Sermon – Acts of Favoritism & Healing Rev. Sandy Lacey September 08, 2024
I am glad the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel text did not visit us last Sunday or read last week’s text from James – you know the one, “be slow to speak and quick to listen.” If she had not hunted Jesus down and spoke up, her daughter would not have been healed. And not only that, but she had the temerity to argue with Jesus about how she may not be God’s favorite (because she was not Jewish), but she still deserved some scraps from God. My colleague and friend in Dothan calls this passage, “Jesus’ conversion story.” Joe says this because Jesus words to the woman were harsh, calling her a dog as if she were somehow less than human; but after this encounter, he will not treat Gentiles in the same way as he did her. Now some people have tried to explain away Jesus’ harsh words in this passage by saying things like, “well, dog does not mean the same thing it does today – it was not an insult.” Or his words were merely a test for the woman so that she could express her faith. Or that he said it with a wry grin and a wink, as if he were joking. The truth is no one knows exactly how Jesus meant what he said. All we can go on is the Jewish understanding and treatment of Gentiles in that day, the nuances of the language, Jesus’ other interactions with Gentiles, and the overall context of the passage. In this Gospel we find that Jesus had already healed a Gentile when he cast out the demons from the man into a herd of swine. He did not win any friends in doing so (except, of course, the healed man!) So, in today’s passage, was Jesus just having a bad day, trying to hide out as the opening of the passage says? Maybe that is the reason for his dismissive and seemingly crass words to the woman. We will never know. What we do know is that Jesus moves from this place to other Gentile areas, healing and teaching as he goes. What we also know is that the Gentile woman breaks through the Jewish-Gentile barrier of Jesus’ background and culture to demand attention for her and her daughter. It is as if she says to him, “I know you do not consider me God’s favorite, but I (and my child) am important too. Please help me.” Good for her – she demonstrates great faith and determination and Jesus praises her for it in Matthew’s version of the same story. Our other Scripture today, James, is one of those books in the Bible that speaks of judgment and calls Christians to task for their poor and discriminatory practices of faith. First, James criticizes the early Christians for being pew potatoes (as I mentioned in last week’s sermon.) They know the right things to do – they have heard the word – and yet they have difficulty rising from the pew to become doers of the word. In today’s passage, James is concerned that the early Christians are doing worship and service wrong. They are displaying favoritism toward those who are rich over those who are poor. His words are harsh, saying that when we choose one over the other, it is as if we are choosing to follow only part of God’s Law. In doing so, James says, we will fail the whole Law. We do not get to pick and choose which parts of the Law we like. James reminds his readers that God ALWAYS favors, always honors, the poor and disenfranchised in our midst. Consequently, James tells us that we must do the same. Is he saying that we are to ignore the rich? No, because he is telling us to show no partiality – treat both the rich and the poor equally well with mercy and grace. The rich may be impoverished in faith, James says, and in need of mercy, acceptance, and love. The poor are impoverished in economics but may be rich in faith, abounding in mercy and generous with spirit. We are to treat both rich and poor equally, James says. We are not to erect barriers against those who are different from us. One of the things that have intrigued me over the years is to hear the response of people when asked the simple question, “how are you doing?” I heard the response, “I am blessed,” regularly when I have helped serve in food pantries in KY, AL, or FL. At the church where I served in Dothan, AL, people would line up each Wednesday to receive two free bags of groceries. I would greet the 50 plus people who came in each week and while they may have needed help with their food so they could pay their utility bill, they still claimed they were blessed. Their response reminds me that people who are challenged economically may be rich in faith, generous in spirit – blessed. Would that the rest of us could recognize blessings so readily! Could we live such lives of gratitude and mercy, so that we understand our lives to be blessed? With such a shift in our imaginations, imagine the blessing we could be to others! Instead, I witness that we worry about what we don’t have or worry about how we are going to pay for what we do have. We start acting as if resources are scarce, and that causes us to erect barriers. It becomes easy to hoard what we have, to be stingy about sharing, to be judgmental about those who have less, and to “play favorites.” The truth is that stinginess and hoarding is a condition that needs healing. On the other hand, those who are rich in faith, generous in spirit – regardless of financial resources – express gratitude for God’s good gifts of love and mercy. They recognize abundance in their midst, and they seek to give some of their blessings away. Doesn’t that sound like a better quality of life to live? Don’t you want to spend time with that person? Don’t you want to be that person? Speaking of lack, a few years ago I read a blog/ an article by a young Lutheran pastor in Canada. He said something rather interesting. He said that he is not worried about the decline in numbers we see happening in the institutional church in most parts of the world. Sure, it is likely to cause some major changes in the church’s future, but he feels what is happening is a kind of course correction. For many years our churches were filled with the social club set, he says. And now the social club set, the ones who were primarily involved because of surface reasons, have found other avenues for participation such as civic organizations, clubs, fantasy football leagues, etc. to engage their interest. What we have left in the churches, he says, are actual disciples – people who desire to learn about their faith and who desire to act out their faith. And so, to focus all our energy on making the worship and the programs more entertaining and attractive misses the point. Inspiration is the point. We are to simply (and profoundly) preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (love God with all that you are and love others as you love yourself.) We are to remind people that they are God’s children created for a purpose – blessed to be a blessing. We are to remind people that God asks us to live lives of abundance and mercy – mercy to ourselves and to everyone we meet. James tells us to not play favorites, to treat everyone equally. We have to be willing to examine our lives, our conscious and unconscious acts that we have done to demonstrate not only our personal favor, but also our interpretation of God’s favor. Whether it is over issues of race or sexuality or politics or age or . . . we often choose our favorites and insist they are God’s favorites too (which is blasphemous.) Over the years I have been asked my opinion on various topics and social issues. Like a number of us, I am probably left of center on many issues while right of center on others. As a general rule, though, I am more interested in erring (if I am going to err) on the side of inclusion, rather than exclusion. I do that because of what James says in this passage – that mercy always trumps judgment, that barriers do not display God’s kingdom, and that we are all God’s favorite. God shows no favoritism, and God expects us to do the same. James reminds us that God cares about those people in our midst who are poor. Therefore, we are to care about the poor and do something to demonstrate God’s love to them. Recognize your blessings, let go of your fear and anxiety, get rid of your judgmental favoritism, and put your faith into action to demonstrate God’s mercy. Do so and you may be surprised to see the healing that washes over the land like streams in the desert as the Prophet Isaiah predicts. Rockledge Presbyterian is not a social club; we gather here to worship God, learn more about who Jesus is and what he expects from us, so that we might go out into God’s world, giving grace and mercy to everyone we meet. AMEN.
I am glad the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel text did not visit us last Sunday or read last week’s text from James – you know the one, “be slow to speak and quick to listen.” If she had not hunted Jesus down and spoke up, her daughter would not have been healed. And not only that, but she had the temerity to argue with Jesus about how she may not be God’s favorite (because she was not Jewish), but she still deserved some scraps from God. My colleague and friend in Dothan calls this passage, “Jesus’ conversion story.” Joe says this because Jesus words to the woman were harsh, calling her a dog as if she were somehow less than human; but after this encounter, he will not treat Gentiles in the same way as he did her. Now some people have tried to explain away Jesus’ harsh words in this passage by saying things like, “well, dog does not mean the same thing it does today – it was not an insult.” Or his words were merely a test for the woman so that she could express her faith. Or that he said it with a wry grin and a wink, as if he were joking. The truth is no one knows exactly how Jesus meant what he said. All we can go on is the Jewish understanding and treatment of Gentiles in that day, the nuances of the language, Jesus’ other interactions with Gentiles, and the overall context of the passage. In this Gospel we find that Jesus had already healed a Gentile when he cast out the demons from the man into a herd of swine. He did not win any friends in doing so (except, of course, the healed man!) So, in today’s passage, was Jesus just having a bad day, trying to hide out as the opening of the passage says? Maybe that is the reason for his dismissive and seemingly crass words to the woman. We will never know. What we do know is that Jesus moves from this place to other Gentile areas, healing and teaching as he goes. What we also know is that the Gentile woman breaks through the Jewish-Gentile barrier of Jesus’ background and culture to demand attention for her and her daughter. It is as if she says to him, “I know you do not consider me God’s favorite, but I (and my child) am important too. Please help me.” Good for her – she demonstrates great faith and determination and Jesus praises her for it in Matthew’s version of the same story. Our other Scripture today, James, is one of those books in the Bible that speaks of judgment and calls Christians to task for their poor and discriminatory practices of faith. First, James criticizes the early Christians for being pew potatoes (as I mentioned in last week’s sermon.) They know the right things to do – they have heard the word – and yet they have difficulty rising from the pew to become doers of the word. In today’s passage, James is concerned that the early Christians are doing worship and service wrong. They are displaying favoritism toward those who are rich over those who are poor. His words are harsh, saying that when we choose one over the other, it is as if we are choosing to follow only part of God’s Law. In doing so, James says, we will fail the whole Law. We do not get to pick and choose which parts of the Law we like. James reminds his readers that God ALWAYS favors, always honors, the poor and disenfranchised in our midst. Consequently, James tells us that we must do the same. Is he saying that we are to ignore the rich? No, because he is telling us to show no partiality – treat both the rich and the poor equally well with mercy and grace. The rich may be impoverished in faith, James says, and in need of mercy, acceptance, and love. The poor are impoverished in economics but may be rich in faith, abounding in mercy and generous with spirit. We are to treat both rich and poor equally, James says. We are not to erect barriers against those who are different from us. One of the things that have intrigued me over the years is to hear the response of people when asked the simple question, “how are you doing?” I heard the response, “I am blessed,” regularly when I have helped serve in food pantries in KY, AL, or FL. At the church where I served in Dothan, AL, people would line up each Wednesday to receive two free bags of groceries. I would greet the 50 plus people who came in each week and while they may have needed help with their food so they could pay their utility bill, they still claimed they were blessed. Their response reminds me that people who are challenged economically may be rich in faith, generous in spirit – blessed. Would that the rest of us could recognize blessings so readily! Could we live such lives of gratitude and mercy, so that we understand our lives to be blessed? With such a shift in our imaginations, imagine the blessing we could be to others! Instead, I witness that we worry about what we don’t have or worry about how we are going to pay for what we do have. We start acting as if resources are scarce, and that causes us to erect barriers. It becomes easy to hoard what we have, to be stingy about sharing, to be judgmental about those who have less, and to “play favorites.” The truth is that stinginess and hoarding is a condition that needs healing. On the other hand, those who are rich in faith, generous in spirit – regardless of financial resources – express gratitude for God’s good gifts of love and mercy. They recognize abundance in their midst, and they seek to give some of their blessings away. Doesn’t that sound like a better quality of life to live? Don’t you want to spend time with that person? Don’t you want to be that person? Speaking of lack, a few years ago I read a blog/ an article by a young Lutheran pastor in Canada. He said something rather interesting. He said that he is not worried about the decline in numbers we see happening in the institutional church in most parts of the world. Sure, it is likely to cause some major changes in the church’s future, but he feels what is happening is a kind of course correction. For many years our churches were filled with the social club set, he says. And now the social club set, the ones who were primarily involved because of surface reasons, have found other avenues for participation such as civic organizations, clubs, fantasy football leagues, etc. to engage their interest. What we have left in the churches, he says, are actual disciples – people who desire to learn about their faith and who desire to act out their faith. And so, to focus all our energy on making the worship and the programs more entertaining and attractive misses the point. Inspiration is the point. We are to simply (and profoundly) preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ (love God with all that you are and love others as you love yourself.) We are to remind people that they are God’s children created for a purpose – blessed to be a blessing. We are to remind people that God asks us to live lives of abundance and mercy – mercy to ourselves and to everyone we meet. James tells us to not play favorites, to treat everyone equally. We have to be willing to examine our lives, our conscious and unconscious acts that we have done to demonstrate not only our personal favor, but also our interpretation of God’s favor. Whether it is over issues of race or sexuality or politics or age or . . . we often choose our favorites and insist they are God’s favorites too (which is blasphemous.) Over the years I have been asked my opinion on various topics and social issues. Like a number of us, I am probably left of center on many issues while right of center on others. As a general rule, though, I am more interested in erring (if I am going to err) on the side of inclusion, rather than exclusion. I do that because of what James says in this passage – that mercy always trumps judgment, that barriers do not display God’s kingdom, and that we are all God’s favorite. God shows no favoritism, and God expects us to do the same. James reminds us that God cares about those people in our midst who are poor. Therefore, we are to care about the poor and do something to demonstrate God’s love to them. Recognize your blessings, let go of your fear and anxiety, get rid of your judgmental favoritism, and put your faith into action to demonstrate God’s mercy. Do so and you may be surprised to see the healing that washes over the land like streams in the desert as the Prophet Isaiah predicts. Rockledge Presbyterian is not a social club; we gather here to worship God, learn more about who Jesus is and what he expects from us, so that we might go out into God’s world, giving grace and mercy to everyone we meet. AMEN.