seems that Paul has been accused of not really caring for his own people. Paul is being hurt by someone or some church, and to defend himself he rises up with the most emotional statements of his career. Listen to Paul in this passage. Listen to him defending himself. Feel the words coming from the depth of his heart. He says: "I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I wish I were accursed ... for my people." Paul must somehow convince the people that he does care. I can only imagine from this statement the pain Paul must have been suffering because of his care. It would hurt anyone to think that others thought one indifferent. Maybe the hurt comes from knowing how much pain exists with people who are not cared for.

It hurt to know the story of the seventeen--year--old teenager who was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery. As he was being prepped, his father was called to come to the hospital. His sister stood at the desk as their father carefully looked over the forms. Then he asked the clerk, "Does this mean I will have to pay for this?" "Why, yes," the clerk said.

The father then slid the papers back to her and said, "I will not sign." After the surgery, and upon discharge from the hospital, the young man was all alone. They had him sign a number of papers so the hospital could collect from other agencies. As he sat there with pen in hand, the lady behind the desk finally said, "You are like a man without a country."

The famed movie about World War II, Saving Private Ryan, brings us to know how the feelings remain after years. The story line involves a family that has lost four of their five sons to the war. The War Department decides that it is enough. A squad is sent through Europe to find one private to send him home. Soldiers lose their lives in order to find Private Ryan. Finally, the movie reaches its climax fifty years later with a now--old man crying, asking if he is a good person. He wants to be sure that his life has been worth what was given for it. It is a scene that reaches into the heart and examines if we all have cared enough.

The Apostle Paul seems tormented by this word that has come to him concerning some indifference. This word was coming from his own people, those that were the chosen nation. It may have seemed to them that Paul, a very zealous Jew, was uncaring and had turned his back on his kinsmen. It would look that way to those who believed their God was the God of Israel. When he became a follower of Jesus the Christ, it would seem as though Paul had ripped the Star of David off his chest and thrown it into the dirt. It would appear that Paul had disregarded everything about his heritage. However, the problem was not only the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior, but also the inclusion of those who were not in the scheme of things as the Jewish people saw it. For Paul to accept the non--Jew was for him to say, "I care nothing about my own people." So Paul responds to these accusations by expressing his most heartfelt pain. It hurt to the bottom of his heart to hear someone say to him, "You do not care for us."

Paul's agony over these accusations is so great that he makes a dramatic statement in his desire to convince his critics of his heartfelt care. He says, "For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race" (v. 3). That statement is a statement not only of self--sacrifice but of eternal separation for the sake of others. Paul, of all people, knew what it would mean to be cut off.

I recall the story of an ancient oriental king who met with his counselors to make a decision about a recurring crime that was being committed. They decided that the punishment should serve both as a punishment, as well as an example. The pronouncement was made that the next person caught in the commission of this crime would lose the sight in two eyes. A sharp iron rod, heated until cherry red, would be touched to each eye. The result would be immediate, the deepest darkness for the longest day one would live on earth. There would be no exception to the decree. Noble or servant would receive the same punishment. It was performed several times after perpetrators came before the king. Then, another was apprehended in the commission of this particular crime. He was arrested, taken to the royal prison, and awaited his audience with the king. As the criminal was taken before the king, he lifted his head. It was the king's own son. The king thought, "How can I take the sight from my own son?" He called his counselors and they read and reread the law. There could be no exception. The punishment for the crime would be the loss of sight in two eyes. The king, bewildered, asked, "Is not the punishment for this crime the loss of sight in two eyes?" The counselors responded, "Yes, that satisfies judgment and meets the condition of the law that has been passed." The king looked at his son and said, "Take one of mine and one of my son's." So they did.

Paul said if there was some way possible he could show his people his care, he would give himself in a fashion that would be the greatest sacrifice. He said, "I am telling the truth. I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit."

The greatest gift Paul could show to others was simply to express his care; a care that was made of sacrifice, a care that was not a pat on the back or simply a smile. It was a care that went to the very heart of the gospel and sacrifice. The very central element of the gospel is the fact that there is one that came to humankind to demonstrate the care of God. He came to live and teach, but much more than that. He came not only to express the heartfelt concern, but also finally to lay down a life that would serve as a sacrifice for so many others. Paul's statement was more than a statement of care; it was a messianic statement of caring so much as to sacrifice his very self.

Somehow we know the greatness of this sacrifice, but at the same time we have the idea that our care is only for the ones we love. Paul was reminded of God's care for those that did not seem worthy. Jesus, himself, said, "God makes the rain fall on the good and the bad, and the sun shine on the righteous and unrighteous." It seems to mean that God does not have two standards of conduct or behavior. God does not allow God's love to be governed by other people. That is, God is not bad to bad people and good to good people. But we humans find it easy to be nice to nice people and mean to mean people. We only care about people that care about us.

The drawback to this is: "Who is determining one's behavior?" Nice people make one nice, and mean people make one mean. These two groups of people are determining one's behavior. How can God remain impartial and unbiased? It is simply that God does not react, but acts out of God's own self.

Now we are able to see the problem of caring. We are to behave toward others according to our own character, according to our own love, and not according to the way other people may or may not act. To be impartial one must act out of one's own impartial love.

Human beings are constantly searching for someone who really, really cares. When all is said and done if only there is care, it will be enough. "You are like a man without a country." The words the lady at the hospital desk spoke still haunt the man some thirty years later. The thing that comes back from that episode in his life is the fact that there should have been someone who cared about him and not about the cost, and that his own flesh and blood was unwilling to assume the bill. A father should have, deep inside, a care for a son. The pain that is felt when someone one knows should care and does not, can only be felt in the same measure by those who truly care yet who know others think they do not.

Paul finally said in his attempt to express his heart: "You want to know how much I really care about my own people? Or how much I am willing to do for my own people? You put me here as a teacher of the gospel and lover of humankind, and then you put my kinspeople across the gulf - those that are in need of what I teach. Then you put hell between us. I would give myself, if I could only know my people could come to God through Jesus Christ. That is my pain of caring." A pain we all share.