Preached by the Reverend Ronald McGuire at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, July 9, 2006
The Light of the Ages
Lamentations 3:22-23, 33, 32
22Because of God’s overwhelming goodness we don’t come to a bad end. God’s love never fails; 23it is renewed with the dawn. Great is your faithfulness!
33The Eternal doesn’t take pleasure in the misfortunes or difficulties of humanity, not at all! 32When bad things happen, God’s goodness breaks through; God’s great love never fails us!*
*The order of these two verses is reversed for public reading
The Light of a Teacher of Truth
Healers on Healing
Healing is letting God write the script of my life. It is choosing to let God’s will and my will be one…
Healing is knowing that forgiveness is the key to happiness and offers me everything that I want. Healing is knowing that the only reality in the universe is love, and that love is the most important healer known to the world.
The Light of the Master Teacher
Mark 7:24-30
24Jesus traveled from the region of Galilee over to the Mediterranean coast, near the city of Tyre. He wanted some quiet rest, but the minute he entered the house his secret was out. 25One woman who heard he was there came running to see him. She had a daughter who was not right inside, who was always in turmoil. 26She was not Jewish, but a stranger to these parts; her hometown was Phoenicia, up north in Syria. She fell at Jesus’ feet, begging him to drive the evil out of her daughter.
27“Wait a minute! The children get fed first!” he told her. “It’s not right to take food from the children and toss it to the dogs.”
28“Of course, Master,” she replied, “but even the dogs get the scraps dropped by the children.”
29“Good answer!” said Jesus. “On your feet. Your daughter’s set free. She’ll not be troubled anymore.” 30She jumped up, ran home, and found her child, no longer tossed and tormented but resting comfortably in bed.
But I have to admit, in reacquainting myself with this particular scripture it was not something that I initially liked. I went through much anger and disillusionment as I read and listened to the words of Jesus to this woman. I shamefully have to admit that I really had not paid much attention to this scripture prior to now. In all my years of being in church, I can’t recall one minister ever preaching on this and if he did, it was usually the part where Jesus healed the woman’s daughter. When I read the New Testament passage for today, I became very upset with the whole idea of Jesus and who I had learned for. You may be thinking — how could that be? Upset with Jesus?
Well, let’s look at it; here is a story where Jesus meets a woman, who like many is nameless. By her nationality and religion, she is an outsider. She engages in conversation with Jesus. This Jesus that she heard had been healing the sick, the Jesus that had been raising the dead and bringing sight to the blind. Jesus, who was a lover of children, Jesus, who could take a little and feed a lot, and take water and turn it into wine. This is the one who she knew with all her heart and soul and mind could heal the very disturbance that was going on inside the mind of her daughter. And what happens; Jesus insults her and initially refuses to heal her daughter. Now some of you may not agree, but listen to what he says to the woman, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” In other words, I need to take care of my people, the Jews, the ones who keep the law, the people who worship in Jerusalem. The rest of you are dogs.”
Now, I checked out what several commentaries and other ministers had to say on this. It seems as though in Jesus’ defense and to soften the blow, there are those who state that Mark uses the diminutive “puppies” (kynaria) in place of the primitive noun “dog” (kynos). Now correct me if I’ve missed something, but the last time I checked, there is a name we have for female canines that start with the letter “b” and ends with an “itch” and other than Oprah, I don’t find too many women who find that term to be very flattering. I mean tell me: is there a difference between a baby “b” and a full grown “b”? So the argument of kynaria and the kynos doesn’t set very well with me. The nerve of Jesus. How arrogant, how sexist, how racist can you be.
After much frustration and concern and conversations on this matter, the thought came to me: this is simply the story of a man and a woman. This is the story of a man that I had been told all of my life was perfect and now I see that he wasn’t so perfect. Well, guess what, he was human. Even though he was the son of God, was he not in human form? Created so that he could experience the same pain, disappointments and yes even prejudices we all at some point and time experience? At that point, my friends, Jesus became more real to me. He became in an instant my homie, my road dog. Not for what he said, but because of who he was at that moment — human. Jesus being fully human as well as fully divine, as the apostle Paul writes, he was fully tempted in every way as we are, then he was certainly tempted to follow the prejudicial and exclusionist traditions of his time and place. After all, part of what it means to be human is to absorb from birth the attitudes of the society in which you are born and raised. It was a moment where his “humanness” reminded me that it is ok to be what I am — human. What I began to recognize was that in every human condition and emotion, Jesus is there, he’s real.
But even at that, like the joke, what does Jesus statements to this woman have to do with the ultimate of the lesson that I / we need to get out of this — NOTHING! But then the woman. The woman is really the focus of this story. She responds to Jesus’ insult by saying, “yes, but even the dogs under the table get to eat the crumbs that fall on the floor.”
So let’s start the sermon over and talk about the true lesson in all this. Ok!
What does an agnostic dyslexic insomniac do? Stays up all night and wonders if there is really a dog. This joke will be donated to the Grant Lynn Ford Library of bad jokes found at 3a.m.
Now that the frustration of the dog is out of my system, let’s talk about this woman. She comes to Jesus in desperation and despair. Her daughter is in need, her actions and response to Jesus let us know that she is not about to give up. She refuses to give up. In her position at the feet of Jesus, her reply lets Jesus know that regardless of what you think about me, regardless of what you yourself have been taught about my people, I refuse to leave from this place until you bless my daughter. Wow! What faith is found in this woman. The scriptures say that she came running to see him. Not walking, meandering, but running. She pressed her way through the elements. You, see, when we want something badly enough, we manage to find a way to get what it is we want. No matter what it takes we press our way to get to that goal. Getting to Jesus so that her daughter could be healed was her goal. We all need to do more to get to reach our goals. The apostle Paul in Philippians 3:13-14 says, for one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press toward the goal to win the prize…
This woman had to forget her obligation at home, forget her social standing, forget her cultural background and press her way running to get the prize — the healing of her daughter. But to do that, she had to possess faith. Her faith led her to an action. Her faith led her to drop at Jesus feet and let him know — I will not be moved until you give me what I ask for. I’ve come too far to turn around now, Jesus. My clothes are soiled, my hair is dusty, I’m tired, thirsty; whatever you give me, Jesus, my daughter will be healed.
We all should take the attitude of this woman. In our daily lives, whatever it takes, being at the feet of Jesus and refusing to leave until we get what we want is what we should do. We should make our lives acts of faith.
Believing that what God has promised, God is able to perform. Note that it took the act of a woman to bring Jesus to remember who he was. It took the act of a woman in this story to remind Jesus that what separated him from others was is openness to grow, openness to learn the will of God, even from a Gentile woman he had been taught was a dog. Open to God’s will even when it puts him in conflict with his people.
Let me speak to the women in this congregation: some of you know that I have a great interest in the women of this church developing activities in women’s spirituality. This is important to me for two reasons, #1. It is my way of honoring a group which has been denied rights deserved. And #2, it’s because of what for me, women represent. My mama is a woman, so was my grandma, my aunts — women I love dearly. But let me encourage you ladies, getting this project off the ground is a testament of your faith. It’s a testament of your faith in the ability of women everywhere. I can support it.
All the men in this room can support it and should support it, but like the woman in today’s lesson, I encourage you have to place yourself in a position and not let go until you get what it is you want, need and desire. Healing takes faith, believing that it will be done despite all the odds. Jesus saw this act of faith and was moved. And through the power of God this woman’s daughter was healed. Amen. Amen. Amen.
