Divorce - Any Good News?

Mark 10:2-16 (Pentecost 18a), October 4, 2009

 

Choices! Sometimes the choices we are called to make are anything but easy. As a male over 50 shall I go for my annual prostate examination or not? As a close friend of someone who is engaging in an activity or activities that are destructive for themself, shall I say or do anything. If I don't say anything they likely will continue in said destructive behavior. If I do say something they may end their friendship with me and continue in their behavior anyway. Or, they may reconsider their course of action and stop it. What shall we do or say? To speak and risk or, not to speak and risk?

 

The choices and decisions are almost endless. As we get older when do we downsize? When shall we get ourselves assessed in terms of being on a waiting list for enriched housing or a care facility? If we choose to do nothing now, what will happen later?

 

Many of the choices we make now impact us and others for varying amounts of time.

 

Pastors must make choices too. Which lesson shall I preach on? Do I preach on Job which raises the entire question of human suffering and the goodness of God, in this particular case the suffering of an absolutely innocent person? Wow – the suffering of innocent people, there's a huge topic! Especially today – the Oregon school shooting, the civil war in Syria, gang warfare in the Lower Mainland.

 

Or, do I preach on Mark's text where Jesus utters an incredibly difficult statement on divorce?

 

After a couple of days of reflection I have decided to preach on Mark's Gospel text. I do this because I am convinced that on both immediate and long term levels there is a word, a hopeful word for all of us.

 

Some would question whether there is any good news here at all. Even if we attempt to do an end run around whatever it is Jesus is saying about divorce and get to the children, we need to realize that about 60% of the children in Jesus' time died before they reached the age of 16. It is distinctly possible that the children brought to Jesus in this text were ill. I say this because the word 'touch' used in the text is only used by Mark in healing accounts. Even the children are sick! Where is the good news in that?

 

But, before we pass judgment we need to hear the whole story. The Pharisees, were people who were very concerned about the application of religious law in their daily life. By this time in Mark's gospel the Pharisees were on the "outs" with Jesus. They didn't like what he was doing to the status quo of their religion, to their own understanding of family. Now they ask him a question, perhaps hoping that his response will put him in lots of trouble with others, especially those in positions of power.

 

So they ask, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" The intent of their question is this:  "Is it more than OK with God, can divorce be blessed by God?"

 

But Jesus delves far beyond what appears to be the intention of the Pharisees' question. Jesus' response appears to intend that people glimpse God's intention for relationships. God has great hopes for human life! 

 

In this context I tell you a story. The woman is about 30 years old. She has been blessed with 3 children – all under the age of 7. She lives with her husband – a short but very strong man. She wants her baby to be baptized. The Pastor shows up in the early afternoon to talk with her about that. Her husband is gone – not at work, but somewhere. The Pastor meets with her, listens to her share her hopes for her child and a bit about her faith. Still, "something" doesn't feel right. About an hour into the visit, the husband comes home. He has been drinking. He isn't falling down drunk. He is polite. Yet as he enters the room, the entire atmosphere changes. Later the Pastor learns that this man physically beats his wife, verbally berates her and has threatened her with a gun.

 

What would you do if you were this woman's friend? What would you do if you were her Pastor? Is it lawful, might it even be "good" for this woman to divorce this man?

 

Into this, our reality, comes Mark's text and Jesus' words. Jesus responds to the question the Pharisees ask. I think that in his response Jesus holds up God's hope, God's intention not only for marriage but even for human relationships in general..

 

It is also important to note some of the cultural differences between Jesus' time and our time. Then, marriage didn't occur after 2 people had been dating, fallen in love and then made the decision to make incredible promises to each other. No! Then, marriage was a promise entered into by 2 families – sometimes for financial reasons, perhaps even with an eye to keeping the Jewish race alive. Such promises were initiated by the fathers of those families. Fathers were understood to own and control the lives of their wives and their unmarried daughters.

 

When such promises were broken – and in the Jewish community of Jesus' time they could only be broken by the males – family feuding, shame and dishonor resulted. One of the grounds for divorce was when a marriage did not result in any children. Quite often the woman was blamed. Divorce then may have occurred.

 

Jesus' concern about all this is not just for the sake of who will own property. Instead, Jesus holds up the intent that no person be discarded whether they "produce" children or not. Nor should anyone be 'discarded' because the man finds some other woman more attractive in some way or even because some woman finds some other man more attractive in some way. Instead it is God's intention that all people be respected, that the promises to love, cherish and respect the marriage partner be honored. When that intention is disregarded and broken, much pain results. Such broken promises result in fractures in interpersonal relationships, families and between people and God.

 

Don't we ourselves know and experience this? One of the most painful realities that I observe and experience is the reality of divorce. Jesus underlines the truth, the reality of the law. This is not God's intent. We should not do it.

 

And yet, there is more to it than just Jesus' command, "Don't do it". There is also the fullness of our reality. Don't' we all fall short some regard of God's intent – whether we are married, still married or never been married or are currently divorced? Who among us has not looked at a person besides our spouse with desire? Who among us has not at times been mean or thoughtless towards the one we have promised to love 'til death do us part? We are all guilty – by God's law. We are all in need of forgiveness and new life!

 

So, where is the good news? Where is the hope in the midst of our reality?

 

At the end of our lesson, children are brought to Jesus that he might touch them. In Jesus' day children were viewed quite differently than children are now. Then children weren't seen as being sweet, innocent or cute.

 

Indeed the children that are being brought to Jesus at this point in Mark's Gospel are ill – perhaps smelly, coughing, maybe even suffering from diarrhea. They may have been perceived as being contagiously ill. People may have tried to keep their distance.

 

Nevertheless, Jesus takes these children in his arms and blesses them. Then Jesus says the most amazing thing: "unless one enters the kingdom of God, the rule and realm of influence of God, like a little child, that person will never enter it."

 

Here Jesus takes up the vulnerable, the needy, the hurting, the ones that society would distance itself from and blesses them with Himself, His physical touch, His love, His support.

 

It is precisely in such acts of Jesus that we are encountering hope. Whatever is going on in our lives – especially when our relationships with others are fractured and fracturing, we need Christ's ongoing touch to help us. Through his embrace, his welcoming touch we can be enabled to realize that we are God's children, that we are loved despite our failings.

 

To be sure, we often fall short of God's intention in many ways. But God wills to give us new beginnings – to be loved and love, to be forgiven and forgive even as Christ loves and forgives us.

 

This dear people is GOOD NEWS! This is the heart of the Gospel that comes to us in the midst of any and all the experiences of our lives. May we live from the hope of being loved by God, whatever comes, for Christ's sake.  Amen.

 

 

NO MORE IN OR OUT - GROWING CIRCLES!

Pentecost 18b 15 (Mark 9:38-50) September 27, 2015

 

There is an unknown theologian who said something like this: "Whenever you are caught up with drawing a line between who is "in" as part of the kingdom of God, compared to who is "outside" of the kingdom of God KNOW THIS – JESUS IS ALWAYS ON THE OTHER SIDE."

 

His comment provides food for thought. His comment reminds me that I am not God. And, (thanks be to God!) God is the final judge – NOT US, NOT ME!  Secondly – the more convinced we are that we are absolutely right – as in doing what God is calling us to do, and that therefore all others who disagree with us are wrong – well, beware!  We are often better at constructing idols, false gods, than perceiving God's desire and attempting to humbly live out God's good and gracious will in our time and place.

 

Sadly, human history has often been marked by fervent and steadfast attempts to draw lines between who is "in" and who is "out". The results have been disastrous. We have waged wars, slung pejorative names, killed, maimed and psychologically brutalized each other, often in the name of "god".

 

What is so compelling in today's Gospel is that Jesus doesn't seem the least bit concerned about engaging in drawing such lines, waging such destructive battles. Rather, he seems more concerned to aid his followers in living their lives by following Him.

 

To be sure, he warns them against following others, false 'gods'. The consequences of not following him, of running after their own desires or inclinations, of submitting to other significant powers, are serious. How many battles waged ranging from playgrounds to international stages have been fought by people of differing ages who are absolutely convinced that they are "right" that the possess the whole "truth" and that therefore any and all others who differ from them are "wrong" and must be excluded or relegated, even exterminated? Historically, from the Crusades, to the Reformation, to the American Civil War, to apartheid, to Residential Schools, to ISIS - the damaging, killing, excluding and even genocide continues ... 

 

But Jesus' way, as portrayed variously in the four Gospels, is different than all of that. Give a cup of cold water to any in need. Visit those in prison. Care for the widow and the oppressed, for any and all who cannot pay you back. He/she who is not against us, is for us. Love your enemy. Forgive – that is by God's grace let go of the hate, the pain, the wrong that has been done to you and those similar to you. Only in all of this will you live, and be empowered to love.  

 

Do you remember the Amish community in 2006 that was ravaged by a man who came and shot 10 of their girls, killing 5 of them? Do you also recall that after that horrific, devastating – so senseless, so vicious – that they worked among themselves not only to care for their families who had suffered such great loss, but also for the family of the man who had murdered and shot their children and then himself? This so touched that man's wife, that she said not only had their actions comforted her, but had given the entire world hope!

 

Such action, dear people is the opposite of placing a stumbling block in front of others, preventing from seeing Jesus. Such forgiveness, such deep and profound love and concern fleshed out in the midst of their agonizing pain is living out the love of Jesus. The leaders of their community said, and I paraphrase – how can we consider ourselves Christians if we are not willing to forgive and love? HOW INDEED?

 

I would add – how can I, how can you, how could we ever carry out such love and forgiveness on our own, if it were 'our' children that were lined up and shot?

 

On our own this is impossible. We cannot do it. We cannot so love and live. But when our lives are no different as Christians from the lives of others in our culture, why would others wish to become Christians? How then might others "see" Jesus?

 

Dare we ask God through God's Spirit to direct us, to guide us, move us, to change our minds and hearts, so that we might actively follow Jesus in these kinds of ways?  But, be careful for what we ask. As the old proverb states, we might just receive what we ask for. This is especially true as we ask God for help, for direction, for strength to love and forgive others. 

 

God may open our eyes, minds and hearts to see ourselves in those places and times when we hurt others, when we consciously or unconsciously have placed stumbling blocks in other's paths, providing obstacles that may hinder them from seeing, knowing or trusting Jesus.

 

In some ways we know and experience that God in Jesus comes to us with love, right where we are – in our joy and our pain, in our hurt and healing, in our exultation and disappointment, in our wonder and the confusion.

 

Oh dear people, take heart – not because everything is OK, it isn't.

 

But take heart – because just like the earliest disciples we also often miss the mark. Like them we sometimes are preoccupied with drawing lines of "in" and "out", of not seeing or understanding what Jesus is all about – or even what He's calling us towards. 

 

Yet, we can take heart because Jesus doesn't give up on them. Even though they don't get it, even though they abandon him, especially at that crucial time – he doesn't give up on them. Instead, He dies for them. He is raised for them. Then he sends them out – to go and tell, to go and love. Our presence in this community is testimony to the reality that God does work through them, including Peter and John who often were obsessed with themselves. Wow!

 

So, think about this, reflect upon this, pray upon this: How is God working through you right now – in your family, in this congregation, at your work, in this world? How might God be working through you, through us, right now – in our families, in this congregation, at work, in this world?

 

See. Know. Ask. Give thanks!  

 

Is there someone we need to apologize to? Is there someone we could actually invite to worship or pray for regularly and intentionally? Do we actually care about what is going on in our communities beyond our own family and congregation? What might we do to hear and to help?

 

Dear children of God. We are blessed to know and experience the love of God in Jesus Christ – to know that he eliminates the lines that divide us and others, telling us or them that they or we are somehow outside of God's embrace in Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

 

Finally as we are blessed to live this way, there is the ongoing privilege and need for us to proclaim, experience and share these realities with each other and others. Sometimes this isn't easy, given the power of evil and death that lives within and around us. But know this God doesn't give up on us or others.

Widen our circles, for Christ's sake, and the sake of the world. Amen.  

             

 

Little and Big Thank You's

Pentecost 17b, Mark 9:30-37 (September 20, 2017)

One of the very first things that we attempt to teach children in our families and culture is to say, THANK YOU!

One of the most vivid memories of my younger childhood is having both my mother and my maternal grandmother encouraging me to say "thank you" loudly, clearly and joyfully to any individual or group who did anything for me, my family, my school or my congregation. Sometimes such encouragement took the form of exhortation like, 'Now after supper at your friend's house, Tim, don't forget to thank your friend's mom for the meal." At  other times the encouragement to say thanks would be passed in the form of a directed question. Upon receiving a gift as a small child my mother would give me her look and ask, "What do you say, Tim?"       

 

THANK YOU was the only possible response.

 

Maybe you can identify.

 

Being able to frequently say "thank you" has stuck with me for nearly 60 years.

 

Still, I catch myself sometimes not being very thankful. Can you identify?

 

I now commute from South Surrey. People race through the lanes marked by flashing yellow – while the rest of us wait within the lines of obedience but are bypassed. I have this angry mental monologue. "Is their time more important than my time?" To be sure this question has some validity. I may be on the way to the hospital or to make funeral arrangements or listen to someone who is suicidal. But in my anger and frustration with people who bully their way to the front of the line I miss out on so many other realities. Such as: what an amazing place this is – ocean, rivers, mountains, the sun setting, peeking out between the clouds, the moon rising. I also miss out on experiencing such blessings as how privileged I am to have my own car. While I lived in Turkey very few people had personal vehicles. We walked everywhere. Perhaps I was healthier then. Still, it's a gift to be able to drive your groceries home instead of carrying them under your arm. Then there are grocery stores. Wow! Fresh food, frozen food, vegetables and fruit, meat from all over the world. How lucky – no, HOW BLESSED WE ARE!

 

How can we express our heart-felt thank-you to those who tilled the field, to those who worked aching hours to plant, pick or harvest the fruit – to those who worked long hours to bring it to market?

 

And that's not even mentioning – the homes we live in, the hospitals and schools we have access to – and all of the people who make all of this possible, whom we don't see but whom we often take for granted – from teachers, to nurses, to cleaning people, to builders, to - well, the list goes on and on and on. THANK YOU. We can say thanks with our voices. But how we might say THANK YOU in other ways?  

 

The early disciples are just beginning to realize that Jesus is up to something – something big, something important! Hungry people are being fed. Sick people are being healed. The disciples observe this happening all around them. Somehow - Jesus is doing this. It's really good!

 

Even as this happening Jesus says other things that are beyond their understanding. "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again."

 

Why will this happen to this One who is doing so much good, who is so young? The disciples don't understand what he is saying. They are afraid to ask him. No kidding! Do we understand him? Can we ever get it, that we betrayed and betray Jesus, that we killed and kill him? How can we ever get "it" – that He does rise from the dead?

 

On so many levels this all feels . . . SO WRONG!

 

God in the flesh, betrayed and killed by people? Where is the good, the purpose of that?

 

Then, there is  this stuff about the third day and him being raised. It sounds . . . so good. We want it, we need it, to be true. But – let's be honest! We've been around the block. We are not Sunday School kids anymore. We have suffered our own trials, endured our own losses. We've been part of failed relationships. We've betrayed and we've been betrayed. We have watched loved ones become ill, even die. We know death. WE know death's power.

 

So, if God is God – and Jesus claims to be God, why would God allow God's self to suffer, to be brutally executed? Why, indeed?

 

Why would this god in the flesh, Jesus, allow himself to be so alone and in so much pain?

 

Sometimes being alone, being all on your own, is very difficult.  Or, as my adult kids would say, it sucks! And yet, this is part of the human experience – at times being alone on this journey.

 

The Son of man can identify. Not only that – but He suffers and dies to embody the ways He  welcomes  us – wherever we are, whatever we have or haven't done, regardless of how we think or feel about ourselves. He stretches out His arms to suffer and die on our behalf. That's what those words spoken every Sunday during the Eucharist are about, the body of Christ FOR YOU, the blood of Christ, FOR YOU! The body and blood of Christ are given up for ALL PEOPLE.

 

I can't and don't understand this. Yet, I often do glimpse THIS GRACIOUS MARVELOUS WELCOME.

 

This welcome may be what Jesus is trying to show us when he places a child in the midst of the disciples. Children at that time were among the most vulnerable persons alive. And yet, Jesus takes that one into his arms. Then he tells his early followers and us that we are to welcome all such ones. Indeed by doing so, we also welcome God, the Father, the Creator of the universe!

 

Through Jesus' life, death and resurrection we are welcomed by God despite what we have done or haven't done. There is absolutely nothing we could ever do to deserve such love and forgiveness, such new beginnings.

 

How shall we respond? How are we responding? How can we respond, here and now, this week?

 

Might we give THANKS? Thanks with our lips: thank you God! Thanks to others who show us in so many different ways God's welcome. Drop them a note. Call them up. Pass on our thanks with what God has entrusted to us - ourselves, our time and our possessions – to be shared and invested in others so that they too CAN KNOW THAT THEY ARE WELCOMED AND LOVED BY GOD.

 

As Jesus says when we do it to the least of these (by our standards) - we do it unto him.

 

Dear people - there are so many questions, we don't and can't have the answers to. Why do so many become ill? Why are so many poor, hungry, without safe water or access to health care or education? To be sure there are systemic reasons. But even beyond these, there are mysteries.

 

We are called to welcome, to help, the hurting, the vulnerable, the lost, the lonely, those who are told they do not belong.  God does such for us! And God calls us to go and welcome likewise!

 

Our lives can be little and big thank you's offered to the God who continues to create the universe, who suffers and dies with all who are suffering and dying but who also on the third day rises again. Because Jesus lives and welcomes we too can live and welcome. May we so live, for Christ's sake. Amen.

Denial And A Tsunami

16^th Sunday after Pentecost, September 13, 2015 (Cross Day) (Rally Sunday) Mark 8:27-38 with James 3:1-12 in b.g and Proverbs 1:20-33 also in b.g.

These days I catch myself thinking of many things my mother has told me over the course of my life. Some of these words were first spoken when I was very young. "Be careful son. Eat well – don't spoil your dinner. Dress warmly. Put your mitts on.  Be careful around strangers".

 

As I grew older, I received many other messages, not just from my mother but also from the society as a whole. Take care of yourself. Get a good education. Make sound financial decisions. Always pay your bills. Buy a house. Save for your kid's education. Exercise regularly. 

 

More recently as I am being moved into the 6^th and 7^th decades of my life I have heard and  occasionally internalize these messages, "Be leery. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE -for retirement. You can never tell if you will have enough... 

 

Some of these "messages" seem to make sense. However, did you notice that they are all, focused on "us" –  on me, myself and I? As Luther would say, this is navel gazing. Such navel gazing leads to enormous amounts of anxiety personally and collectively. The resulting battles for a piece of the supposedly limited "pie" results in very few winners, and many, many losers.

 

When we are trapped by such navel gazing fear we are not able to see others either literally or figuratively. We are too fixated upon ourselves. As we are entrapped by such navel gazing we certainly don't see God. We are too busy looking at ourselves, and consequently afraid for our survival.  

 

This self obsession results in a blindness to beauty, to wonder; to need; to untold opportunities to care for and about others. Focused primarily on ourselves things often look bleak, dark, even hopeless. The spectrum of wonder, of hope, of mystery that God wills to impart is lost to us.

 

But Jesus interrupts all of these me-first, the poor me and the great me mentalities. Jesus interrupts our self obsession at the intersections of our living. For his earliest disciples such an interruption came at a place called Caesarea Philippi – where the Roman world of culture, sophistication, financial and military power clearly intersected and frequently overwhelmed their lives.

 

For ourselves, Jesus' interruption may come at church. Or, Jesus may question us at home, at work, in the meat and potatoes of our relationships with neighbors, friends, colleagues, and our own families.

 

Jesus asks the first disciples a question. He may also ask us that same question, "Who do people say that I am?"  I wonder about that. Are many others even saying anything about Jesus?

 

Some Christians are saying things about Jesus. Some say: "Jesus is Lord!" Now that may mean different things to different people. He blesses our way of life in contrast to others. Following this line of reasons some say, "see how blessed  our country, Canada or the US are, as opposed to others." Others claim that Jesus is the only way we can see God. They may proceed to say that because Jesus is my Lord I know what's right and everyone else or everyone who disagrees with me is wrong. 

 

For some Jesus being their Lord and Saviour primarily means that they are going to be eternally rewarded while everyone else who doesn't see or "believe" in Jesus in this same way as Lord is going to be eternally punished.

 

For others, who may or may not consider themselves to be Christians, Jesus may be viewed as either 'the' or 'a' great example. In making such a statement I think they mean that Jesus was a kind, somewhat socially concerned person. They may mean that Jesus did what was "right".  But is that what the Bible in its totality says about Jesus?

 

Finally, for many others, Jesus is viewed as a great teacher – in the line of other great teachers such as Socrates, Plato, maybe Gandhi, Confucius, or – well, you fill in the blank.

 

I could go on and on. There are many others who don't give a rip about Jesus or his supposed "followers". These people view Jesus as irrelevant to this contemporary globalized society – where economies rise and fall and many nations seem to be fading into the sunset while new corporate entities are on the rise both in terms of power and influence. To such people Jesus' followers are simple at best, completely and hopelessly out of touch at worst.  

 

To be sure, different people are saying or not saying different things about Jesus.

 

But then Jesus asks those early disciples – who do you say that I am?

 

Ah yes, who do we say that He is?

 

We have had a lot of words, thrown at us, given to us about Jesus. Words like, "Son of Man, Son of God, Saviour, Good Shepherd, Bread of Life, my Lord and my God". They are words, often important words. But their meaning is revealed in the ways those who take those words onto and into themselves respond to God in their living.

So, who do we say that Jesus is?

 

Be careful. Your response in word and deed really matters...

 

So, listen to Jesus. He says, "If any want to become my followers let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me".

 

Might we hear him? Are we listening? These words have been spoken to us before.

 

If we wish to actually follow Jesus we are called to deny ourselves. I don't think that this means something so simple (even though simple may still be difficult for us to accomplish) as giving up a favorite candy or treat for a while, or even for the rest of our lives. Nor does denying ourselves simply mean to give sacrificially so that we feel better. Rather, there is a literal truth here – an act that Jesus calls for, that we cannot manage on our own. Deny ourselves. Take up our crosses.

 

Deny has the sense of letting go of ourselves, of being opened to not being the center of the universe ourselves, of not trying first and foremost to be careful, guarded or leery. Instead to deny ourselves may be to ask God to show us, to be opened to what God is calling us to do and be, personally and collectively. Jesus is the One who goes before us in caring for others, listening to them, always, always realizing that God loves all people and this world.

 

In this sense we are to deny ourselves in order to be particularly attentive to those most in need. We can give them our attention – a listening ear, a caring heart. We can help them with their daily needs!

 

As we do so, we may well enter into a struggle with ourselves, our privilege, our taking so much for granted. As we do so, we may come into conflict with others who have been trained to say and live as if they and many others are entitled to so much, while others have so little.

 

But  this is not the way of Jesus, the One who goes to the cross, that place where society and the powers that be who say they are just trying to do the right thing, the practical thing, the logical thing – reject and kill him. Is it not better that one person die, say the authorities, than that the whole society (including ourselves) suffer at the hands of the Romans, the powers that be? . . .

 

So it is, Jesus calls any who would follow him to deny themselves and take up their crosses. He fleshes out what he means by saying this amazing thing – "For he/she who loses their life for my sake will find it."

 

It's like- well I'm not sure what it's like. Maybe in its depth it's so unlike anything else we have known or can remember.  Maybe it's like being in the darkness and safety of our mother's womb and thinking, feeling – how good it is to be here – convinced that's all there is. After all, it's all we have ever known. But then, those living waters start to roar and rumble. Great forces, almost like a tsunami, begin to push us down this very crowded and difficult pathway. Then suddenly after a long or short journey we are ushered into light, into cold, into new possibilities, into an entirely new world of people, things and God. We are frightened. The old is passing away. The new is coming!

 

Will we deny ourselves and take up our crosses? Oh God, help us, push us down or up that birth canal – for everyone's sake. Amen.

CRUMBS - MORE THAN ENOUGH!

Pentecost 15b15, September 6, 2015, Labour Day (Mark 7:24-37)

Desperate people are often compelled to action.

 

Have you ever been desperate?

 

Like having your child being born in the back seat of your car, miles from any hospital or any kind of medical help?

 

Like losing your job with no prospects in sight and wondering how you and those who depend on you might survive?

Like having the doctor tell you that you have cancer and that there are some possible treatments – but there are no guarantees – and that you should be prepared?

 

Like people fleeing a nation caught in war – realizing that almost any place other than their own country offers more hope for them and their children?

 

Have you ever been desperate?

 

The woman in today's Gospel is desperate. Her daughter has, so Mark tells us, an "unclean spirit". It sounds like that has very little to do with us. Most of us may think or feel that we are far too sophisticated to accept an antiquated world view of "demons".

 

But know this. A "demon" then could refer to many different things:  from an illness such as epilepsy or Tourette's Syndrome, to a skin condition or a congenital defect that caused a person to look or behave in ways that were different from the majority. Any of these could have serious ramifications.

 

The general population would regard people with such maladies, with such supposed "demons" as seriously ill and therefore 'different'. Such "seriously different" persons would then be forced to keep their distance from everyone else, the so-called normal people.  Such "seriously different" people would even be separated from their own families.   

 

So, when Mark tells us that this woman's daughter has a demon, we are being introduced to a girl is being cut off from her society. Depending upon the malady very physical life may be at risk. This mother desperately wants her daughter to be well, to be restored to wholeness personally, to be restored to larger society. I suspect that this mother may well have already pursued other avenues for her daughter to be made well - without success. This mother realizes that she needs help from beyond herself. She is desperate!

 

But this mother refuses to just feel sorry for herself or her daughter. She doesn't curl up in the corner to throw her own pity party. No!

 

Instead, she acts. Nor are her actions hindered by the limitations her society seeks to place upon her: those of a Gentile woman – limitations which may have even influenced her own self perception. The significant paralyzing power of such limitations are overcome by the mother's love for her daughter.

 

Her society told her that "Gentile women aren't to approach Jewish men".  But when this mother hears that Jesus is coming into her locale, this one whose healing reputation precedes him,  nothing can stop her from approaching him. In her desperate love for her daughter's well being, she places herself right at Jesus' feet. She begs him to help her daughter.

 

Surely Jesus will help her!

 

But . . .  he doesn't.

 

Not only that, he throws a racial slur at her, calling her and even her sick daughter, "dogs" - or even something worse than that.

 

I am blown away – not in a good way but in an offended way. Jesus says this? Jesus does this? Jesus – fully God, but here - also fully human. We see Jesus in his full humanity – in Mark's Gospel influenced by the societal views he grew up with. "Gentiles"!?

 

Yet, this mother is not deterred by Jesus' words. She is desperate – desperate for her daughter's well being. Perhaps she buys into Jesus' view of herself and her people as "dogs". Nevertheless, she has faith. Hers is faith in the sense of trust and hope that someone, even this Jesus can and will help her daughter.

 

 So, she responds to Jesus' racial slur in this way, (I paraphrase)  "Jesus, I and my daughter may be dogs – but even the dogs get to eat the crumbs under the children's table". . .

 

Miraculously, now it is Jesus who is being changed. His mind is being opened by the faith of this woman, to the wideness of the kingdom of God that Jesus himself is about to usher in. Now, she is no longer a "dog". Now he sees and proclaims her as she is, a woman of faith. He replies, "For saying that , you may go – the demon has left your daughter." We hear that the daughter is at home in bed with the demon – vanished.

 

So it was. So it can be. The kingdom, this "rule" of God's mercy and love – resulting in new life for people and often creation is not just for the children of Israel – but for Syro-Phoenicians, even for you and me! This kingdom is open to and intended for all.

 

So I ask. Do you realize that there are demons around and within?

 

Powerful realities, both real and imagined, separate people – keep people from seeing, knowing and caring for each other. Powerful realities, within and without, real and imagined,  keep us from having our eyes, minds and hearts fully opened to each other and to God.

 

Don't we see images of people's bodies, even a child's body floating up onto beaches because they have no place to go –no place that will welcome them? Yet if they were to remain where they were, certain death will follow, or even atrocities will be done to them that are worse than death. To be sure, we are horrified even by such "sights". But we are also afraid.  Afraid to open our lives, "our" country in order to help them. Don't we see - to not help them is to be enslaved ourselves – to be controlled by fear instead of the love of God?

 

Sometimes it is those who are most desperate who open our eyes and minds to the truth of the power of the love and mercy of God.  

 

An essential part of this reality is that desperate people are not afraid to speak the truth particularly to power. Such speaking is not without risk. Such speaking is not easy.  But desperation and hope drive people to speak the truth anyway.

 

The Syro-Phoenician mother points us to an amazing and wonderful truth that transcends most of our mental capacity. Even the crumbs of God's love and mercy are more than enough – enough to bring new life to a young girl who has a demon and is therefore being shut out by others. The crumbs of God's love and mercy are more than enough to bring new life, new understandings, actions of mercy and justice to this world so desperately in need of all of that. The crumbs of God's love and mercy are more than enough to free us from the limitations of our own fear.

 

 The crumbs of God's love and mercy in this suffering, dying and rising Jesus are  enough to change our closed, made up minds, even our too frequently hardened hearts. We can imagine and live into new possibilities. We can be freed to love - God, others and ourselves.

 

May God help us to hear those who are desperate, to hear ourselves in our desperation.

 

The crumbs of God's love and mercy are more than enough. WE can know, experience and generously live off these crumbs – for Christ's sake and the sake of the w

Big Hearts?

Sermon, Pentecost 14b, Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (with James 1:17-27) in the b.g.

Text underlying MT – If you continue in my word, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (Jesus speaking) John 8:32

Sometimes people say, "You have a big heart". They usually mean that we have done something good, something wonderful. Perhaps we have given of our times or talents to help someone else: like entering the Terry Fox run, or undertaking a ride for the cure to combat cancer or some other life–taking illness. Or it may be something like giving of our time to visit a sick friend or family member – or baking something delicious or preparing a meal for friends, neighbors or loved ones who have suffered a significant loss – such as the loss of a job or a relationship, or a loved one – a father, mother, child, spouse. Having a big heart might mean listening for short or longer periods of time to someone else who is in great pain, or undergoing huge struggles. Such listening is undertaken in order to actually hear, to understand, to empathize. Any of these behaviours could testify to the reality that "You have a big heart".

 

Such realities are true, wonderful and good. Out of our hearts can come good things. I have seen this time and again - from and among you.

 

In these ways it is good to have big hearts. Thanks be to God.

 

The writer of James underlines these important realities when "he" says that every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, that is from God. Thanks be to God for those good things which come out of our hearts when many are blessed!  . . .

 

But -  there are also other realities that reside in our "hearts" – and sometimes flow out of them, even erupt from them. . .

           

A young white Lutheran man, finds his way into a CharlestonChurch . A few black people are gathering there that night – for prayer and Bible study. Although they have never met this man before, they welcome him with open arms. As they pray and study they bare their souls. He is there with them, saying very little. But, then after a while, he stands up, brandishes a gun and yells THAT HE JUST HASTO DO THIS. He proceeds to shoot and kill a number of those people who just moments before had been praying and studying, welcoming him, no questions asked. The resulting devastation and heart break continues to be felt not just in that city of Charleston or even only in the United States, but around the world. Hatred, fear, anger had taken up residency in and control of that young man's heart. Eventually his heart's walls burst. The resulting explosion kills and damages others and himself. . .  

 

Yet, here we are – a fair distance from Charleston in some ways, but in other ways not very far.  If we look into our own hearts, what resides there? Can we, dare we be honest – honest with ourselves, and honest with God about ourselves? . . .

 

To see what's in our hearts, it's necessary to examine how we relate to others – each individual we meet, work with, live with and also those we rub shoulders with, pass by on the street walking or driving. The interactions we have or don't have with those people mirror at the very least, some of what's going on in our hearts.

 

To undertake such an examination requires listening – listening to our thoughts, our feelings – watching our body language – even monitoring in a figurative way our blood pressure, the tone of our voice, the level of our voices.

 

As with God's help we undertake this we may be surprised.

 

At times I have caught myself uttering words that are racist – unexamined thoughts  when my yard has weeds growing over it, or my car is covered in mud, or someone is drunk and falling down. I grew up in a place where racism against first nations people was rampant. As a Christian I have tried and at times fancied myself as someone who isn't racist – but then these things I say come out – and the truth is out of the bag or more accurately out of my heart. Can you identify in any way?

 

Is this having a big heart?

 

At other times I have found myself avoiding others. I am not proud of this. Sometimes these are people who are asking for money outside of Rogers Arena or the local drug store at Sea Fair. Why do I do such things? Do I not have the time? Am I afraid? Do I think they are not worthwhile, not also one of God's children? Am I too busy to say hello, to ask how they are, to take 5 or 10 minutes and hear their story? What does this say about my heart? Once again, might you identify? Is this also part of my or our big hearts?

 

In today's Gospel, shortly after Jesus has fed 5000 people, walked on water and calmed the sea, many people are coming to him for healing. Then some deeply religious people approach him. They notice some things that his followers are not doing that bother them. These things bother them, because they believe that these are things that people should or even must do.

 

In responding to their genuine concern Jesus leads them to the heart of the matter. He speaks both to them and to us: "For it is from within, form the human heart, that evil intentions comes: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, the desire for more and more money, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly."

 

Jesus doesn't pull punches. It is from within the human heart – from inside of us that evil intentions come – intentions that have the power to hurt and destroy others and ourselves. These are intentions like wanting more and more and more – forgetting that our identity doesn't come from what we have – but from our relationship with God and others. Intentions such as thinking that if we were just somewhere else, with someone else, everything would be better. Intentions such as saying something that puts someone else down – not even realizing we were going to say until we said it – and then wondering why on earth we said that. Intentions like looking for some way to rationalize what we did that hurt others really isn't our fault but somehow some way is someone else's fault.

 

These intentions resulting in hurt and ongoing damage are so insidious that they are like dandelions. They keep popping up, rain or no rain, in the midst of our many blessings and in the midst of difficult times. They are deep seated. They are part of our DNA, embedded in our heart.

 

Jesus is correct when he tells those genuinely religious people who were seeking to know and do God's will – that the most important things are not that we observe the religious traditions but what actually is going on inside of us.

 

This is where we need help from beyond ourselves. We all fall short of God's good and gracious intention that we love each other and God with all our hearts, minds and strength. On our own we can't do it. This is our truth but it is spoken in love. God becomes human to show us God's heart. God has the innate ability to love us and even transform us, sometimes suddenly and in big chunks, often more gradually.

 

This is why we can speak the truth, as ugly, as inconvenient, as discomfitting as it is sometimes. We are already loved. As another Lutheran Pastor, Richard Goeres, recently said,  " All of creation is sustained by the cruciform engine of God's love".  We do have big hearts. But they are a mixed bag. 

           

But God's heart is not a mixed bag. God's heart keeps on loving us. God's heart gives up God's own Son so that we might be freed – freed to love as we are loved, freed to work at forgiving as we are being forgiven – freed to hope despite past failures. We need to be freed again and again and again in the midst of all our truth.

 

Such is the truth and the heart of the matter as we actually honestly see ourselves. Because of God's grace in Jesus we are able to boldly ask, "Lord have mercy", while almost simultaneously offering praise, "Thanks be to God!" Amen.