Pentecost 14

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Pentecost 14, Proper 18
10 September 2006

Text: Mark 7: 31-37
Other Readings: Isaiah 35: 4-7a, Psalm 146: 4-9; James 1: 17-27

Today’s scripture lessons richly portray the down-to-earth miracles which occur because of God’s abiding love for creation, particularly for human beings. Each week’s collect for the day on our scripture sheets ties all the readings together. Can we proudly rely on our own abilities & strength? Clearly not. In our prayer today, we ask God to give us enough trust in our hearts so we don’t assume we can manage our own lives but rather look to God’s mercy in all we do.

The prophet Isaiah tells us God gives us strength; in fact, God will come & save us. What will God’s salvation look like? Isaiah’s community lives where water is scarce, so water will break forth in the desert, & pools & springs will replace burning sands & thirsty ground. Even more amazing, blind people will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap like a deer, & the mute will now sing with joy. No wonder the early church viewed Isaiah’s prediction as coming true when Jesus performed such healings as in Mark’s gospel story today.

Jesus, now in Gentile territory, has just restored a Syrophoenician woman’s daughter to health when the mother argues convincingly that even Gentiles deserve healing. Now he moves on throughout Gentile territory and is sought out to care for the sick & needy. Friends bring a deaf man to him, & not surprisingly, the man also has a speech impediment. Does the deaf man believe in Jesus? We aren’t told. Rather, the friends believe in Jesus’ healing powers & beg him to cure the man’s deafness. We must all lean on others’ faith when ours is too weak to move us forward. How often we need the strength of a faith community for the courage to act on our beliefs. We build each other up as we become Christ’s body, the Church. You have certainly done so for me in the past two weeks.

Mark tells us much about Jesus’ manner of healing. Jesus takes the man aside, out of the limelight, & gets down-to-earth to heal the man: he uses his touch & his own spit. Then, Jesus reminds us that it is God’s regenerative power which heals the man. Jesus’ humanity is obvious as he uses a strange word from his common language, Aramaic: “Ephphatha,” translated “Be opened.” The people are amazed that the man speaks plainly, not the unintelligible sounds he had previously uttered. Only here & in today’s Isaiah passage is the Greek word for his speech impediment used. No wonder these two passages have often been paired! They illustrate what the world is like when God’s reign comes about here.

This healing & that of the Syrophoenician woman precede next week gospel when Peter finally professes Jesus as Messiah. Isn’t it interesting that these Gentiles, not Jesus’ closest disciples, first recognize Jesus as Messiah? We’ll explore next Sunday how much the disciples needed to have their ears—& perhaps their hearts—opened in order to speak clearly about Jesus’ saving power. Before then, meditate on how often you are deaf when God’s little miracles happen around you. Just watching for miracles helps us open our ears & eyes to hear & see God’s everyday gifts.

What happens AFTER the healing miracle. First, Jesus says not to tell anyone what they’ve witnessed. Can’t you just imagine keeping quiet? You & I would look around eagerly to share this amazing story. Well, that’s just exactly what the witnesses do. It says that they are “astounded beyond measure,” “overwhelmed with amazement,” & they proclaim zealously what they have seen & heard.

The witnesses to this deaf man’s healing say, “He has done everything well.” Remember God’s words at the creation of the world? After each day of creation, God declares the creation good. After the creation of humans, God proclaims them very good. Jesus has re-created this deaf man, given him new life. In this story, God again makes all things new.

Today’s psalm celebrates the creator God’s making heaven & earth, the seas & all that is in them, & God keeps his promise forever. Once again, God cares for God’s own creation. God looks after those who most need care: giving justice to the oppressed & food to the hungry, setting the prisoners free, opening the eyes of the blind, & lifting up those who are bowed down. God loves the righteous, the people who treat those who most need to be cared for well. Three vulnerable groups are mentioned here: the stranger, the orphan, & the widow. Today’s most vulnerable people certainly include but are not limited to the stranger, the orphan, & the widow.

I’ve never been an orphan, but now that I have been twice widowed, I’m conscious of how emotionally fragile I will be at times, & I have advantages many surviving spouses do not have: my health, an education, a profession, independent children, & a ready-made community to care for as I am being nurtured.

When I was pregnant with our second son, our little family moved to Germany—strangers in a strange land—hardly speaking the language, & amazed at the cost of setting up house & preparing for the new baby’s birth. A group from our church there showered us with otherwise unaffordable baby supplies at Christmas time, just before Michael was born. On Bill’s & my visit to Munich in 2003, I was able once again to thank that church community for their tender loving care 30 years before. The stranger among us always needs special attention. Greeting visitors & incorporating newcomers into parish life broadens us all. Your welcome of our friends & family last week for Bill’s funeral was awesome; many commented on our loving community.

This week’s news reports of the expansion of so-called “civility ordinances” to neighborhoods beyond downtown & midtown will certainly mean we see more homeless people in our neighborhood. My 4½ years at Lord of the Streets taught me much about how short-sighted are NIMBY solutions: not in my back yard. Whether the homeless are down at LOTS or in Oak Forest or Inwood Forest, they are our brothers & sisters. Criminalizing homelessness makes those without means more desperate while ignoring the root causes of homelessness & poverty. While I agree with Mayor White that it is more effective to donate money to organized providers such as Lord of the Streets, we can certainly provide other necessities such as food & clothing to those we encounter. I carry bottled water & a snack in the car to hand out to those in need. I look them in the eye; they deserve dignity. We must support MANNA, whose resources are limited. The presence of pan-handlers in our midst calls us to redouble our efforts as Christians to provide for those who cannot care for themselves. It’s a complicated problem; we can’t just send needy folks to another neighborhood.

James also emphasizes the care of widows, orphans, & other vulnerable people in today’s epistle. James tells us we become the 1^st fruits of God’s creation when we listen carefully & hear others, consider carefully what we say, are slow to speak & also slow to anger. How we behave is our responsibility, & we must listen to the implanted word—the Word of God—which has the power to save our souls. Notice that he doesn’t say we must act a certain way in order to be saved. Our behavior is, rather, an outgrowth of & in gratitude for the salvation Jesus has already provided us freely.

James’ most famous statement is that we must be doers of the word & not merely hearers. When we act kindly & generously in response to the redemption & re-creation Christ has freely given us, we will be blessed in our actions. However, we still need to listen more than talk & to mind what we say so we & others may be blessed by our words.

As I return to Jesus’ healing of the deaf man & his disciples’ difficulty in understanding what the Gentiles seem to pick up so naturally, I’m reminded that when we share our beliefs with others, we better understand them & apply them in our lives. When I teach, I feel like I learn as much if not more than those who attend the class. We must witness to what we see & hear & read to truly understand it. Most learning is reciprocal; we learn also by listening carefully to others, sharing views in both directions.

Regardless of our economic circumstances, we all have gifts of caring & helping & being friends with others which Jesus calls us to give. It may be just a smile we give, especially hard when someone has not been kind to us. Whether it changes the other person’s attitude is not the point although sometimes that may happen. Kindness to others changes OUR lives & helps us to practice what James calls pure religion, undefiled before God. In such simple, everyday activities, we come to understand God’s love in our own lives & pass it on to others.

Today is Rally Day which marks Hope’s launching of new activities and ministries for the next school year. Many opportunities abound for adults & children. How you grow in your spiritual development this year will be affected by how you contribute to your faith community. Your commitment to getting the children & youth here for Christian formation, choirs, & other activities will allow you to participate in our great adult Bible study class &/or sing in the choir. Don’t see something that peaks your interest? Offer to start a group yourself. Each of us grows deeper spiritually as we give of ourselves & as we worship together. Let us continue our worship as we open ourselves to what God has for us.