Sermon - 2018-09-09
As school has started, we have also returned back to the time of year in which people will be getting sick. Now when you are sick, many of us want one person, MOM. Mom is the one who brings comfort and relief when we feel achey and just plain sick. Mom is the one who makes us feel better, even with just her touch. But who does mom turn to when she does not know what to do? Typically people will turn to doctors, but when the doctors do not have an answer when you have done all the tests and you wonder: “How is my child going to get better?” Parents often will say and mean that “they would gladly take the illness so that their child could feel better.”
Today we hear of a woman who has gone to all the doctors, all the priests and no one is able to help her child. In desperation, she is willing to do anything to save her daughter. When she hears of Jesus coming to the area and the miracles are performed for those who asked. She is willing to do anything in order to get his attention and beg for the life of her daughter.
Yet first, we need to understand something about this woman. She is a Syrophoenician woman. She is a woman who lives in the region of Sidon and Tyre. Well, that makes sense since that is where Jesus is traveling. So she is a local woman. However being a local woman and living in the port city means that she was not Jewish. She was not born into the Chosen People of God. She worshipped other gods and did not live a life that reflects the True God and whom Jesus was there to share with the world.
Now often when we think of Jesus, we think of love, grace, and mercy but look at the words that Jesus uses to describe her. He calls her a dog, one that is begging for food and taking attention away from the ones whom he feels he should be paying attention to. Jesus, the Messiah, tells the woman that she is not worthy of his time and energy and to leave because he is there for people who matter, and she does not fit the criteria.
Now mothers are willing to do a lot for their children and even willing to fight. But instead, this woman takes the insult that Jesus hurls at her and accepts it but uses it so that he understands what message would be sent if the Messiah even shares grace and mercy to someone like her. Yes just as many of us have a clear line or box of who we know of who will be saved because we love them. We have anger or despise for those who are outside of that line and outside of that box. The woman takes on the anger and despisement of the separation that is between the Jewish people and Syrophoenician people for the sake of her daughter and begs him to see that she is a person, in need of that love, grace, and mercy that Jesus is bringing to the Jewish people as well.
Now fast forward some two thousand years later to today. You would hope that we as a people have learned and grown from these examples and lessons that have been taught. However, we have certain phrases that have echoes throughout generations that continue this division. We have phrases like: “those people” “us vs. them” When we hear or say those words, we are lifting up the separation and divisions that are present. We are building the boundaries that separate us but dehumanizing the person on the other side.
However, when we see and hear and talk to someone from the other side of that division, we discover just how much more we are alike. That they get sick just as we do. That when they bleed, they bleed the same red blood that we do. And when our eyes are opened, we realize that God who gave life unto the world also gave life to you and to that person.
In Christianity, the bonds of where you are born should no longer matter. For it does not matter if you are Jew or Greek, white, black, brown, or suffering from an illness or in good health. It does not matter what nation you belong to: born in the United States, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, India, Russia or any of the other nations that we have created. What truly matters is do we know the love of God and are we working together to live in that love. For the waters of Baptism, have washed away the boundaries of this world so that we can look upon one another as brother and sister. As someone who is in need of God’s love, just as I and you are in need of God’s love. Amen.
Today we hear of a woman who has gone to all the doctors, all the priests and no one is able to help her child. In desperation, she is willing to do anything to save her daughter. When she hears of Jesus coming to the area and the miracles are performed for those who asked. She is willing to do anything in order to get his attention and beg for the life of her daughter.
Yet first, we need to understand something about this woman. She is a Syrophoenician woman. She is a woman who lives in the region of Sidon and Tyre. Well, that makes sense since that is where Jesus is traveling. So she is a local woman. However being a local woman and living in the port city means that she was not Jewish. She was not born into the Chosen People of God. She worshipped other gods and did not live a life that reflects the True God and whom Jesus was there to share with the world.
Now often when we think of Jesus, we think of love, grace, and mercy but look at the words that Jesus uses to describe her. He calls her a dog, one that is begging for food and taking attention away from the ones whom he feels he should be paying attention to. Jesus, the Messiah, tells the woman that she is not worthy of his time and energy and to leave because he is there for people who matter, and she does not fit the criteria.
Now mothers are willing to do a lot for their children and even willing to fight. But instead, this woman takes the insult that Jesus hurls at her and accepts it but uses it so that he understands what message would be sent if the Messiah even shares grace and mercy to someone like her. Yes just as many of us have a clear line or box of who we know of who will be saved because we love them. We have anger or despise for those who are outside of that line and outside of that box. The woman takes on the anger and despisement of the separation that is between the Jewish people and Syrophoenician people for the sake of her daughter and begs him to see that she is a person, in need of that love, grace, and mercy that Jesus is bringing to the Jewish people as well.
Now fast forward some two thousand years later to today. You would hope that we as a people have learned and grown from these examples and lessons that have been taught. However, we have certain phrases that have echoes throughout generations that continue this division. We have phrases like: “those people” “us vs. them” When we hear or say those words, we are lifting up the separation and divisions that are present. We are building the boundaries that separate us but dehumanizing the person on the other side.
However, when we see and hear and talk to someone from the other side of that division, we discover just how much more we are alike. That they get sick just as we do. That when they bleed, they bleed the same red blood that we do. And when our eyes are opened, we realize that God who gave life unto the world also gave life to you and to that person.
In Christianity, the bonds of where you are born should no longer matter. For it does not matter if you are Jew or Greek, white, black, brown, or suffering from an illness or in good health. It does not matter what nation you belong to: born in the United States, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, India, Russia or any of the other nations that we have created. What truly matters is do we know the love of God and are we working together to live in that love. For the waters of Baptism, have washed away the boundaries of this world so that we can look upon one another as brother and sister. As someone who is in need of God’s love, just as I and you are in need of God’s love. Amen.
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