Sermon-Sunday, September 10th
Isaiah 35:4-7a , James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17 , Mark 7:24-37
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm going to start today by giving you some bad news. I'm going to burst your bubble this morning. What I am going to tell you this morning might just shock you. But you need to know this. OK, here it comes. This is what I have to tell you, "You are not among God’s first choice." There are some who were among God’s people before you. Oh you might have your moments where you pull yourself up by your pietistic boot straps and think that surely you must be among the blessed chosen race. But you’re not.
How do I know this? One word; gentile. That is what you are. You are gentiles. Webster’s defines the word gentile this way a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith; especially : a Christian as distinguished from a Jew. You are not Jewish, and you come from a non-Jewish nation. You are gentiles, you are not among God’s people Israel. The second definition o that Webster’s gives is simply the words heathen or pagan. That’s you, you are gentiles, you are heathen, and you are not among God’s first choice.
Your are like the woman in today’s Gospel lesson. Our gospel lesson refers to this woman as a gentile of Syrophoenician origin. Now, in a worldly sense, being a gentile today doesn’t mean the same thing in our culture that it means in other cultures. But in ancient Jewish culture, just about everything this woman does in today’s lesson would have been considered taboo.
Coming to Jesus, possibly even touching Him and talking to Him in public, in ancient society, would have been considered extremely taboo for a gentile, woman to do in ancient society. For this woman to do what she did, to violate all of these customs of the day, she would have been taking a tremendous risk. It begs the question, would you have the guts to take that kind of risk?
After she asks Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter, Jesus then even acknowledges this woman’s status in society, when He says to her "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." This woman that He is speaking to is among the dogs that He speaks of, she is among the dogs, which means we must be also.
But she is not dismayed by this. She fully acknowledges her status in her culture by referring to herself as a dog when she says to Jesus "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Jesus responds to her by saying that because of what she has said, she may go and promises her that the demon has left her daughter.
Now what Jesus meant by referring to her as a dog is not clear. There are all sorts of theories that attempt to explain it away. All throughout scripture the term dog is usually not used in a very complimentary way. Revelation 22 says "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."
Jesus is the very source of new life and we read in Revelation that by referring to her as a dog, Jesus was lumping this woman in with people like idolaters, and murderers and other people whom, it was believed, should not have access to the tree of life. In essence, as a gentile, like you, this woman should not have even had access to Jesus.
Jesus also could have been using the word as a common household metaphor which very likely may not have been understood as an insult. Whatever the reason was why Jesus referred to this woman as a dog, that is not the point of the passage. That is not where we find the heart of this encounter. Dwelling on the question of why Jesus referred to this woman as a dog is not where you find the great truth in this encounter. The most important element of the encounter between our Lord Jesus and this woman who, like you, was not among God’s first chosen people, was how Jesus responded to her humble request.
Jesus responds with new life. He grants this person who, in the eyes of many in her culture should not have even had access to Jesus, the new life for her daughter that she was asking for. She doesn’t try to impress Jesus with her own personal piety, but rather she acknowledges her low status and our Lord reaches out to her and gives her new life.
She remains in her low, cultural status but that is because the new life that Jesus brings to her and to you is not about raising you in an earthly and material level. It’s not about bumping you up to the next income level.
Much like in the OT lesson where we read of God’s promise to the exiled people of Israel that He will come and save them, what God is doing in Christ Jesus is bringing about something new. He makes Himself visible and He brings salvation to all of God’s people, be they Jew or gentile, be they rich or poor or whatever. In reaching out to this woman who had been pushed to the margins of society, Jesus answers the questions that James asks in the second lesson for this week.
God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, and yes faith in Christ Jesus saves you. James asks does faith save you, and the answer is yes. When James says that faith that has no works is dead, he is not saying that faith is not enough for your salvation. He is not saying that your faith must be confirmed through your own personal efforts. He is not denying that you are saved by faith. All through out the Gospels there are stories of encounters that Jesus has with people where He tells them that their faith has made them well.
What James is saying is that yes you have been saved by faith, you have been freed from the bondage of your sin, now go share that joy with the world. Go tell your fellow gentiles, Jews, and heathens, your fellow sinners that they, like you have been chosen by God.
James mentions the law in this passage, but he doesn’t speak of the law as something that binds us, he speaks of the law of liberty. This is the freedom that you experience through the blessed gift of faith. This is the freedom that you experience because of the new life that you have been given in baptism. In baptism you have been claimed by the cross of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and you have been freed to live on the joy of the law of liberty.
This is the law that gives you the same freedom that we see at the end of the Gospel lesson for today where this group who, upon seeing Jesus heal a man of his deafness and give him the ability to speak, were so moved that they couldn’t help but go and tell everyone what they had seen.
The law of liberty that James speaks of frees you to live out the two commandments that Jesus promises can fulfill all the law and the prophets; the command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and the command to love your neighbor. The law of liberty frees you to do what James writes of; to supply people their bodily needs, to share the Gospel with words and action, to not just tell people of the love of Christ, which is important, but to also show them with your actions. You do this not to as a way to know that you have been saved by faith, but rather because you have been saved by faith.
It doesn’t matter that God did not choose you first, He lives beyond those parameters of time anyway. What matters is that He chose you. In baptism, He claimed you as His own and freed you to live in the law of liberty; the law that calls you and frees you to not just proclaim God’s love but through the Holy Spirit to be the living embodiment of God’s love to the people on the margins of society, people like the gentile woman and the deaf man in today’s gospel lesson, people like your neighbor.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm going to start today by giving you some bad news. I'm going to burst your bubble this morning. What I am going to tell you this morning might just shock you. But you need to know this. OK, here it comes. This is what I have to tell you, "You are not among God’s first choice." There are some who were among God’s people before you. Oh you might have your moments where you pull yourself up by your pietistic boot straps and think that surely you must be among the blessed chosen race. But you’re not.
How do I know this? One word; gentile. That is what you are. You are gentiles. Webster’s defines the word gentile this way a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith; especially : a Christian as distinguished from a Jew. You are not Jewish, and you come from a non-Jewish nation. You are gentiles, you are not among God’s people Israel. The second definition o that Webster’s gives is simply the words heathen or pagan. That’s you, you are gentiles, you are heathen, and you are not among God’s first choice.
Your are like the woman in today’s Gospel lesson. Our gospel lesson refers to this woman as a gentile of Syrophoenician origin. Now, in a worldly sense, being a gentile today doesn’t mean the same thing in our culture that it means in other cultures. But in ancient Jewish culture, just about everything this woman does in today’s lesson would have been considered taboo.
Coming to Jesus, possibly even touching Him and talking to Him in public, in ancient society, would have been considered extremely taboo for a gentile, woman to do in ancient society. For this woman to do what she did, to violate all of these customs of the day, she would have been taking a tremendous risk. It begs the question, would you have the guts to take that kind of risk?
After she asks Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter, Jesus then even acknowledges this woman’s status in society, when He says to her "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." This woman that He is speaking to is among the dogs that He speaks of, she is among the dogs, which means we must be also.
But she is not dismayed by this. She fully acknowledges her status in her culture by referring to herself as a dog when she says to Jesus "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Jesus responds to her by saying that because of what she has said, she may go and promises her that the demon has left her daughter.
Now what Jesus meant by referring to her as a dog is not clear. There are all sorts of theories that attempt to explain it away. All throughout scripture the term dog is usually not used in a very complimentary way. Revelation 22 says "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."
Jesus is the very source of new life and we read in Revelation that by referring to her as a dog, Jesus was lumping this woman in with people like idolaters, and murderers and other people whom, it was believed, should not have access to the tree of life. In essence, as a gentile, like you, this woman should not have even had access to Jesus.
Jesus also could have been using the word as a common household metaphor which very likely may not have been understood as an insult. Whatever the reason was why Jesus referred to this woman as a dog, that is not the point of the passage. That is not where we find the heart of this encounter. Dwelling on the question of why Jesus referred to this woman as a dog is not where you find the great truth in this encounter. The most important element of the encounter between our Lord Jesus and this woman who, like you, was not among God’s first chosen people, was how Jesus responded to her humble request.
Jesus responds with new life. He grants this person who, in the eyes of many in her culture should not have even had access to Jesus, the new life for her daughter that she was asking for. She doesn’t try to impress Jesus with her own personal piety, but rather she acknowledges her low status and our Lord reaches out to her and gives her new life.
She remains in her low, cultural status but that is because the new life that Jesus brings to her and to you is not about raising you in an earthly and material level. It’s not about bumping you up to the next income level.
Much like in the OT lesson where we read of God’s promise to the exiled people of Israel that He will come and save them, what God is doing in Christ Jesus is bringing about something new. He makes Himself visible and He brings salvation to all of God’s people, be they Jew or gentile, be they rich or poor or whatever. In reaching out to this woman who had been pushed to the margins of society, Jesus answers the questions that James asks in the second lesson for this week.
God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, and yes faith in Christ Jesus saves you. James asks does faith save you, and the answer is yes. When James says that faith that has no works is dead, he is not saying that faith is not enough for your salvation. He is not saying that your faith must be confirmed through your own personal efforts. He is not denying that you are saved by faith. All through out the Gospels there are stories of encounters that Jesus has with people where He tells them that their faith has made them well.
What James is saying is that yes you have been saved by faith, you have been freed from the bondage of your sin, now go share that joy with the world. Go tell your fellow gentiles, Jews, and heathens, your fellow sinners that they, like you have been chosen by God.
James mentions the law in this passage, but he doesn’t speak of the law as something that binds us, he speaks of the law of liberty. This is the freedom that you experience through the blessed gift of faith. This is the freedom that you experience because of the new life that you have been given in baptism. In baptism you have been claimed by the cross of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and you have been freed to live on the joy of the law of liberty.
This is the law that gives you the same freedom that we see at the end of the Gospel lesson for today where this group who, upon seeing Jesus heal a man of his deafness and give him the ability to speak, were so moved that they couldn’t help but go and tell everyone what they had seen.
The law of liberty that James speaks of frees you to live out the two commandments that Jesus promises can fulfill all the law and the prophets; the command to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and the command to love your neighbor. The law of liberty frees you to do what James writes of; to supply people their bodily needs, to share the Gospel with words and action, to not just tell people of the love of Christ, which is important, but to also show them with your actions. You do this not to as a way to know that you have been saved by faith, but rather because you have been saved by faith.
It doesn’t matter that God did not choose you first, He lives beyond those parameters of time anyway. What matters is that He chose you. In baptism, He claimed you as His own and freed you to live in the law of liberty; the law that calls you and frees you to not just proclaim God’s love but through the Holy Spirit to be the living embodiment of God’s love to the people on the margins of society, people like the gentile woman and the deaf man in today’s gospel lesson, people like your neighbor.
Amen
posted by Steve at 12:08 PM
1 Comments:
Nice sermon-you began real well, but kind-of peetered out at the end. You seemed to have 2 different sermons-one on Mark and the other on James. One could have forgotten what you first said by the end. Not too bad, nice sermon.
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