Reverend Philip Stringer
Mark 7:24-37
LET US PRAY: Lord of Life, Give us ears to hear and hearts willing to receive, that your word may be food for our lives and a blessing to the world. AMEN
There was a woman who believed in the power and goodness of God. What she knew to be true for her is true for you, too.
Story about focus/commitment to a task -- laying out to watch for shooting stars or satellites — always there but you have to be deliberate about seeing them.
Today we are reminded to fix our attention on the grace of God in all matters of life. Because the grace of God is what gives vision for viewing the world as God sees the world. And the grace of God is the ultimate truth that defines you and me.
Jesus and his followers were Jewish, of course. And in Jesus’ day, people were careful to distinguish between good Jews and bad Jews. And there were also very clear distinctions between who was important and who was not.
The religious leaders were certainly more powerful than the common people. Adults had more value than children, and men had more value than women. Those who were well were more righteous than those who were ill or crippled.
But the greatest distinction was clearly of that between Jews and non-Jews (or Gentiles). Jews who were serious about their faith avoided contact with Gentiles as much as possible -- and in fact, to enter Gentile lands was to enter something of a sewer -- One had to go through a ritual of decontamination after traveling in Gentile land before being able to enter the Temple again.
In our gospel reading today, Jesus breaks the rules again. He has left the Jewish territory and traveled to what is today Lebanon, and then down to the Decapolis, in modern day Syria.
In these Gentile lands Jesus teaches us about the grace of God.
Jesus -- the rabbi -- is met by a common woman. She is lower than him because he is a teacher, and because he is a man.
She is not even a Jew -- which makes her even lower.
She has come to beg. She begs for her daughter -- who has even less value than a gentile woman. We are told that she is a little girl -- a child -- even lower. And she is ill -- unclean. It is hard to imagine someone more insignificant. Jesus has been met by the most unimportant person imaginable. This encounter shouldn’t even be taking place.
But the gospel today reminds us to stay focused on the grace of God.
Jesus is the grace of God incarnate. Throughout his ministry, he repeatedly flipped the tables on those who were mesmerized with their own perceived righteousness.
A pious Jew would have gone out of his way to avoid a situation like the one Jesus was in -- but Jesus has sought it out, and when he speaks to this woman, he is setting the stage for the tables to be flipped.
<<< Like how one player in volleyball will set the ball up for their teammate to spike it — That’s what Jesus does with this woman>>>>
This Syrophoenician woman is about to become the hero -- the teacher of God’s grace to the Jews -- and to us.
Jesus put into words what every Jew around him was surely thinking: You are nothing but a dog. They are dehumanizing words. Heartless, callous words. Racist words. And by speaking them, Jesus brings out into the open the whole issue of how the Jews perceived God’s relationship to the world.
And the woman . . . the woman is the key. The woman is the one who shows us what Jesus wants all of us to be like.
When Jesus puts into words the insult that is on the minds of the self-righteous, she never even bats an eye. “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
She is not going to argue her worthiness. It is of no concern to her what the Jews think about her or her daughter. It makes no matter, regardless of whether it’s true or not.
Her attention is not on her own worthiness or the opinion of the Jews. Her attention is on the grace of God. She is focused on the goodness of God.
She appeals to Jesus based on who JESUS is. And nothing else. And Jesus listened.
Today our gospel reading is a message to us that the grace of God is for people like you and me.
The chosen people -- the righteous people had written this woman off as unimportant -- but not Jesus.
Have you ever felt shoved aside -- treated as unimportant?
Have you ever felt unworthy in your own heart?
Have you ever been ashamed of yourself and afraid that if people really knew your heart that they wouldn’t love you?
Then today’s gospel is for you. Because when it comes to understanding who you are, nothing else matters but the grace of God.
That is important for us to hear because life presents us with an endless stream of opportunities to turn our attention away from the grace of God and onto other things. Things that don’t deserve our attention, and certainly ought not to shape our understanding of who we are.
STORY ABOUT SEEING SMALL DETAILS, NOT JUST BIG. (in mountains with an undetailed road map.)
The experiences of life easily preoccupy us and we are constantly in the need of being brought back to the truth of God’s grace.
In many ways we are like the deaf man who was brought to Jesus. He was ALSO a gentile -- and Jesus took him aside in private. Jesus wasn’t afraid to be close to this unclean gentile. Jesus gets personal. He touches him and says to him, “Be opened.”
Jesus speaks these words to us, too. “Be opened.” Those are the words of God’s grace in your life. “Be opened. Hear my words of love for you. Hear me make promises to you. Hear me and express my grace to the world.”
The deaf man’s tongue was released and he spoke plainly -- he spoke clearly because of the grace of God.
Jesus sets you free to have clarity in your life, too. It is only when we are distracted by other things that our lives become murky and confused. Our lives lack clarity when we forget about the grace of God.
Today’s gospel reminds us to stay focused on the grace of God, because the grace of God is what shapes every moment of your life. The grace of God is with you:
at school
at work
in your struggling relationships.
in your commitments
in your financial worries
in your places of solitude and isolation.
in the places where you feel pressured and troubled.
All of these find clarity when our attention is fixed on the grace of God. They only become overwhelming for us when our attention turns to them first, without viewing them through the lens of God’s grace.
Stay focused on the grace of God, and you will find your way, even in the most troublesome places in life.
Once when Martin Luther was having dinner with some friends in his home, his dog was eagerly waiting to be fed from the table. He held out a piece of meat and said, “If only I could concentrate of the grace of God the way this dog concentrates on the meat.”
That’s what we need, too. Yes, if only . . .
This past week we were flooded again with news and images of a school shooting — which some have resignedly labeled a “fact of life.” It is not.
We are not mere spectators or passengers in this world. We are co-creators with God. We are instruments of God to affect change in the world — a world in which the Holy Spirit of God is at work with us and through us.
Today the Gospel reminds us that evil should not define who we are or how we behave. Our thoughts should not be based on the goodness or the evilness of people. Our thoughts should be on the grace of God, as the Syrophoenician woman’s were. Nothing but the grace of God should occupy our lives.
Terrorists do not determine who we are.
Racial hate groups do not determine who we are.
Tragedy does not determine who we are.
The opinions of people do not determine who we are-- not their racism or hatred or good favor.
Our wealth or poverty, our power or weakness. None of these things.
Only the grace of God determines who we are, and in Jesus we see that we are the beloved of God. You are the beloved of God.
In a world filled with violence, hate and fear, Jesus still speaks. Not only on the world stage, but in your individual lives.
When you are grieving, Jesus says, “Be opened.”
Angry -- “Be opened.”
Afraid -- “Be opened.”
Discouraged -- “Be opened.”
Just as the tongue of the deaf man was “loosed,” we, too, are unbound and set free by God’s grace, to speak clearly, act clearly; Live clearly.
There was a woman who believed in the power and goodness of God. What she knew to be true for her is true for you, too.
The grace of God is being poured out for you. “Be opened.”
AMEN
Opmerkingen