Canaanite Woman and Jesus

Matthew 15:21-28 The Canaanite Woman

[an assignment for preaching class, which was preached in field education placement] 

Sunday 14^th August 2005

 

Let us pray:

 

God,

Who is known to us as creator and redeemer;

Who is known in the breath of the spirit in our lives;

Be present with us as we explore your word

We pray confident of your knowledge of your presence

 

This passage raises some difficult issues for me. There are places where I don’t like what I read, and there are places where I don’t like where it leads me. So if at times you feel a little uncomfortable in what I am saying, please stay with me, hopefully by the end of this time we will all have some point of hope, even if there are still some questions unanswered and some uncomfortable places.

 

There are many ways in which I could speak today about this passage from Matthew’s gospel. A friend is preaching on this passage today as well and she has taken a completely different tack. There are issues of who is an ’insider’ and who is not; issues of race and gender; of crossing boundaries, and these issues still exist in our church and the wider community today.

 

Jesus initially comes across as not being compassionate and the disciples’ response is to get rid of this noisy, annoying woman.  As I said this may not be an easy journey for any of us. 

 

In some ways I can identify with the Canaanite woman. To start with I am also a gentile woman. I am not a Canaanite, but I’m also not a Jew. The Canaanites were originally enemies of the Israelites, then enslaved by them. Interaction was minimal. They were to be stomped on like ants. This woman is more than a non-Jew; she is less than a person because of her race. She is even referred to as a dog in this passage.  While I said I hoped there would be some good news for us, I have to concede, initially it doesn’t look all that promising.

Jesus lets this woman know, firstly by ignoring her, then by telling the disciples, and finally by telling the woman, that she is of no consequence or importance to him. Because of her race she is a non-person. Jesus ignores her pleading and cries for mercy and help. Eventually Jesus does help her, in spite of her race and gender. This is not a picture of the gentle compassionate Jesus we like to think about.

 

Do you know people who are so focussed on where they think they are going, on getting ahead at work, losing weight, or training for sport, that they don’t notice what else might be in their life?  Jesus in this passage reminds me of those people. He is so focussed on bringing salvation to the Jews, that when this woman asks for mercy, he doesn’t respond to her request. Jesus was very aware of what his life was for, bringing the Jews back into relationship with God. But he found that many of the Jews he met, especially those who were in the religious institutions, were not all that interested in what he had to say. Here we have an outsider, an enemy, who knows that Jesus is the one person who is able to help. She accepts that to Jesus and to Jews in general, she is not worth speaking with; that to a Jew, especially a Jewish man, she is a waste of space. But she is also a woman of great faith, and Matthew uses this story to contrast the difference between those who were Jews yet did not recognise Jesus for who he was; and this woman, who wasn’t a Jew, but recognised Jesus as the means of healing and liberation and salvation.

 

While I can relate to the woman, in some ways I can also relate to the disciples. Who does this woman think she is, a gentile, a non-Jew, a Canaanite even, expecting help from the one sent by God to bring salvation to the Jews. I see this response in myself and the church at times. There are people in our community who recognise what God can do in their lives, yet they are not part of any church community. How do we treat such people? Especially when something about them, their life, their background, is offensive to us. Even after Jesus helped this woman, she was still a Canaanite woman, about as low in the status as a person could get.  Yet by recognising her faith and healing her daughter,

Jesus acknowledged her humanity, and in the process challenged the religious assumptions of his time.

 

 There are some things I like the disciples, their lack of understanding, their slowness to pick up on what Jesus is telling them, their inability to see beyond what is happening at the present. They remind me that Jesus, and God, doesn’t only associate with clever people who have it all together in life. They help me feel better about myself when I am slow to understand what God is saying to me. They stick around Jesus even though they don’t understand everything that is happening. And while the disciples stick around and are with Jesus throughout the gospel account, this is the only place we hear about this woman.

 

This woman, who is not even named in the gospel account, is different to the disciples.  I have heard people talk about faith in terms of being passive and submissive. And there are some in our society who think being a Christian is about nice and polite and inoffensive. Now there is a place for submitting to God’s will for our lives, but this woman shows us, that even in our relationship with God, there is room for taking initiative. She is bold. She asks big things of Jesus. She is confident and persistent.  Unlike the disciples who have to have everything spelt out for them, she takes Jesus on. Her life is changed by her encounter with Jesus. In this, while she is not a Jew, she follows a very Jewish pattern.

 

In the book of Psalms, there are some that are known as lament psalms. These psalms record the pleading of Israel with God.  These are psalms that express some very human emotions.  

There is a regular pattern to these psalms. If you would like to look one up, psalm 13 is one of the shorter ones, and shows the basic pattern. The Psalmist addresses God, complains about his or her current situation, and asks God to act to change the situation. The mood of the psalm changes, there is assurance of being heard, the response of the Psalmist and then praise. The complaint is not addressed into thin air hoping that someone will hear and respond.  The person writing this psalm, like the Canaanite woman, knows exactly who they are asking for help.

 If you look at the words the Canaanite woman is recorded as saying, they follow the same pattern as the lament psalm.

 

When we are crying out for mercy, when our lives seem like a mess and we have no way of sorting things out, we can be clear about who we are asking for help. When we pray we can be like the psalmist and the woman, clear as to who we approach, clear in our complaint, honest about our lives and our feelings, our hopes, our dreams, our failures. We can trust that God hears our cry for help. We can be confident that God cares about how we feel and what is happening to us.  I remember a time in my life, when I couldn’t believe that God was concerned about me, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would care about me, and a very wise person told me that God was not judging me, but was wanting to hug me, to sit with me in my despair and to cry with me in my sadness. And the way I looked at my life was transformed!

 

I think we miss a lot in our relationship with God if we think we can’t tell God what we really think. Expressing doubt, asking difficult questions, doesn’t mean lack of faith. It takes faith to be bold, to be honest with God, to risk acknowledging and asking the hard questions of God. I don’t promise you will like the answer.  When we are open and honest with God, we too are changed by the encounter.

 

It takes great faith to challenge the structures of society; it takes great faith to recognise who we are in the sight of God, both sinner and forgiven; it takes great faith to approach God, knowing that God will hear our complaint, our shattered hopes, our dreams and hold them as precious; it takes great faith to believe that God will hear and respond to our cries for help, and that our mourning will be turned into joy.

 

This story is an example to us in our relationship with God and with people. When we are approached by people asking for mercy, grace, healing and inclusion, we can choose to ignore and reject them, or we can offer what we have in Christ. When we speak with God we are able to be totally honest, to be bold, persistent and confident as we approach God with all our thoughts and feelings.

Open to God, open to ‘the other’. Remembering that for some people we are the other. This woman saw that there was a possibility for a new way of living, wholeness, healing, liberating, life. She imagined what others could not. What a model of faith and discipleship, and she isn’t one of us, we wouldn’t find her in church on Sunday morning. Can we learn from her example?

 

Can we be open to ‘the other; can we be open to God?

 

My hope; my prayer is that we be open to the other, the one who is different, even those we name as enemy.

I also pray that we each might be open to God, who knows our name, who hears our cries for help, heals our wounds, and offers us a new way of living, blessing us abundantly.

 

creation and transformation

Genesis 1: 1-25

When we read, or hear, the creation account in Genesis chapter one, what do you think of?

-           Arguments over creation and evolution?

 
This story of creation is thought to have  been written when the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon. It is from this exile that we get songs asking ‘how can we worship the Lord in a strange land?’

It is thought that Genesis one was written for use in worship. Notice how the passage is written like poetry, it has a pattern and repetition.

For the people in exile it seemed that the Babylonian Gods were in control. This passage is a theological and pastoral answer to people living in exile; people who lived with chaos, who felt abandoned by God; which is why this passage speaks not only to the exiles in 6^th century BC Babylon, but to people throughout the ages, and to people today.

People still live with chaos, in despair, without hope, with sickness, unemployment, grief, people are betrayed, or lonely; people who feel overwhelmed by life, this passage is written to these people.  

It may seem strange to say that a story about the creation is a pastoral and theological statement, an affirmation of God’s presence and goodness, for those overwhelmed by life, but that is what we have here.

The people could remember that God was the one who can bring order out of chaos, just as in the creation story, and while it may not look like it at the time, being in exile, they could remind themselves of God’s presence, of God’s power and of God’s creativity.

Verse 2 tells how the earth was formless; and in God speaking the earth was transformed. This transformation is what the people in exile were looking for, and the creation story gives hope to people in despair that there is the possibility of transformation, that life will not always be chaotic. 

This God is not coercive, but life and permission giving. When God spoke, it doesn’t say God made, created or built plants and animals, but God said: let there be… and there was.  The relationship between God and the creation is free and gracious and invitational, God says, ‘ let there be’ ; and the earth responds.

How do we respond to God’s invitation ‘to be’, to live, to be transformed?

…

In the newspapers last weekend I read a few articles about the lack of outdoor activity by children and young people today. One article was talking about how some people spend so much time indoors, and walking on smooth surfaces, that they are unable to walk on rough ground. It seems that that part of their body just doesn’t develop.

Another article talked about the increasing rates of short-sightedness as people spend more time in front of TV, computer, electronic games etc.

I wonder when did the world, the creation, become something to be avoided?

When we look at the passage from Genesis we heard this morning, one phrase that is used over and over is ‘And God saw that it was good’. The light was good, the separating of land from water, the plants, the animals of sea, air and land, all are viewed by God as good.  God delighted in creation, why does it disgust us so much?

We live in a society where many people minimise their contact with the earth, with nature. Now I am not all that keen on creepy crawlies, and I don’t like camping, but there is something wonderful about being in nature, about being somewhere away from the noise of traffic, the closeness of buildings; there is something wonderful about birdsong, and breezes and sunshine, and wind whooshing through trees. It may not be as comfortable as sitting in a lounge chair watching a movie, but there is something amazing and life giving about being close to nature from time to time.  

I wonder why some people avoid this altogether?

The passage we read from Genesis one, was to remind and comfort people in exile, people who felt life was out of control. This passage gave them hope that their life could be transformed, just as the formless earth was transformed by God’s invitation. 

What does it mean when we avoid creation, when we try and remove ourselves from creation?

I wonder if we cut ourselves off from God by separating ourselves from creation of which we are a part?

Wealth among the poor

30 September 2007 Year C

Reading : 1 Timothy 6: 6-19 

Gospel : Luke 16:19-31

 

The more I read the gospels and scripture, the more challenged I am. The more I see Christianity as counter cultural and see my life as a pale imitation of what God has called me to.

This last month we have reading through Luke’s gospel. In chapter 14 we heard about the value of humility and hospitality, how it is important to invite people who are not able to repay you; how we should take a lower place at the table. Then the parable of the dinner guests, which wasn’t part of the lectionary at this point, where the excuses for attending the banquet are a property transaction, work, and family. Jesus then tells the disciples to count the cost of discipleship.  

This is followed by the stories of the lost things – the lost sheep and the lost coin; this is followed by the prodigal son. Different ways in which we lose ourselves, by wandering away from God or being distracted like the sheep; by losing our place, suddenly realising we are not where we should be like the coin; or by choosing a different path, like the son.

Then Luke records the story we heard last week of the dishonest manager. The person who used his position to get himself out of  a mess and assure his own future. This week we hear of the rich man and Lazarus.

The rich man is not noted as being evil, or cruel, or acting in any way that is inconsistent with the general society. The fact that he dresses on purple indicates that he is very wealthy, and is possibly part of the royal family. Lazarus sat at his gate, so this suggests walls and a gate, a major complex of buildings with some protection against unwanted intruders. Also note that after the rich man dies, and he is in torment, he commands Abraham to tell Lazarus to look after him, by bringing some cool water, or running an errand to his brothers. The rich man sees any other person there for his benefit.

 

Luke doesn’t say wealth is bad, even the author of the letter to Timothy doesn’t say that being wealthy is bad. There is nothing to indicate that the rich man was in anyway responsible for the position that Lazarus was in, or had anything to do with his death.

Yet what happens to him in the story, after the rich man dies he is in torment. Being rich comes with responsibility. We all have responsibility to our fellow creatures.  The problem of wealth is that it can blind us to what is happening to the world around us. As people get wealthier there is more concern with security, and having enough, and how far will the resources stretch, and how many people we can share our resources with. The sin of wealth is being preoccupied with oneself.

It almost seems that these chapters of Luke were written for our modern western society. We live in a culture that values money and possessions and status, and increasingly security is being added to the list. While the stories revolve around money, they are about more than that. They are about relationships and life, about a new way of thinking and being, about breaking the mould of looking after ourselves at the expense of others.

 

In many ways it is difficult to know what to do about poverty, about homelessness, about violence and drugs and family breakdown. There is much on our world that is downright scary, and much that seems to have no solution. When but when we look at our society, and accept that some people will lose so that we can win, that some people will not have a hospital bed, or housing assistance, or enough food, so that we can have a tax cut, then there is a problem.

 

Remember Luke doesn’t suggest that the rich man was responsible for the situation Lazarus was in, but he was responsible for not helping him out of that situation, for ignoring what was in front of his house. In the news in recent months there was a story from the US, but it could also happen here, that a woman was raped in an hotel hallway, and no-one helped, and it was a long time before anyone even called the police. The people who didn’t help were not responsible for the violence, but they added to the violence by not calling for help more quickly. The idea that another persons predicament is none of our business, that we don’t want to get involved as it might get messy, that is our sin.

 

We are not directly responsible for much of the structural inequality in our society, we are not responsible for drought and famine, but we are responsible for what we do with the resources that we have. I read that Wesley, in one of sermons, included “his formula for earning and saving all you can in order to give all you can, as part of wise and faithful stewardship that provides first for your own and your household's basic needs, then does good within the household of faith and to all others.”

The song went money makes the world go round – but only when we share what we have with others.

 

For many people accumulating wealth is their life’s work, to the exclusion of all else. Here we are called to account for being preoccupied with our own needs, for ignoring the cry of our neighbours around the world – for our neighbour is any who is in need. When we keep searching for more wealth and more ways to protect our wealth and to gain more wealth, then we are substituting money for God.

 Our security, our wealth, our identity, our purpose, are all found in God, and when we go looking for those things in other places, whether it is in finances or football, then we are in trouble. We need to come back to who we are, to the one in whom we live and move and have our being.  It is only when we live trusting in the faithfulness of God, when our identity is in the risen Christ, when our guide is the Holy Spirit, that we can be content with life. For life is what God gives us, and only in relationship with God can we recognise what life truly is.

what is being built

this is the first sermon I preached in my first [and current placement] in 2006.  readings: 2 Samuel 7: 1-17 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

There are times when I wish life was logical and sequential. There are times when I wish God would behave in ways that made sense to me. There are times when I wish l could understand life, before it happened and while it was happening. There are times, well most of the time actually, I wish life was orderly and had some structure.

At school, and when I first went to university I was good at maths and science – the logical, systematic subjects. Neat and orderly was how I wanted life to be, that feels safe to me, minimum risk and minimum chaos. But life hasn’t been like that for me, and I think it isn’t like that for many people, some people enjoy the chaos more than others.

I look at the disciples, and the leaders we read of in the Old testament, and I have hope. In the reading from 2^nd Samuel we hear of David wanting to build a house for God. We read a fair bit of David’s life story in the Old testament, multiple versions of some of it. David keeping the sheep, anointed by Samuel, victorious against Goliath, a musician in the court of Saul, and here he is King of Israel. He has a palace, and decides it is time that God also dwelt in a magnificent house. The place where the holy things were kept was a tent - portable, fitting the life that people of Israel had lived since the exodus – wandering in the wilderness, fighting battles – place was temporary for them. Now it was to become permanent. Now they were in Jerusalem, and the holy things, and therefore God, would have a house befitting such a strong and powerful god.

Makes sense to me, and as one of the scholars I read this week notes, the prophet Haggai later uses the same logic to get the temple rebuilt after the exile. So why does God not want David to build a temple. There are a few reasons:

§  God can’t be domesticated or held in one place. God had been with the people all through their journeys, and would be with them in the future as they lived through exile and colonisation. God didn’t, and still doesn’t need a temple, or even a church building.

§  God can’t be controlled. God would decide when and where and who would build the temple, in this case it is Solomon, David’s son, who has the temple built. This isn’t about how good David or Solomon is, but about things happening in God’s time and place – much as it doesn’t always make sense for us.

§  There is an emphasis in this passage on what God is building rather than what we build for God. David’s announcement that he will build a temple is initially greeted positively by the prophet Nathan. Then God tells Nathan to say to David: “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”.  David is putting what he can do ahead of what God will do.

How could David – the great warrior, the anointed one, get it so wrong. I suspect the way that I get it wrong. I work out what I think I can best do, instead of listening for God, discerning where the Spirit is active. David had the means and the capability of building a temple. As king of Israel he had building materials and people at his beck and call. There are things I am capable of, that doesn’t mean that is what God is calling me to do at any particular time. There have been times when I have also known, much better than God, what I am not capable of doing – but that doesn’t always match up with God’s understanding of the situation. David was a shepherd, the youngest son when anointed by Samuel, yet God did great things through David.

In this passage there is a play on the word, house. A house is a dwelling, or it can also refer to the family. So the house of David could be the building in which he lives, but usually refers to the family and offspring of David, in the same way that the English royal family is of the house of Windsor. So David thinks he will  build a house for God, but God is building a house for David, a living house of flesh and blood, obedient, disobedient, living people; not a house of cedar and stone, with fine gold and fancy fittings.

I said earlier the disciples also give me hope. This group of insiders who travelled with Jesus, saw everything up close, don’t understand what is happening most of the time. So I don’t feel so bad when I don’t understand what God is doing. In this section of Mark, it is clear that the crowd recognises Jesus as a person who can heal and teach, someone special; yet the disciples often seem ignorant of the greatness of Jesus as they travel together.

The end of Chapter 7 of Mark is a summary of what has been happening, people healed, some by touching the fringes on his cloak. The fact that Jesus was wearing a cloak with fringes suggests that he was following in the traditions of the Jewish religion. Tassels or fringes were a sign of devotion. While many in modern times think of Jesus as someone who overthrew Judaism, this isn’t the case. Jesus was very Jewish, but he didn’t follow the religion in the ways that many of his contemporary religious leaders did.  We have recorded in the gospels occasions when Jesus quoted scripture, went to the temple or synagogue, followed Jewish traditions; but we also have examples of Jesus reinterpreting the tradition and the scriptures.  For example, healing on the Sabbath, gave priority to health and inclusion over ritual and purity laws. There was, and is, more than one way of interpreting tradition and scripture.

In the Uniting church at the moment there is disagreement about some issues, some to do with biblical interpretation, some with moral, social and ethical issues. I don’t know what all the answers are, and I sometimes wonder who do we think we are. In the same way that God challenged David : “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”.  I wonder if God might challenge the church today: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?”.  God is building the church for us to live in, not the other way around.  God builds the church, God invites people into relationship,  loves, forgives, holds us as precious even or especially when we are confused. God builds the church with living, breathing, faithful, confused people – people like us.

I don’t know where God will lead us together as the Engadine congregation of the Uniting Church. I do know that God has lead me to places I never thought I would be, like theological college and being in ministry. What I have learnt is that discipleship isn’t about what I want to do, or where I think God should be active. Discipleship is about being involved where God calls me and equips me to be.

Are we like the disciples, so caught up in our own experience that we miss recognising Jesus in the world and people around us. Are we like David, aware of our own ability, independent and resourceful. Are we building the temple we think God should have, or are we looking for and celebrating what God is building in our lives.

violence as usaul

Proclamation of the Word part 1

Many of you will have seen in the news this week that a woman was shot in Afghanistan for alleged adultery. It reminded me of the passage from John’s gospel where a women caught in adultery is about to be stoned. I wonder what happened to the man.

In Biblical times women were regarded as possessions, and it many places still are. The practice of the Father of a bride giving her hand in marriage, comes from this idea that a woman is a possession of her father, and then her husband.  

And in the case this week, I wonder what happened to the men. One report says that :

“Salangi [Provincial governor Basir Salangi ]said two Taliban commanders were sexually involved with the woman in Parwan, either through rape or romantically, and decided to torture her and then kill her to settle a dispute between the two of them.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/08/afghan-woman-accused-adultery-shot-dead

this was a dispute between two men, about a woman, and the woman was killed.

In the gospel reading we heard this morning, another example of violence as a way of dealing with complicated relationships. John had called Herod on his relationship with Herodias, his brother’s wife.  And John is beheaded.

It got me thinking about violence in our world.

The Psalm begins with

“The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

How is violence respecting God’s creation?

Violence in the home, violence when people are out for the night, violence as a way of solving our problems.

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

It seems that the abundance of God is made available to some more than others. Does that mean some of God’s creation is more important than other parts? Are people living in the Horn of Africa less worthy than Northern Europeans?

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

How do we treat the earth and all that is in it?

What do we say about God and creation when we allow the Great Barrier Reef to be destroyed for the sake of bulk carriers moving to ports nearby?

What do we say about God and creation when we allow some people to live in poverty, to be oppressed, to be tortured, killed?

What do we say about God and creation?

Whose voices do we hear and whose are not heard?

A reflection including song and prayer. Please remain seated and join in with the singing.

Hymn/prayer: Kumba Yah – from Bread of Tomorrow p 74-5

Proclamation of the Word part 2

What voices do we hear,
who do we see dying,
who do we hear crying,
where is the shouting,
and who do we join praying?

The voices we hear in the media are often about the price of petrol; interest rates – too high or too low depending on how you are effected; housing affordability; traffic snarls; government stuff-ups. The voices we hear in the media feed us on a diet of self-interest, and negativity.

There are other voices we regularly hear, friends or family talk of their pain, their loneliness, their illness, their grief, their broken relationships.

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

 It is not only one woman who was killed in Afghanistan this week, just one which made the news more than others. And it happens in other places, not only in Afghanistan, not only in war zones, not only in one religious group. Since time began, people have been killing each other, because they don’t want to be challenged, or found out, or because they want something that belongs to them, even when that something is a human being.

What can we do?

It seems that our society tells us to look after ‘number one’, and that means our self. But what does God say?

 “The earth and its abundance is the Lord’s,
the world, and those living in it;”

What can we do?

We can speak. Silence can be part of the conspiracy of oppression and violence. Remember the US soldiers who were ’found out’ for torture? Silence and secrets allow the violence to remain hidden. Secrets have allowed abuse to be remain hidden in the Catholic Church – but like most secrets they eventually come into the open – someone has the courage to speak out one more time.

The death of the woman in Afghanistan this week may have remained a secret except someone videoed the event.

We can speak, with words, but also with our lives. We can live as part of God’s abundant and amazing creation. We can live as if others are part of God’s abundant and amazing creation.

We can speak,
we can listen to the voice of ‘silenced’
we can name the dying,
we can comfort the crying,
we can acknowledge the shouting,
we can join with the praying?

a prophet v 2

Proclamation of the Word

I know some of you have family who visit from time to time, and they come and worship here. We look at people who we have seen grow up here, and think about what they were like as children, and how they have turned out. How much they have grown and changed. And then their children come, and there are comments about how much this grandchild is like their parent or aunt or uncle was growing up. It seems to be part of our human make-up to look for family resemblances.

Jesus was back in his home village, visiting his family, and teaching in the local Synagogue. At first the people were astounded, amazed, at what Jesus was teaching, then they look at him, and see it is a home town boy of suspicious parentage – he is called Mary’s son rather than Joseph’s son. The villagers have seen Jesus and his sisters and brothers grow up.

And they wonder - Who does he think he is?!

Sounds like the Aussie ‘tall poppy’ syndrome. I can remember watching sport with my father, who was similar physical build to me, and he would say, I could do that, I just don’t want to show off. Now there was no way he could run a sprint or a marathon, or swim or dive or any of the other amazing things we will at the Olympics this year. In Australia we have habit of knocking those we deem to be too much ‘in the spotlight’.

And the people of the village wonder - Who does he think he is?!

This Jesus, this carpenter, this boy who grew up with our sons and daughters.  Who does he think he is?!

The reactions of the people in the village is not unusual.

I wonder how we respond to Jesus?

When Jesus asked his disciples ‘who do people say I am?’

“[The disciples]  replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”. “ [Matthew 16:14]

Jesus reminded people of the prophets.

Prophets were, and are, people who speak God’s word into a situation. People who speak up, and act, for the marginalised, for the whole creation, for the hungry, for the abused.

We can think of Jesus as a friend and companion, healer and teacher – and he is those things. But that is only part of who Jesus is.

I wonder, have we grown so comfortable, so familiar, that we don’t hear what is being said anymore, that we miss the strangeness of the Gospel.

The gospel which tells us of Jesus including the excluded, healing the sick, calming the storm, teaching, calling disciples, challenging those in leadership. The Gospel is good news, but it isn’t about being good in terms of middle-class western respectability.

For many people today, Christianity and the Church is about respectability, being good and nice. 

But Jesus was not that.

Jesus was not respectable.

Jesus did not stay on the ‘right’ side of the powerful and important.

Jesus broke the rules.

Jesus challenged the way things were.

What might Jesus challenge today – our treatment of asylum seekers, our fixation on ourselves, the cult of individualism, the way that economics decides what health and education are available for those unable to afford private schooling and healthcare.

What might Jesus challenge today –in your life?

In this community?

In this nation?

Who does he think he is?! This Jesus, who comes asking the difficult questions.

This Jesus who comes as challenges us to step out of our complacency, to see beyond our own life.

Who does he think he is?!

a Prophet in town

After a three week break, a weekend off, then 2 weeks ill, back preaching this week.

I know some of you have family who visit from time to time, and they come and worship here. We look at people who we have seen grow up here, and think about what they were like as children, and how they have turned out. How much they have grown and changed. And then their children come, and there are comments about how much this grandchild is like their parent or aunt or uncle was growing up. It seems to be part of our human make-up to look for family resemblances.

Jesus was back in his home village, visiting his family, and teaching in the local Synagogue. At first the people were astounded, amazed, at what Jesus was teaching, then they look at him, and see it is a home town boy of suspicious parentage – he is called Mary’s son rather than Joseph’s son. The villagers have seen Jesus and his sisters and brothers grow up.

And they wonder - Who does he think he is?!

Sounds like the Aussie ‘tall poppy’ syndrome. I can remember watching sport with my father, who was similar physical build to me, and he would say, I could do that, I just don’t want to show off. Now there was no way he could run a sprint or a marathon, or swim or dive or any of the other amazing things we will at the Olympics this year. In Australia we have habit of knocking those we deem to be too much ‘in the spotlight’.

And the people of the village wonder - Who does he think he is?!

This Jesus, this carpenter, this boy who grew up with our sons and daughters.  Who does he think he is?!

The reactions of the people in the village is not unusual.

I wonder how we respond to Jesus?

When Jesus asked his disciples ‘who do people say I am?’

“[The disciples]  replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”. “ [Matthew 16:14]

Jesus reminded people of the prophets.

Prophets were, and are, people who speak God’s word into a situation. People who speak up, and act, for the marginalised, for the whole creation, for the hungry, for the abused. A few weeks ago you watched a DVD about the Uniting Church’s Statement to the Nation from 1977. To me this is a prophetic statement, even now. There are some copies available at morning tea, here are

[The] six affirmations of the Uniting Church in 1977 were: [on PP slides] [Rev Dr Dean Drayton retiring address as President of the Assembly

http://assembly.uca.org.au/component/k2/item/295-church-members-called-to-act-on-historic-statement]

1. We will challenge values which emphasise acquisitiveness and greed in disregard of the needs of others …
- compare this statement to the response of people to changes in interest rates, tax tables and various charges for services. How much do we respond from our situation rather than the poorest, the least?

2. We affirm that the first allegiance of Christians is God, under whose judgment the policies and actions of all nations must pass. We realise that this allegiance may bring us into conflict with the rulers of our day.
- are we, like Jesus willing to be in conflict with the rulers of this country – religious and political and social?

3. We are concerned with the basic human rights of future generations and will urge the wise use of energy, the protection of the environment and the replenishment of the earth’s resources for their use and enjoyment.
- are we aware of how our consumption undermines our grandchildren’s future?

4. We affirm our eagerness to uphold basic Christian values and principles such as the importance of every human being.

- Do we treat some people as less important than others? Why is the death of one person in Australia more newsworthy than hundreds in another country?

- How do we respond to the Government intervention in the Northern territory and now Bankstown and some others cities, are the human rights of some more important than others, do we afford more dignity to some people?

5. We affirm … the need for integrity in public life, the proclamation of truth and justice.

- where do we get our information from? It seems that much of the public discourse on important issues is what we get in a  30 second sound bite on the nightly news. Or from people who make a living by creating conflict and division.

6. We pledge ourselves to hope and work for a nation whose goals are not guided by self-interest alone …

 - how do we as a nation make decisions?

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How do you feel about this list, about being part of a church that runs a medically supervised injecting facility, that has chaplains in prisons and detention centres, that speaks out on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers, that calls politicians to task for their double standards. What is it like being part of a denomination that doesn’t always agree with other denominations?

It can be easy to worship each week and forget about some of that the Uniting Church stands for – justice, human rights, the dignity of all people and all of creation.

We can think of Jesus as a friend and companion, healer and teacher – and he is those things. But that is only part of who Jesus is.

Have we grown so comfortable, so familiar, that we don’t hear what is being said anymore, that we miss the strangeness of the Gospel.

The gospel which tells us of Jesus including the excluded, healing the sick, calming the storm, teaching, calling disciples, challenging those in leadership. The Gospel is good news, but it isn’t about being good in terms of middle-class western respectability.

For many people today, the Church is about respectability, being good and nice. 

But Jesus was not that.

Jesus was not respectable.

Jesus did not stay on the ‘right’ side of the powerful and important.

Jesus broke the rules.

Jesus challenged the way things were.

In this passage Mark records that Jesus was unable to perform many miracles, because of the unbelief of the people. Now it would take a long time to explore this in detail, but I wonder how often we miss what God is doing in this community, and around the world, because we only see the Jesus we are comfortable with, the one who is kind, our friend, our support, our comforter.

What if we looked for, encouraged and supported the prophets in our midst, the ones who call politicians to account, the ones who question our lack of concern for the excluded of the world, the ones who make us feel uncomfortable in our comfortable lives.

Who are the prophets today, where do we speak God’s word into the world.