Sisters and Brothers in Christ – Don’t you dare let Jesus
off the hook! I don’t care if you’ve
been part of a Christian community for a long, long time, or this is your first
time today! Don’t you dare let Jesus off
the hook.
This Syrophoenecian woman didn’t let him off the hook…and it
was her first encounter (so it’s never to early to say, “Hey, Jesus can’t get
away with that!”) Ask for what you want
from God – make sure it’s the right thing to ask – and don’t let Jesus off the
hook, casting you off like a dog. Don’t
imagine yourself unworthy of Christ’s eyes, ears and hands.
Did you hear that in the Gospel? Jesus called that woman asking for help a
dog! That’s bad now—sounds kind of like
“bum”—but in that period in time, you have to understand, it was a racial
slur. Syrophoenecia was the area up
north over by the Mediterranean sea, modern day Lebanon, only the difference of
about 100-150 miles. So just stretch it,
and think of L.A. Some stinky
woman from L.A., who never went to church and cheers for the Dodgers. Can you believe she’s got the nerve to ask our
dear Jesus for a hand out? And Jesus
calls her a dog.
How do you deal with this? …Jesus making cruel, racial
slurs. Does that mean it’s ok for us to
make cruel, racial slurs? Biblical
scholars have tried to soften this through the years (they used to say he was
testing her, or he was just kidding) – but bible scholars now are realizing now
that they can’t get around this terrible fact – that Jesus calls a woman
something that would have made his mamma slap his mouth and say, “I did not
raise my boy to talk that way!”
And she knew it – the Syrophoenecian woman, she was a mama
herself – she knew that it was not an appropriate thing to say, and so she spoke
up; she talked back to Jesus and said:
“Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master’s
table.”
She didn’t let him off the hook. And it was as if something snapped in Christ
and he turned to her – and instead of chastising her (imagine if you were in a
position of power over someone and they talked back to you) -- instead of punishing her for her lack of
respect – Jesus says, “For saying that, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
What a story. What do
we learn from it? What do we learn of
God from it?
Don’t let Jesus off the hook. Ask for what you want—make sure it’s the
right thing. And then keep coming back. He can take it. He can take your anger and your backtalk and
your assertiveness, and he might even admire it.
It’s not always pretty, but in the end, Christ always
responds, sisters and brothers in Christ.
It’s not always pretty, but in the end God gathers us in, heals our
hurts and our pains and our sins, and then—having been forgiven and transformed—we
are sent back out…to go and do likewise.
To go and heal the hurts and pains of our neighbor, to forgive and love,
and forgive and love, and forgive and love…and serve.
The pesky book of James today holds our feet to the fire and
says, “When someone comes into your assembly who’s obviously down and out,
poor, maybe smelly. And you say sit way
over there, you dog. Versus when someone
who drives a fancy car, wears nice jewelry and designer brands, cool hair, and
nice pocketbook, you say, ‘C’mon in.
Please sit here in this nice cushioned seat. Could I get you some coffee.”
James – last week I envisioned him as that pesky Lorax, one
of Dr. Seuss’ great characters – James full on questions that person’s BELIEF
IN GOD! When our words and our actions,
our faith and our works, don’t line up, James might just dismiss us—like many
young people know who critique the church – and say, “Well, they must not
really believe in God. Look at how they
treat the poor: They don’t treat the poor.”
Ugh, that pesky Lorax James – would have certainly held Jesus’ feet to
the fire, upon hearing how Jesus himself first treated that annoying woman from
South Central L.A.
Sisters and brothers in Christ – these are challenging texts
today. Here’s the Good News: First, that
we get to hold Jesus feet to the fire.
Put the pressure on him. Ask him
for what you want for yourself, for this country, for this planet. Demand justice. Cry out for peace. “Smart off” to him for fair treatment of
everyone regardless of gender or nation of origin or religious persuasion or
our other hot-button modern day dividers – sexual orientation and class. Make sure it’s the right thing.
Shouldn’t everyone get the same…mercy, love, forgiveness,
healing care, grace, treatment from God?
The Syrophoenecian woman sure thought so. And she demanded it from Christ. And Christ came through in the end.
Christ comes though with you today, sisters and
brothers. The road might have been
rocky up to this point, but God is here.
Reaching out to you, promising you the same things that the
Syrophoencian Los Angelian woman demanded.
God reaches out to you with a hand of healing. Forgives you this day, and asks that we now
go and forgive and serve others…with the kind of passion and commitment that we
have seen in the Scriptures.
You know the other thing we see in the scriptures? Imperfect people, mouthy people, racist
people, selfish people. We see broken
people in the Bible, and this is good news because it means that God can take
even us and turn us into forgiven and blessed healers and tellers of God’s
enduring love.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God and
anyone who loves is born of God. You are
born of God – a child of God: forgiven, healed, joyful – and now free to go and
tell the Good News to everyone you meet.
May it be so, this day and all days. AMEN.
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