September 6, 2009
The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Year B)
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17;
Mark 7:24-37
Four years ago, John and I walked through the doors of the Church of The Good Shepherd. We had driven by this “spiritual oasis in the woods” many times en route to various places around town. But at that particular time, we came deliberately looking for a place of spiritual healing. I had come from serving as pastor of a Lutheran parish in North Central Massachusetts and had resigned due to a number of health issues – not the least of which was fatigue and burnout – and I needed a place to rest.
In the early weeks of our arrival at Good Shepherd, I told a few people of my work as a Lutheran minister. Immediately people's radar tuned in on the idea that I could perhaps assist Rector Gale with some of the many plans and programs in the works here. Knowing firsthand the hectic life of running a parish, my heart went out to your rector, but in that moment I had to set a boundary for myself which meant saying no to various ministry opportunities that I found appealing. Not because I didn't want to jump in and help out, but because I really had to honor my need for healing. It was a difficult stand to take, but one that required short term inaction for greater long term benefits. I had to return to the very foundation of faith, and instead of organizing and leading worship myself, I needed to be carried in worship by the faithful who gathered regularly in Christ's name. And I'm happy to say that that's exactly the experience that I found among the people of Good Shepherd.
Perhaps you too have found yourselves in a similar place – overwhelmed by the demands of daily life: the boss, the reports, the deadlines, the kids, the homework, the housework, the shopping, the cooking, the driving, the illnesses, and medical appointments routine and urgent, not to mention getting together with extended family, and friends.
In her book, Finding the Deep River Within, Abby Seixas writes of how women in particular get caught up in the “tyranny of their to-do-lists.” Her book is a guide to recovering balance and meaning in everyday life. It's written for women, but I'm sure there's plenty in there for men as well, given that we all need help in putting on the brakes to remember what really matters in life.
As we hear in this morning's lesson, God provides opportunities for rest and rejuvenation, but God also doesn't let us linger there too long. For me it was after two years of worshipping here at Good Shepherd. Bishop Tom Shaw came to visit one Sunday and presided over the liturgy. After his sermon, he asked questions of the congregants, and the first couple he picked on was my husband and I, asking what brought us here to Good Shepherd. It was then that my cover was blown, and the word was out that I was a Lutheran pastor. God was making it clear that it was time to start back to work. With that affirmation of ministry, I went on to be licensed in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and have served the last two years as a supply preacher for Episcopal and Lutheran congregations throughout New England. And now God has graciously provided yet another opportunity for parish ministry in my new transitional pastor role at Christ Lutheran Church in West Boylston where I will serve for the next six to eight months.
I was fortunate to be able to take time for healing, but somehow the message that comes through in our society is that setting boundaries to care for ourselves is an act of selfishness.
Well, if that's true, then what's to be said about Jesus who, in the midst of throngs of people who approached him constantly for food and healing, slipped away from the territory of Judea and sought refuge among the Gentiles of Tyre and Sidon. Perhaps he traveled there to sort out his thoughts about the ways people reacted to him and his Gospel message of the love of God and the coming Kingdom. Perhaps he needed time to rethink his approach to the people. Or perhaps he was driven there by the Holy Spirit to experience a new understanding of his holy mission.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't sound like Jesus was wracked with guilt for taking some time for himself as he traveled on foot about thirty miles north of Israel to the port cities of Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean Sea. But alas, just as we cannot escape the presence of God in going to the deepest depths and the highest heights of the earth, Jesus also couldn't avoid people's need for God's healing touch.
The Gospel lesson this morning also drives home another message about the boundaries we face in our lives. We read that Jesus had hoped to have been protected by the boundary of anonymity in the Gentile land of Phoenicia when he entered a house there. And yet, no sooner had he arrived when of all people a foreign woman approached him to plead for the health of her daughter who's body was tormented by a demon. We're not told of the girl's specific affliction. Whatever it was, it was enough to drive this mother to the feet of an itinerant preacher/healer whom she didn't even know, but had only heard about in order to beg for her daughter's healing.
What incredible courage it took for her to cross the boundaries of that first century society. Being a foreign, pagan woman, outside the Jewish faith and tradition, approaching a man of God, what was she thinking? For each one of these traits Jesus should have avoided her. Because by her presence, she made Jesus “unclean” according to Jewish law. Based on these religious grounds, Jesus initially refused to help her, which goes against everything we know about the Lord.
Consider the irony of the Gospel writer's placement of this conversation between Jesus and the Gentile woman. It comes immediately after Jesus' chastising the religious authorities back home – last Sunday's reading. There he taught that nothing outside the body makes one unclean and all food is good to eat, but instead, people should be concerned about the evil thoughts and desires that reside within the human heart that are the true source of uncleanness.
And here we have Jesus confronted and conflicted by his own Jewish tradition of cleanliness, as this foreign, pagan woman begs for mercy and healing, not even for herself, but for her own flesh and blood. Because of her status as a Gentile, Jesus responded to her request by citing the boundary and saying, “Let the children be fed first, for it's not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” That is to say, his mission and gifts were first and foremost for God's chosen people, the children of Israel. The time hadn't yet come for the Gentiles to be welcomed into the Kingdom. Jesus knew this boundary, and as a matter of faith felt obliged to live by it.
But the response of the woman was so clever and so striking that even Jesus could not refuse her request! Instead of being angry at the insult of being called a dog, the woman resisted her pride, for which a lesser person would have argued back, and instead she humbly accepted this lower status. And she didn't give up and walk away defeated. She said, “Yes, LORD, but even the dogs get a few crumbs from the children's table.” Amazing! Firstly, how did this woman know to call Jesus, “Lord?” She's a pagan and whatever religion she observed was outside the Jewish tradition. What happened in that moment that inspired her faith in Jesus? Could it be the same faith that moves us to humbly approach the Lord's Table and receive the body and blood of Christ given and shed for us? Whatever it was, with her challenge to Jesus' words, he dissed the boundary that separated them, healed her daughter from a distance, and sent her home rejoicing in the powerful presence of God.
This is one of those Gospel lessons that should make us think about the boundaries that we erect in our own lives. Boundaries observed consciously and unconsciously with our all too human prejudices and biases towards the “other” who is not like us.
I realize that it's not politically correct to have prejudices toward other people, but to deny them within ourselves is to deny our own humanity. It's only natural to want to be with people most like ourselves. The danger is when we're not even aware of our prejudices and the boundaries we erect to keep others out of our lives, our neighborhoods, our schools, our houses of worship because then we can't overcome them and grow as Christian people.
Our boundaries today tend to be more subtle than those mentioned in the letter of James when Christians treated the rich with bountiful blessing and the poor with disdain. The boundaries of our society wind up bogged down in bipartisan politics that result in some people being denied access to affordable healthcare, housing, education, and jobs that pay a living wage. And so while we argue back and forth about political agendas, the working poor go without the things that should be their right, that have become a privilege of the middle and upper classes.
One way that we can overcome these boundaries within ourselves is to look to Jesus much in the same way the people did who brought the deaf man to him for healing. When we see that our prejudices and boundaries are impediments to our lives, we can ask God for healing within ourselves, and with Jesus' healing touch we too can find our hearts and minds OPENED to understand and work to fulfill the needs of the other. I think this was a hallmark of Senator Kennedy's life in that he didn't allow the boundary of privilege to keep him separated from working to fulfill the needs of those less fortunate than himself. Regardless of what you think of the man, you can't discount the ways in which he tried to live his Christian faith striving for justice and helping countless people in big ways and small!
Jesus' healing power is not magic. It comes from a deep reservoir of compassion that moves within him as he prays to the One who is loving and just. That same well of compassion is available to us when we make the time to tap into it by getting involved in the lives of others. In that moment with the deaf man, Jesus was moved to pray looking up to heaven and crying aloud to God as he touched the man's ears and tongue. And by the power of the Living Word, the man was healed.
And though not all healing prayers are answered in the way that we hope, with these healing stories of the Gospel, God in Christ invites us to come humbly before him in order that we too may know and experience his powerful healing love; that we might zealously proclaim it to all God's children in order that they may know that God has done all things well, and that we might in turn with our short lives, do a few things well in His Holy Name.
Amen.
The Reverend Melissa Buono,
Church of the Good Shepherd