EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past nearly four years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Wednesday, Sept. 1, the 15th week after Pentecost. For the summer, we moved to live Wednesday night services that were simultaneously livestreamed.
This week's gospel: Mark 7:24-37
The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Jesus Cures a Deaf Man
31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 Then Jesus[c] ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
The message:
Full disclosure, we had a council meeting tonight right before church. Some of you may know that we meet on the first Wednesday of the month, and in about two sentences, LaDawn Turner summed up my sermon far faster than what you guys are going to be subjected to tonight. So, I'm going to sit down! ... As LaDawn said, "It is really interesting sometimes how the Holy Spirit works."
Me versus you. ... Us versus them. ... Maskers versus anit-maskers. ... Vaxxers versus anti-vaxxers.
Politics and vaccines and Afghanistan and policing. ... Seems hard to get through the day without witnessing our many divisions firsthand, isn't it? Everywhere we look, there are people who are at odds with one another. And it seems impossible for us to get beyond this tribal instinct of ours as humans.
So, by a show of hands ... no, I'm just kidding. Who here tonight, here or online, thinks that they can be totally impartial in the words of James tonight, which was a our second reading. That you don't hold a single grudge against anyone else who thinks differently than you?
Take heart, Faith Family, because our gospel tells us tonight that not even Jesus was without his prejudices, as we will see. Because that is really what the text is describing to us. ... As astonishing for us as that might be, our loving and kind and compassionate Jesus who we are so familiar with.
Seems as if this woman of a different descent who is asking for his help -- asking for him to heal her daughter, of all things -- it seems as if she is offensive to him. And we're not generally accustomed to see our Jesus as easily offended.
But now, we must pay close attention tonight to the description of this woman in the text. Because the description of her is key to the entire message tonight. First of all, we're told that she is a gentile, meaning specifically that she wasn't a Jew, and likely not a follower of Jesus. But rather, she was Greek and her religion was Greek. Also, we learn that she is of Syrophoenician descent. So, before we get to far into this, basically this descriptor describes a specific geographic region of that time.
We have a Greek woman, who comes from the region that borders Tyre and is by the sea. And worse yet, we know from the Gospel of Matthew, which we will not read tonight, but the same woman appears in the Gospel of Matthew, where she is described as a Canaanite. And if you've read some of your Bible, you will know that the Jews and the Canaanites weren't exactly the best of friends.
So, to put it all together, you have a woman of Canaanite heritage, who as a native of the Syrophoenician seaboard, who was Greek in religion and probably also spoke Greek. ... And here she is, bowed at Jesus' feet, begging him to have a mercy on her sick daughter.
I mean, talk about the definition of the other!
And in the most uncharacteristically human way possible, Jesus -- our loving and compassionate Jesus -- barks back at her, "Let the children be fed first for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
Wow! ... Have we heard harsher words uttered from our savior? ... That is a pretty stinging rebuke. And we're not used to that. A stinging rebuke from our kind and loving savior.
But we know from the text that the woman isn't done yet. ... After all, this is her child who is in danger, and wouldn't you beg too? "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." ... Could your heart break any more?
And so in one swift retort, she punctures the prejudice of even our Lord Jesus, who was raised among people who probably didn't think that highly of the woman's race. She holds up a mirror to Christ, and says, "See, practice what you preach, Rabbi!"
Jesus has no way to answer but to humbly say, "For saying that, you may go. The demon has left your daughter." ... In other words, we might have also heard it said this way, "You are right! Who am I to call you a dog and to deny your daughter just because you are Greek and a gentile."
I don't know if this any consolation or not, Faith Family, but it seems like the trouble with us humans is that we've been creating others who are different from us for thousands of years. Just look at tonight's text. First you have the story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman, and then you have the reading from James, which is addressing the very same issue. James writes, "My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?" ... Or maybe, in other words, "Look, you separate out the rich and the poor. The rich are much better than the poor. You can have a seat here. You, you stand over there."
Wasn't that essentially what Jesus told the Syrophoenician woman, "You're both Greek and Canaanite, you stand over there. Let the Jews sit down.
Faith Family, I'm afraid James has some very damning words for all of us. Because I don't know one person alive who doesn't "other" someone else. It's in our nature. ... Even, evidently in our Jesus some 2,000 years ago.
And so James writes, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have the works." And a little bit later, "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
It's no secret that we are living in an emotionally charged time. ... Each of us has strongly held beliefs about the things that are taking place around us. Each of us instinctively wants to "other" people with differing views. But tonight I implore you to listen to James who is pointing a finger at each and everyone of us. We can't pronounce ourselves as followers of Jesus, and then push away the Syrophoenician woman. We can't war with those think differently than us, and then wonder why we have no peace.
Tonight, Faith Family, I encourage each of us to take James' words to heart. Being gracious to each other, and loving one another despite your differences is never easy. ... After all, just ask Jesus. ... But, as followers of Christ, it is what we are called to do. And our loving Lord does eventually set an example as to how do that in our gospel tonight.
And that is the Good News for this Wednesday, Sept. 1, the 15th week after Pentecost. ... Amen.
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