16th Sunday after Pentecost
September 8, 2024
Mark 7.24-37
As most of you are pretty well aware of by know, you know that I
come from a long line of sports enthusiasts who are nothing if not fiercely
loyal when it comes to our teams. At my grandpa’s funeral, our pastor
worked in his love of the Detroit Tigers into the sermon because she knew
that was at the core of his identity. I grew up on the baseball diamonds of
the various leagues my dad played, and still plays, in, with him teaching me
the ins and outs of the game we both love. There was a time when Jennifer,
having her flight from Chicago cancelled, rented a car and drove the rest of
the way home so she could make it in time to watch the Pistons in the NBA
finals with me. And then…there is the deep down in our core love that all
three of us have for the Detroit Red Wings. My childhood is riddled with
memories of championship parades, driving to Detroit just to watch away
playoff games on the big screen of the stadium, even going to open practices
when we could, and do not get me started on the ridiculous rituals and
superstitions Kristin and I had to make sure we were watching the games in
such a way that gave us the best chance at winning. Like I said, fiercely
loyal, but as with anything…there were times when that loyalty was tested.
As I stand here knowing that tonight the Lions kick of their Super
Bowl contender season, I remember slogging through the 0-16 season
wondering if it was worth it. The 100 loss seasons, too many to count, that I
endured from the Tigers. The shameful Michigan season that started with a
loss to Appalachian State. All of them bringing the question, do I change
my allegiances? And this happens with certain players too. Take for
example, the Red Wings; one of their biggest rivals are the Chicago
Blackhawks. Only five hours apart, Original Six competitors, used to be in
the same division, constantly battling for playoff contention. You became
engrained with a deep seated hatred for their players, wanting nothing to do
with them. And then…the inevitable happened. Much like when Brett
Favre starting playing for the Vikings or Terrell Owens went from the
Eagles to the Cowboys, or any number of Red Sox players who went to the
Yankees, there came the day when Chris Chelios, vaunted Blackhawks
defensemen, signed with the Wings. We were furious. How are we
supposed to cheer for this guy? How are we supposed to think of him as one
of ours? Was he really going to be included in our fanaticism? Well…if
you ask any of us now we will tell you, we love us some Chelly and
sometimes, you just have to let your mind be changed by the circumstances
you find yourself in, even if you weren’t planning on it.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a dozen times, this is my least favorite
gospel and yet it always crops up in the lectionary. It’s bad enough to have
Jesus spitting on his fingers and touching this guy’s ears and tongue, but to
also have him being mean and disrespectful to this woman who just wants
her daughter to be healed, but also has the audacity of being a Gentile. The
whole scene is wildly uncomfortable, and so the easier path would be to
dismiss it, or explain it away. We could wonder if Jesus is just testing this
woman’s faith, but that’s not really Jesus’ style in Mark, nor does he make
any comment on her faith when he sends her away. This conversation
doesn’t end like it does with the hemorrhaging woman, your faith has made
you well, go in peace, but with a short dismissal, you may go. So this
doesn’t seem to be a test. We also talked in Bible study about how Jesus
seems to be wanting some down time, away from the demands of the crowds
and the people, and so maybe he’s exhausted and who hasn’t said something
they regret when they’re tired and running on empty? But even that…we
rarely see this from Jesus even when he’s tired, even when he’s seeking
solitude. Rarely do we hear demeaning, harsh words from Jesus, at least not
towards another person, a fig tree maybe, but a fellow child of God? It
doesn’t happen often…
There’s part of me that when I read this almost wants to roll my eyes
at Jesus because frankly what exactly does he expect? Mark tells us that
Jesus went away to the region of Tyre, and this is not a throwaway biblical
GPS detail. Tyre is a good 40 miles northwest of Nazareth, so Jesus is well
beyond the bounds of Galilee. He is right along the borders of Phoenicia
and Syria, which are, you guessed it, Gentile territories!! So what exactly is
Jesus expecting to happen when he goes into these areas? And again, sure,
maybe he expects some peace and quiet, but his reputation has spread far
beyond what he could imagine and so when he rolls into town it’s going to
garner some notice and that notice doesn’t come with religious boundaries
attached to it.
Like so many people before her, the Syrophoenician woman
approaches Jesus not for herself, but on behalf of her daughter who is
ravaged by an unclean spirit. We’ve seen this story before, a grieving,
desperate parent asked Jesus to spare their child, and usually Jesus assents.
Not in this instance though. In this instance, his lifetime of being
surrounded by prejudice and unflattering language about the other, comes
flying out. He tells her in no uncertain terms that he isn’t there for her and
her kind. He likens her to a dog and says that those seated at the table, i.e.
the Israelites need to be fed first, and it would be wrong to throw food from
the table to the dogs scrabbling on the floor begging. It’s rude, it’s
demeaning, it is deeply offensive. If I were this woman, I think I would
have been flooded with shame and made a hard exit, hoping I didn’t start to
cry until I was out of ear shot, but thankfully this woman is a bit stronger
than I am. She looks at Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has
the fate of her daughter in his hands, and she tells him that he’s wrong.
Even us lowly dogs get the crumbs off the table. In short, we mean
something too, even if you would choose to ignore us. We matter. All of us
matter. Gentile or Jew. We all are deserving of care, respect, and healing.
This blessed woman is bold, brash, and world-changing. Frankly, in
many ways, she is the reason we are here. She is asking Jesus to adjust his
loyalties, rethink what he has always known, and dare to see the world
through a new, more inclusive lens. This woman dares to ask the Messiah to
change. She dares to ask us to confront the idea that Jesus made a mistake
and got some things wrong, necessitating a radical shift in his point of view.
From this point on, Jesus’ message isn’t just geared towards the Israelites,
towards the traditional “in-crowd.” From this point on, Jesus begins
traveling more and more into Gentile regions, sharing a message that he is,
in fact, there for all of creation, not just some. This woman dared to ask
Jesus to tear down the boundaries of God’s love and he did…and in a lot of
ways, she dares to ask us to do the same thing.
So much of the world we have created, particularly as a church, is
based off of an assumption about who the Bible says we should or should
not include. Often times we put those words into Jesus’ mouth as well,
making our prejudices and biases, quite literally, the word of the Lord. We
adamantly stand by the fact that if things have always been this way, then
they have always been this way for a reason. And yet, here we have literal
gospel proof that even Jesus had to confront his own assumptions and
prejudices and change his mind, break open the barriers society had put up
in his mind, and rethink what exactly it meant that he had come to save
God’s children. Not just some, but all.
And the thing is…we have done this over and over again as a church
and yet, we still think that some barriers need to be upheld. Until 1832,
African Americans were allowed to be ordained in the Lutheran Church.
Jehu Jones Jr., changed that. Until 1970, women weren’t allowed to be
ordained in the Lutheran church. Elizabeth Platz changed that. Until 1979,
African American women weren’t ordained in the Lutheran church. Earlean
Miller changed that. Until 2009, LGBTQIA+ folk weren’t ordained, more
than we can name changed that. Until 2023, there were no ordained
Palestinian women in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jerusalem and the
Holy Land. Sally Azar changed that, and then told our kids about it at NYG.
So often we forget, or willfully ignore, the fact that the church has aimed to
always be in the business of breaking down barriers and boundaries to make
God’s grace more readily accessible to all. And yet, there are still people
that will fight and argue that LGBTQIA+ folks shouldn’t be welcome in our
pews, that they are condemned. There are still people who are deeply
influenced by the systemic racism of this country that they think African
Americans need to stay in their lane and their communities. I can tell you
first hand there are still people who think I shouldn’t be standing in this
pulpit. And yet, Jesus shows us…things can change. We need to be people
who are in the business of letting our hearts and minds be changed for the
sake of God’s grace being more rampant in the world.
We all have that person, that group that sits in our hearts and we think
yeah we would tell them that the table is not set for them. None of us are
immune to the human nature of that, and yet, we are not, the church is not
immune to change and radical acceptance, even if some would have us
believe we should be. If Jesus can change, so can we. The kingdom of God
is not for our policing. The kingdom of God doesn’t employ us as bouncers
of who is in and who is out. The kingdom of God is for all of God’s
children, all of them. If this woman hadn’t dared to challenge Jesus, who
knows if we would even be here. We must dare to ask who is being kept out
because we’re too attached to our boundaries and our fears. We must dare to
ask how we can share the meal of our table. We must dare to ask who needs
to be welcomed on behalf of a God who loves us all. AMEN!!!