Jesus 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, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 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.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Mark 7:24-30
We will always have questions about what Jesus the person was really like. When we imagine him in the world, we think of him as love and peace and grace personified. The gospel of Mark, however, shows us a very different picture of Jesus. He is a strong and compassionate leader, but he is sometimes stern, harsh and impatient with the Gentiles, and even with his disciples who don’t seem to understand much of what Jesus does, or what he teaches them.
The story of the Syrophoenician woman’s faith shows us that Jesus is driven by his mission to the people of Israel. It’s possible that Jesus was responding to this Gentile woman’s plea for help with a well known proverb similar to our saying “charity begins at home.” Jesus was on an urgent mission to the Jews, and his initial response might be the same as ours would be when we need to prioritize and take care of first things first. Even some of our very important work might have to be put on the back burner because we can’t be all things to all people all of the time.
The difference with Jesus is that he stopped and recognized the woman’s faith, and he made time to help her. He made an exception to his rule. He patiently and lovingly responded to her humble and sincere expression of trust in him, and by doing so, he acknowledged that she, the Gentiles, and all of us are included in the promise, and in the kingdom. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Fear Not
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body. (Proverbs 3: 7-8)
It’s the beginning of the program year at Trinity, and at churches everywhere. Adult education, confirmation, and choir are revving up and there’s wonderful energy around here. It’s exciting – and scary. Most of the legwork goes on behind the scenes, weeks and months before the first class, or the first rehearsal, or the first Sunday of TK. Curriculum and music are planned, calls are made, postcards are sent out, publicity gets written and published and then we pray.
What if nobody shows up? What if the speaker bombs? What if the topic is a dud? What if what if what if…
There are lots of things to be afraid of and to be worried about. I’m sure you all can think of things in your jobs or in your life that worry you, that you think you may fail at.
And we are living in fearful times. We fear terrorists, we fear job loss, we fear the weather. We fear sickness and loneliness and anything that is strange, uncertain or new.
We know that fear has its place, of course. It is wise for example, for the Californians in the path of the fire to fear it and evacuate. But when fear is the guiding principle of our lives, when we fear so much that we can’t live, that is a path that leads to our death.
In his book Hope Against Darkness, Richard Rohr observes, “People more easily define themselves by what they fear, by what they are against, by who they hate, by who else is wrong, instead of by what they believe in and by whom they love. It’s much easier to build our identity on our group, our wounds, our angers, our agenda, our fear; that’s the more normal way, unless you’ve been taught by the way of Jesus.”
That “way” to which he refers is both radical and hard. It is nothing less than living in the faith that God is God and we aren’t. It is knowing in our bones that God is good, and that in spite of appearances, evil and hate don’t have the final say. Does such knowledge guarantee that we will never again be afraid? Not at all. What it does do is enable us to live with confidence and joy and hope in spite of the things we fear.
God is God and we aren’t. So let God be God. One of my favorite bits of wisdom from Martin Luther goes like this. "Pray as if everything depends on God, but act as if everything depends on you." We do have responsibilities. There are some things to fear. We may fail, and things may fall apart, but God never abandons us in our struggle. And God has arranged for us this promise – no matter what we fear, or how we fail, finally we will succeed safely and joyfully in the arms of Jesus, who gave himself for us, to sooth our minds, to calm our fears, and to save us. Ultimately, we have nothing to fear because our lives are encompassed in the love of God, by the protection of the Holy Spirit, and with the salvation of Jesus.
It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body. (Proverbs 3: 7-8)
It’s the beginning of the program year at Trinity, and at churches everywhere. Adult education, confirmation, and choir are revving up and there’s wonderful energy around here. It’s exciting – and scary. Most of the legwork goes on behind the scenes, weeks and months before the first class, or the first rehearsal, or the first Sunday of TK. Curriculum and music are planned, calls are made, postcards are sent out, publicity gets written and published and then we pray.
What if nobody shows up? What if the speaker bombs? What if the topic is a dud? What if what if what if…
There are lots of things to be afraid of and to be worried about. I’m sure you all can think of things in your jobs or in your life that worry you, that you think you may fail at.
And we are living in fearful times. We fear terrorists, we fear job loss, we fear the weather. We fear sickness and loneliness and anything that is strange, uncertain or new.
We know that fear has its place, of course. It is wise for example, for the Californians in the path of the fire to fear it and evacuate. But when fear is the guiding principle of our lives, when we fear so much that we can’t live, that is a path that leads to our death.
In his book Hope Against Darkness, Richard Rohr observes, “People more easily define themselves by what they fear, by what they are against, by who they hate, by who else is wrong, instead of by what they believe in and by whom they love. It’s much easier to build our identity on our group, our wounds, our angers, our agenda, our fear; that’s the more normal way, unless you’ve been taught by the way of Jesus.”
That “way” to which he refers is both radical and hard. It is nothing less than living in the faith that God is God and we aren’t. It is knowing in our bones that God is good, and that in spite of appearances, evil and hate don’t have the final say. Does such knowledge guarantee that we will never again be afraid? Not at all. What it does do is enable us to live with confidence and joy and hope in spite of the things we fear.
God is God and we aren’t. So let God be God. One of my favorite bits of wisdom from Martin Luther goes like this. "Pray as if everything depends on God, but act as if everything depends on you." We do have responsibilities. There are some things to fear. We may fail, and things may fall apart, but God never abandons us in our struggle. And God has arranged for us this promise – no matter what we fear, or how we fail, finally we will succeed safely and joyfully in the arms of Jesus, who gave himself for us, to sooth our minds, to calm our fears, and to save us. Ultimately, we have nothing to fear because our lives are encompassed in the love of God, by the protection of the Holy Spirit, and with the salvation of Jesus.
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