Can You See Now?

Sermon based upon 1 Corinthians 2:1-13

In a very astute observation Mary Hinkle Shore compares today’s reading from the letter of Paul to the Corinthians to an eye exam. Really, she likens all of what Paul does after his conversation to getting one’s eyes checked. She notes that when one goes to read the eye chart everything can become clearer or more blurry simply by the type of glass that is placed in front of one’s eyes. For Paul the glass that makes all things clear is Christ Crucified. I believe this is the event that shapes how we see the world too!

A few years back I had a conversation with a good friend. Even though we hold seemingly opposing views of God, he and I have the ability to share in intense conversations with neither of us getting offended. On that particular day he told me that he thought Christians today do not strictly live as followers of Jesus. Moreover, people who believe in Jesus also hold onto several other guiding principles. He stated thinking America is the only superpower, ascribing to one political party’s agenda, or even belonging to some group like the Masons could easily play a dominant role in living out one’s life. Looking at me he said, “You cannot possibly think that you identify primarily as a Christian.” It was a bold accusation!

How do I make sense of the world? What can I possibly say in the face of such a violent and tumultuous world? Where do I get my sense of direction in the hurricanes that blow through this life?

Paul, writing to a divided group of self-indulgent people in Corinth, made a way clear that illuminates a different path than the one obvious in his day. The worldly powers did not understand what Jesus came to do. They believed that he was dangerous. They thought he was misguided. They could see that if his message caught hold their power could slip away. Paul when he was Saul was very much a part of that group. He was a persecutor of those who followed Jesus. And yet, when he was blinded by God his vision became ever clearer not through a series of different glass lenses, but rather through the mystery of Christ Crucified.

Paul writes, “’What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’-- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” In our world we can believe a lot of different things. We can so easily get swept up in other belief systems, but Jesus calls us to go with him into and through the mystery of the Cross.

I sometimes try to explain this mystery away, but this is not just a competing belief system, this is how I am to live my life. I believe we are called to follow Jesus by practicing resurrection with God wherever we are and wherever we go. To practice resurrection means that we lay down those things that are dying in our lives. We bury those things that no longer give us life and energy and vitality. In the tomb with Christ those things cease to exist in the way that we once knew them. These deaths are not easy, but require suffering and pain and grieving.

Somehow though the vision that Paul had is something that can allow us to see beyond the foolishness of this world and truly see what God calls us to see. Namely, we can perceive that the things that were being laid down are now being raised up. The valleys are being lifted up. The high places are being made low. And the way of God is being paved, not by some powers of this world, but by the mystery of Christ Crucified.

End Racism Sunday: Be Opened

On End Racism Sunday how do we confront a "racist" Jesus?

This sermon takes into account End Racism Sunday and is inspired by Mark 7:24-37.

Sermon audio may be found here.

We love dogs don’t we? We pamper them, walk them, and bathe them. We pay for their nails to get trimmed. We send them to spas, we buy them cute outfits, and even put them on extravagant diets. I’ve heard it said that if an alien looked down upon our part of the world, it would believe that dogs are the ruling species by how well we typically treat them. While we love dogs so much, to be called a dog does not often carry the same good feelings as the ones we get when we see our furry little friends.

To be clear dog idioms are a mixed bag. “You’re my dog,” “You sly dog you,” and “top dog” certainly stand out as complementary expressions. On the other hand though there is “sick as a dog,” “hair of the dog,” “calling off the dogs,” “shouldn’t happen to a dog,” “can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” and just for good measure, “thrown to the wolves.” Taken a step further no woman wants to be referred to as the female side of the canine species, and if you’re a man you don’t want to be called an SOB.

In Jesus’ day there were also doggy terms, like in today’s gospel story. When this Syrophoenician woman humbly approaches Jesus, his response comes across with a lot of emotional static. That is, we have a hard time hearing Jesus calling her a dog without cringing. Is Jesus being playful? Did some later anti-Gentile Christians put this into Mark’s story? Wasn’t Jesus all about being inclusive? These are just a few questions worth raising when we hear Jesus’ response to a panicked mother seeking her daughter’s healing.

The phrase that Jesus used was diminutive, meaning he did not call her a big mean dog. And yet, this phrase does not come across as “cute little puppy,” but rather something like, “that little b____.” (Micah D. Kiel, "Commentary on Mark 7:24-37" www.workingpreacher.org). There is however, something more problematic for us than Jesus calling this emotional fraught woman a dirty word behind closed doors.

This Syrophoenician woman was someone from outside Jesus’ own group. She was not a Jew like Jesus. The words he spoke can at best be seen as offensive and at worst can be read as racist. How we hear, interpret, and respond to this is all the more complicated by the fact that today is a Sunday set aside by our friends in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and adopted by our Church leadership to confront racial prejudice. This is a day being called End Racism Sunday. Yet, how do we do this when we hear Jesus saying about another group of people, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”?

It can be easy for us to retroactively defend Jesus by pointing to the almost universal tendency to stick with one’s own tribe. Still his words cut through this not so sturdy defense. More helpful in understanding what Jesus said is our heartfelt belief that he came to be a light for all people. The one we, as Gentiles, call our Savior was a Jewish man who came to expand the Chosen People of God from a select group of the Abrahamic Covenant to all those for whom Christ’s blood was shed. Even through our Faith in Christ the words he spoke to this Gentile woman nag at us. We cannot hide from the offensiveness of what Jesus said, especially today we must confront these words and learn from Jesus’ interaction with someone completely different from him.

In this story Jesus was in a foreign land. Traveling from work done in the overwhelmingly Jewish area of Galilee to Tyre, a place that was practically pagan. He was attempting to find a quiet place, but was immediately interrupted by one who should not even know who Jesus was. We can, I believe, all relate to the annoying feeling of someone pestering us when all we want is to have a moment alone. Despite the interruption Jesus listened. We do not know what she said, but we know she knelt before him and begged for her daughter’s healing. The humility did not strike Jesus, in fact, he became annoyed with her, comparing her people to dogs. What transformed this interaction was her boldness.

She did not get offended, melt into tears, or walk away when called a dog. The woman took the hurtful words, accepted them, and spoke something that demanded Jesus’ attention: even the dogs eat at God’s table. God’s overabundance goes beyond the Chosen People to all people, even the ones considered dogs. Jesus healed the woman’s daughter, as he heard the audacity of this brave one.
If we are to live as God intends us to live, we cannot speak from places of racial discrimination (not behind closed doors, not in jokes, not anywhere), but we must follow Jesus’ lead. Not in what he said, but in what he did. Jesus had a conversation with someone outside his own group. When he put his foot in his mouth, he was called out on it, and he did not deny his words. Furthermore, he sought healing in this relationship and with future generations of this family. What is more he went on to heal another person, which informs us more about this first miracle.

A man who could not speak or could not hear was brought to Jesus. Jesus did not only seek healing for this man, but I believe he also sought healing for himself. Jesus’ own ears and mouth, his heart and mind were opened by the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus connected back to the confrontation with her, as he took the deaf man aside, sighed, and said, “Ephphatha!” that is “Be opened!”
Be opened! That is what Jesus said to this man and to himself, and it’s what he models for us. Be opened! Open to those who are different than you. Be open to what they say. Be open to their reality being different because of the color of their skin. Be open to the possibility that you have been deaf and dumb. Be open when you say something offensive, so that you can own it, learn from it, and seek healing.

Today we intend to End Racism, but to do so we must recognize our own role in it. In a moment we will confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness, and in the light of reconciliation Jesus shows us a path to walk: All of us are God’s chosen people not by what we do, but by God’s love for us; as God’s children we are called to speak with those who look different, listen to them, when we speak hurtfully we must seek healing and reconciliation; do not be deaf and dumb, but be opened. Ephphatha, that is be opened!

The Martyrs of New Guinea and the Call to Lay Down Our Lives for Christ

Last Fall I went up to Sewanee to visit one of my best friends. He was in town from Boston so that he could see his family and a few friends. There was a big dinner party that night, and even without my collar on conversation around me quickly turned to religious matters, spiritual questions, and social justice issues. Most of the time I love discussing all of these matters, but as one who spends much of my business hours conversing on such issues, I was hoping to talk about playoff baseball, autumn leaves, or reminisce of days as a student there. I had no such luck.

One party-goer, a long-time Episcopalian and life-long Christian said she had been going to the Rite I service that her church in Sewanee had recently been offering. With a look of disgust she said to me, “What’s with all the blood? I mean is it necessary that we talk about Jesus’ blood all the time?” Half a drink this very compassionate follower of Jesus confided that she was struggling with the importance of Jesus’ death. Why did Jesus have to die? And on a day when we remember the Martyrs of New Guinea why do others have to die or why do they choose to die so that they can follow Jesus?

Many times in seminary we talked about various theories about why it was that Jesus died. We who are sinful were being ransomed from the debt that we owed to God. This was one theory for which I did not particularly care. God does not love what God created? How could this be when we know God made all things good and gave grace even when removing Adam and Eve from Eden? Another theory says that the Devil has our sinful souls in his grip and Jesus came to free us from that torturous fate. While I certainly believe there are forces of evil at work in this world, and ones beyond our control or comprehension, I am uncertain of the validity of this claim. So why did Jesus have to die? Why was his blood shed? How come others choose to succumb to a violent end themselves?

Throughout the history of Creation God has poured out his love upon Creation. We begin Eucharistic Prayer A by saying “Holy and Gracious Father in your infinite love you made us for yourself.” God made us because of the overabundance of the love shared between and among Father, Son, and Spirit. That love overran (intentionally) the persons of the Trinity and blossomed into Creation! When we as humans have tried to stray God has been present every step of the way ushering us back into that love from which we began. Although we continued to rebel and seek our own way adopting the same sin as our first parents, God was there every step of the way eventually going so far as to send the clearest example of that love. Fully divine, fully human Jesus chose to love us by the way that he lived, moved, and had his being on this earth.

His message of love and inclusion was too radical for his day and could not be accepted. But rather than shying away from that resistance Jesus chose to love us fully human people even through a bloody, gruesome death. When I heard this woman’s questions a year ago I could not articulate exactly why it was so important that Jesus’ blood be shed. I am still not certain that was the only way that God could save us from our sinful ways. Still what happened on the Cross was a shockwave that still reverberates to this day.

During World War II the Christian people of New Guinea were persecuted by Japanese invaders. They were tortured and killed. And yet they endured. Today there are followers of Christ who are persecuted for what they believe around this globe. There are also other innocent people of many different faiths who are killed unjustly. The blood that Jesus shed was shed for all not to gross us out or to pay off a debt to God, but rather so that we might experience in our hearts once for all that nothing not death, not persecution, not the act of any human being, religion, or government can separate us from the love that God has for each and every one of us.

We too are called to lay down our lives to follow God and to share in God’s love. The way that we practice our martyrdom happens when we come to church and neglect what we would otherwise be doing. It happens when we give up watching TV or a great book to go see someone who is stuck in the hospital. We are martyrs when we give up what we want to do and instead follow the voice of Christ calling us into love. Love is where we started, it is where we are going, and it is what we are called to do by God every day that we live!