Sermon: Cut it off for peace (Sept 26, 2021)

Full service can be viewed HERE. 

Pentecost 18B
September 26, 2021
Mark 9:38-50

INTRODUCTION

In two of our texts this week, Numbers and Mark, we get stories about one group of people judging another because they don’t act or believe the right way. That’s nothing we know anything about, right? Haha, right! We are all too familiar with having strong feelings about how something should be done, and who should be doing it, just like the Israelites and the disciples. These texts show us that, as Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” We all want the same thing and have the same goal, so have some grace for one another along the way. James will show us what the Church could look like instead – praying for the suffering, celebrating with the joyful, confessing when you’ve done wrong. It’s all so simple to say, but difficult to do when our pride and deeply held convictions are at stake! 

As you listen today, think about the ways you have, even with good intentions, tried to bring others down a notch, or tried to get them to see things your way (that is, of course, the right way), or accused them of something before recognizing the behavior also in yourself. We have all done these things. Let’s listen to how humans have done them all along, and what God has to say about it.

[READ]

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

This week at the United Nations General Assembly, General Secretary Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm on some major world issues. “The world must wake up,” he said. “We are on the edge of an abyss and moving in the wrong direction. Our world has never been more threatened, and more divided. We face the biggest cascade of crises in our lifetime.” He went on to cite the pandemic, climate change and multiple wars, and added, “A surge of mistrust and misinformation is polarizing people and paralyzing societies.” This is not news to anyone who has been paying attention, of course, but hearing it put so starkly on the global stage is unnerving. World leaders, including President Biden, tried to declare an effort toward peace, but of course the problems are big, as are the stakes and the egos of those involved, so peace can often seem like a far-off dream.

Now, I am a firm believer that Scripture cannot be honestly read in a vacuum. Because it is the living Word of God, it speaks to us differently based on what is going on in the world around us and in our personal lives. Even as it remains steadfast and unchanging, this living Word of God reveals to us different truths, depending on what we are going through. It hits on different parts of our hearts. And so, in light of what is happening in the world around me, and around us, the line that hit me especially hard this week was the last one of Jesus’ sermon: Be at peace with one another.

Do you remember a time when we felt at peace with one another – globally, as a country, or even in our personal lives, which are also wrought with pain, brokenness, and conflict? I can think of a few moments, but by and large, “peace with one another” is a dream unrecognized, or even one that seems unattainable. And yet, I believe it is something we all want, right? I mean sure, there are some who really thrive on drama and conflict, but in the end, to be at peace with one another sounds to me like a pretty good thing.

Turns out, peace was an unrecognized ideal for Mark’s community, too. Scholars generally agree that the community for which Mark was writing was dealing with some level of division. We don’t know what about exactly – perhaps it was gnostic versus orthodox views of Jesus, or people who had stayed steadfast in the midst of persecution versus those who had left when the going got tough and now wanted back in. Whatever it was, there were significant divisions. And so, Mark includes this little incident from Jesus’ life and teaching as a way of inviting them to use Jesus’ story to reframe how they think about their lives, their commitments, their identity and their understanding of what makes up an authentic Christian community. 

Two thousand years later, this story serves the same purpose for us. We, too, live with painful divisions, in our homes, in our country, and in our world. We too, need some guidance from our Lord.

Of course, Jesus doesn’t offer the disciples or us any kind, sweet words. That would have been nice, wouldn’t it, because when we are in pain, we just like to be comforted, sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” and move on. But in today’s text, Jesus takes a different route: he uses a shock tactic. The disciples come tattling on someone who is not doing things the way they think they should be done, and the harsh language Jesus uses in his rebuke is a really good reason not to read everything in the Bible literally – because if we did, we’d all be trying to stay afloat with millstones around our necks, with eye patches and wrapped stumps instead of hands and feet. These are not the sort of loving words we long to hear from Jesus! Could he possibly have really meant we should resort to self-mutilation when we realize we have sinned?

This is an example of something that should be taken seriously, but not literally. Jesus is being hyperbolic, or perhaps using metaphor, to get our attention and hit home a point, to show us how very seriously we are to take sin, sin that would keep us or someone else from reaching God. Take very seriously the danger of stumbling blocks along this path – so seriously, in fact, that you would go to great lengths to be sure that these stumbling blocks are removed.

In Jesus’ hyperbolic language, removal is straightforward: simply cut it off and throw it into the fire. Drown it in the sea. Discard it. In real life, removing stumbling blocks is not so simple, because the stumbling blocks themselves cannot always be clearly seen. So how do we find them? Well, with something like a tumor, it is more straightforward: you get a scan to determine where exactly the tumor is, so you know what, exactly, needs to be removed, and then remove it. While sin is more complicated, the principle is the same: the first step for removal is to take a self-scan to determine what is blocking your path to a life-giving relationship with God and with God’s people, and then work to remove it. 

So let’s do it: what sorts of things could be stumbling blocks for us? Think for a minute… Could it be your pride? Your insistence that you are right on an issue and anyone who doesn’t believe that must be ignorant or blind? … 

Could it be your temper, how quick you are to jump to judge, attack, and dismiss or push away, rather than reflect and respond thoughtfully and compassionately? … 

Could it be your envy, jealousy, or insecurity, and a desire to tear down another so you don’t feel so bad about yourself? … 

Could it be a grudge, that thing that you just can’t bring yourself to forgive, because holding onto it gives you a sense of power and control over the offender, or it just makes you feel safer? … 

Could it be an addiction, a place or substance you go to when you feel lonely or self-loathing so you can self-medicate, rather than finding your strength in God?  

You see there are so many stumbling blocks in our lives. I can check several of those boxes myself, and many more that I didn’t mention. There are so many things, you see, that get in the way of the path I want to be walking, the path that leads to Christ, the path that leads to life.

It is painful… but once we can recognize what those stumbling blocks are, we can hear Jesus’ harsh words more like redemptive ones: cut it off. Get rid of the stumbling block, that thing that really is causing you to continue in your suffering. Get rid of it by whatever means necessary. Stop nursing the grudge. Move past that relationship that is draining the life out of you. Reconsider that point of view or defense mechanism you have developed that has kept you safe all these years, but that is tearing down other beloved children of God and damaging your relationships. Change that unhealthy lifestyle. Kick that addiction. 

Of course, life-giving as those choices may ultimately be, none of them is easy. In fact, they might even feel like what Jesus describes: like losing a limb or an eye, or like drowning, or even like death. In a way, it is – anytime you say goodbye to something that, unhealthy though it may be, has held a prominent place in your life, it requires a sometimes painful adjustment. As one commentator writes, “Jesus knows what he is talking about; it hurts to change! It hurts to cut off the precious, familiar things we cling to for dear life—even as those things slowly kill us. The bottle. The affair. The obsession with money. The decades-old shame. The resentment, the victimhood, the self-hatred, the rigidity.” 

But, once we do cut those things off… there is where new life begins. There is where the pathway to God gets a little less rocky. There is where we can live into that final line of Jesus’ sermon: “be at peace with one another,” experiencing the hope and love and grace of God not in some heaven some time and distance away, but right here, right now. Because that, my friends, is how God works: death must happen in order for us to get to new and abundant life in Christ. It may well hurt along the way. Jesus knows that! But the reward – whether a cup of cold water, or an important reconnection, or peace on earth, or life everlasting – is worth it.

I wonder what would happen in our world, our country, and our families if we could follow Jesus’ advice: cutting off greed, pride, anger, grudges, and a need for control, and instead seeking understanding, self-awareness, genuine listening, and compassion? We might just find that living at peace with one another wasn’t some far-off dream after all. We might find that we would all be just a bit closer to the new life that is promised through Christ our Lord.

Let us pray… God of peace, you show us the way to life, but the way is rough and difficult. In your grace and mercy, help us to remove the stumbling blocks along the way, so that we might, with all your children, live at peace with one another. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon: Culture drivers and the Gospel (Sept 19, 2021)

 Note: today was our annual church picnic, and I used the opportunity to draw the congregation in to conversation about some of the strategic planning we are doing. 

Pentecost 17B
September 19, 2021
Mark 9:30-37

[INTRODUCTION]

You’ll notice we are only hearing two of our usual four readings today. The reason for that is mostly practical (time-saver), and also because James and Mark really go so nicely together today, speaking right to some of our most human characteristics of selfish ambition and thinking ourselves better than others. Today we are recognizing God’s Work, Our Hands day, a national ELCA day of service, by giving generously to many who are in great need locally and abroad, and Jesus’ words that to be truly great is to serve one who has nothing to give in a return are encouraging for us in this work. As a part of the sermon, I will leave some room to discuss how St. Paul’s serves our community, and how we can be more intentional in this service. So listen carefully, and be ready to contribute to the proclamation of the word! Let’s listen.

[READ]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

As you may be aware, our St. Paul’s council has, for the past several months, been working on a something of a strategic plan, or at least looking more from the balcony at our community and our ministry, discerning our unique story and how we want to live into it, and discovering what ministries our members truly are passionate about. We’ve drawn into the conversation several people in the congregation from different demographics and printed our progress in the newsletter and invited you to reflect on it on your own. From these conversations, we have written our story – who we are, and how we feel God is calling us – which you can find on the insert in the bulletin. 

During a pandemic, though, it is hard to get groups of people together to talk about it! So we are going to use some of this sermon time to continue this conversation, in part using today’s Gospel reading as a guide. I’ll start with a little textual context, and then we’ll invite you to have some conversation with those around you. Okay? 

Today’s Gospel includes Jesus’ second passion and resurrection prediction (the story that is the heart of our faith and what drives all we do). It’s followed by this very human moment for the disciples where they miss the point and instead argue with each other over who is better like a couple of kids in a school yard. And then we get this beautiful image in which Jesus shows them what true discipleship looks like: that is, to be humble enough to welcome and serve even someone who has no status, and very little to offer in return. 

These points all fit nicely into what our council discerned as some of our congregations’ main “culture drivers” – that is, things that we as a congregation already do naturally, but that we could strive to do with more intention. The culture drivers we lifted up were:

• That we as a congregation are generous, and eager to serve each other and our community. 

• That we are a welcoming congregation, non-judgmental, and accepting of people wherever they are in their life’s journey. 

• And, that we have a high value of our kids and youth, and what they have to offer our congregation. 

Let’s start with that last one, about children and youth. This moment in the story when Jesus picks up a small child and says, “Whoever welcomes a child like this, welcomes me, and welcomes the one who sent me” – people love that. Today we almost revere our children, and churches long to have more of them in their congregation. As I said, we already place a high value on welcoming children – but our goal with these conversations is not to pat ourselves on the back for all our good work (like Jesus’ disciples do!), but to say, “How could we do this better? How could we do it with more intention? How are we falling short of doing this the best we can? How can we best nurture our children and youth in faith and prayer, and what will it take to do that?

Next, let’s look at welcome – the point of Jesus placing this child in their midst was to say, “Here is someone with no status and little to offer you in return. Stop worrying about who among you is greater, who has more status, and start caring about extending grace and love and welcome even to those with no status.” Welcome and acceptance was something that came up strongly when we were working on writing our story: we observed that our congregation is made up of people with lots of questions, and at various points in their faith journey, and that we at St. Paul’s make room for them all. I agree! But how are we communicating that? How would someone know that, walking into our building or looking at our programs, or spending one Sunday morning with us? How would people know there is space for them and their questions here, regardless of their status, skin color, sexual orientation, physical or mental health, or past experience? What does welcome actually look like at St. Paul’s?

Finally, we are a generous congregation of servants. We all see that call in scripture – Jesus says today, after describing his own self-giving love, that “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” So, St. Paul’s has an impressive list of organizations we support – except that the support offered is mostly financial, and each organization tends to be something that one person spearheads, but others may or may not be that interested in beyond writing a check. So, one thing we have discerned as a council is the need to streamline our social ministry, to figure out what members of this congregation as a whole are truly passionate about, and focus and direct our energy there. In order to do this, some other things must, well, die, because we can’t do it all, at least not well. Just like Jesus also says today, and like I talked about last week in my sermon: sometimes things, even things we have loved or counted on, have to die, because that is necessary for something new to be born. Life must be lost in order for resurrection to come about. And that is terrible and difficult, but it is the way Jesus brought about eternal life for us, so I assure you it is worth the effort! 

What do you think? In your bulletin, you will find some discussion questions about these points. We’re going to give you a few minutes to talk about them. I ask that someone at your table jot down some notes so I can read your thoughts later. Due to the bigness of these questions and a desire for good stewardship of time, I invite you to choose one question from the list to discuss more in depth. If you have time, try two. I’ll start us off with prayer, and, after a few minutes, I will bring us back together with a prayer as well. Let us pray…

Gracious God, as we discuss the ministry of this, your church, make us wise and understanding, with eyes to see and ears to hear. Place your mission into our hearts. Draw near to us, as we strive to draw nearer to you. Amen.

I invite you now to join the conversation!

[5-8 min of conversation…]

Let us pray… We thank you, Lord God, for being present in our conversations today. What you have put on our hearts, now give us the will and the strength to pursue, so that all we do as a congregation would be for your glory, and in humble service to you and to your children. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Discussion questions:

Children/Youth and Faith Formation

One casualty during the pandemic has been Sunday School and faith formation as we knew it. Truth is, with all the other demands of life, it wasn’t really working that well for us even before. If how we did Sunday School before were to die, what might be resurrected in its place? Consider these possibilities:

• What would it look like to equip parents to do more faith formation at home?

• What would be some benefits of cross-generational faith formation, and how might that look?

• What are some ways we could support our children in every step of their journey of faith, keeping the promise we make at the font to “nurture them in faith and prayer”?

Welcome and Community

The pandemic has placed barriers to getting people in the door, but simultaneously opened a whole new avenue to reach people online. Yet in a time when people need hope, grace, and spiritual support more than ever, something still keeps people from engaging. Why do you think that is? Whom could you ask? What would communicate to the community (on Sunday mornings, throughout the week, in our physical space…) that this is a place where people can bring their baggage, beauty, and brokenness, and find love and grace?

Social Ministry

Today we are collecting funds for Loop (feeding local people), Saints’ Place (aiding refugees, currently esp. from Afghanistan), and Lutheran Disaster Relief (direct aid, especially related to climate change). 

• Which of these three issues (feeding people, refugees, climate change) most excites you, and why? 

• Is there another issue or concern that is heavy on your heart? (e.g. racism, children and/or education, mental health, LGBTQ issues, housing…)

• What issue would you say St. Paul’s is most passionate about as a whole, and what makes you say that?

Sermon: Lose your life to find it (Sept 12, 2021)

 Full service (except the beginning... tech difficulties!) HERE.

Pentecost 16B
Sept. 12, 2021
Mark 8:27-38

INTRODUCTION

“The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.” I love this line from our reading from James today, and I think it offers great insight for all of our readings. We will see a lot today about how the tongue, that is, what we say, can praise God and deny God, in quick succession. It can heal, and cause great pain. It can bless, and it can curse. In our readings, we will see the tongue used for all these things and more. Yet thanks be to God that no matter what situation our tongue may get us into (and the apostle Peter can tell you a lot about this!), God’s grace for us is always bigger. Listen today for words of guidance, as well as words of grace. Let’s listen.

[READ]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back.” It’s a sweet, simple song, one I learned as a kid and maybe some of you did, too. There are some theological concerns about it for Lutherans – like, do we really decide to follow Jesus, or does Jesus choose us in baptism and we respond – but at the end of the day, it goes pretty well with today’s Gospel lesson, in which Jesus lays out what it really means to follow him, in some of the more famous words of the Gospels: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

Imagine how shocking this must have been to hear for Jesus’ disciples. Here they have given up everything to follow Jesus, and now Jesus is upping the ante: deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me. Take up your instrument of torture and public humiliation and follow me. Youch! Do you still want to decide to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back?

Well, before we throw in the towel, let’s look more carefully at what this might mean. First, Jesus says that those who want to follow him must “deny themselves.” This may rub the wrong way for people in a culture so focused on encouraging people to be exactly who they were created to be, to embrace your God-given identity, gifts, and talents. And isn’t scripture replete with that message – the idea that we are each endowed with unique and wonderful gifts, and we should not deny those gifts, but rather, be empowered by the Spirit to use them for the good of the world? Yes, yes we should. Jesus is not undermining that message at all. When he says, “Deny yourself,” he does not mean, be someone other than who you are. Rather, what Jesus is urging his followers to do is to deny our natural human inclination toward selfishness, and putting our own comfort and needs first, to deny our various unhealthy fixations that keep us from closeness with God. Instead, we are to focus on God and what God is calling us to, namely, to love God and our neighbor. To deny ourselves is to let go of all those shields and walls and coping mechanisms we have come to rely upon, and trust instead in God’s grace for us. 

Next, Jesus urges followers to take up their cross and follow him. This is one of the most painfully misused and misunderstood things Jesus says. To be clear – Jesus is not advocating for us to just grin and bear it when we are suffering or victimized. Too often this text has been used flippantly or even abusively, justifying mistreatment or even violence, as in, “That’s just your cross to bear.” But Jesus has spent the previous seven chapters alleviating unnecessary suffering – healing the sick, casting out demons, feeding the hungry. This sort of suffering is not ordained by God. What Jesus is talking about is a sort of suffering that comes with being his disciple, and that is the persecution that sometimes comes along with that gig. Being a follower of Jesus is counter-cultural. You don’t always fit in. We are blessed to live in a country that allows for religious freedom, so the level of persecution isn’t the same as what the early Christians faced, or what Christians in other parts of the world face. But there is some level of suffering that comes from living the life that Christ calls us to – because that life is really hard! And that, is our cross to bear: living the life Christ calls us to, even when it is hard and contrary to the ways of the world around us.

And finally, Jesus says that those who lose their life for his sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it. This is such a compelling concept, and one so central to the Christian faith – that when life is lost, life is saved. It is, of course, the story of resurrection, in which life was lost on Good Friday, and eternal and abundant life was found on Easter morning. But it is a story that is central to our lives all the time, even apart from Lent and the Easter season. Indeed, we all have such stories of when the resurrection became very real to us, when we experienced a sort of death, and then saw the new life that came from that death.

We were talking about this in the Dorcas Rachel women’s group this week. Our monthly program through the fall is that we are working through a Bible study exploring the Holy Spirit, and this week we were talking about ways the Holy Spirit comes alongside us and guides us toward Jesus. I asked if anyone there had, either personally or with a loved one, experienced what is sometimes called a “rock bottom” time, that is, a major breaking point, a time when things got just about as bad as you could handle. Almost everyone raised their hand. I often think of those times as a Good Friday – those moments when the sky has darkened, the earth shakes, and all you can see are endings and sadness and hopelessness. I have experienced such a time with a loved one, and I suspect most of you have, too. It is fearful and devastating. 

And then comes the three days – that time when God doesn’t feel as present, when we are lost, and uncertain, and wandering in a sort of wilderness of grief, doubt, even fear. It’s a time with more questions than answer, and it usually lasts far longer than a mere three days. Even as Christians who believe in resurrection, it can be hard during that three-days time to remember that there is life on the other side of this, that it ends with Easter. But even when we can remember, that Easter promise of new life feels at once so close we can taste it, and also so far we think we’ll never get there. 

But of course, we do get there. That is the promise of our faith – that Easter does, always, come. There is always new life. That new life doesn’t always look like we expected it would, and that Easter isn’t even always joy and sunshine – remember, the Easter accounts in the Gospels are all full of fear and doubt, as well as joy! But we know that, because God is the one bringing it about, and God is good, that such life that follows death is just what it needs to be, just what God ordained. And that new life could not have come about, were it not for the death that made it both necessary and possible.

What about you? What are your stories of deaths, and what is the life that has come from them? Perhaps you are experiencing a sort of death right now – a kid gone off to college, a loved one died, a breaking or broken relationship, a breach of trust. Even good things can be deaths – a marriage is the death of single life, a birth is the death of taking care primarily of yourself. We face these big and little losses every day. What is your story? …

And while we can’t always see the big picture in the midst of things, what is the life, the resurrection, that you have experienced by losing some part of your life as you know it? How is God using death to bring about life in you?

Friends, our faith is one of resurrection, but resurrection cannot come until something has died, until we have lost our lives for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the Gospel. Until we have denied ourselves, and taken up our crosses. Until we have given up the identity the world tried to give us and taken on the identity that Christ gives us: as beloved children of God. But when resurrection does come, we shall indeed have life, and have it abundantly.

Let us pray. God of life, you have endowed us with many good things, but we also face many challenges in our lives, many denials and brokenness and deaths. Help us to see that in you, death is always followed by resurrection. Grant us the courage to believe this, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon: Be opened, be opened, be opened (Sept 5, 2021)

Full service can be viewed HERE.

 Pentecost 15B

Sept. 5, 2021

Mark 7:24-37

INTRODUCTION

As I mentioned last week, we are back in the Gospel of Mark, after several weeks in John. Now, Mark and John have very different depictions of Jesus – both acknowledge that he is both fully human and fully divine, but they have different, shall we say, emphases. I had a Bible professor in college who made this observation about the difference: in Mark, she said, Jesus wears the cloak of humanity – meaning his divinity is well-hidden by his humanity – where in John, Jesus wears the bikini of humanity, not at all hiding his divinity. This trait of Mark, in which Jesus is portrayed as very human, is obvious today. First, in his exchange with a Gentile woman, he is, uh, less than respectful and compassionate, calling her a racial slur and then saying she must wait her turn to have her daughter healed. In the second story, Jesus groans and sighs and uses his own spit to heal a man. In today’s story, we can really identify with Jesus’ humanness.

But emphases in today’s readings also include healing (from a demon, and from other various physical impairments), as well as mercy for those in need, whoever they are. You will see those themes echoed strongly in all of the readings today. So, notice the ways that God heals and shows mercy, even if it is not as we would have expected. Let’s listen.

[READ]

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Be opened.” These words Jesus utters in Aramaic with a sigh toward heaven in the second half of our Gospel reading today have been echoing through my head all week. Be opened. Maybe they are just words, a command offered to a deaf man’s ears and to that man’s mute tongue. Maybe they have no further, significant meaning, and no relationship to anything other than what is right before him.

But this week, I am experiencing them far more deeply.

First of all, there is the encounter that precedes those words, with the Syrophoenician woman – a troubling encounter, if we’re honest, because in it, Jesus does not come out looking as loving and compassionate as we are accustomed to seeing him. A woman in need comes to him, desperate for her daughter to be healed. She is very much an “other,” as Mark makes clear by saying both that she is Greek and of Syrophoenician origin. She is a Gentile, not one of the children of Israel to whom Jesus says he was sent. Plus, she is a woman. Plus, she has just barged into this house where Jesus has gone in an effort to escape for a while – Mark tells us Jesus didn’t want anyone to know he was there. It’s a perfect storm, really, and Jesus responds to her request not with compassion, but with an insult, indirectly calling her a dog, and saying he will not yet grant her request. “It is not fair,” he says, “to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

Ouch. It’s a cringeworthy reply. The woman, though, is undeterred, and like a Judo master she turns the power of Jesus’s own words against him: “A dog, am I? Sure, I’ll accept that. But even dogs get to eat the children’s crumbs from the table.” Bam – mic drop! Jesus is convinced by her savvy, and he heals her daughter. Even more, this encounter marks a turning point in Jesus’ ministry – from this point on, his ministry does include those outside the Jewish community. Immediately after today’s reading, he will even feed 4000 people in this Gentile territory, with far more than crumbs from the table. In other words, after this encounter, Jesus’ mission truly does broaden to include more than the children of Israel; it comes to include Gentiles as well (which is really good news for us!). 

Be opened. Be opened to strangers and others having something to say that you need to hear. Be opened to heading down a different path than you originally planned. Be opened to the insights of others. 

When Jesus then goes on to say these words, “be opened,” to the man who is deaf and mute, it seems obvious that he is directing them toward the man’s ears and tongue, right? But reading them right after this story of the Syrophoenician woman, I read those words differently. Mark often shares wonderful details about the life of Jesus, and in this healing story, we get a couple of juicy ones. First, Jesus spits, then he looks up to heaven, and then he sighs. This man, too, is likely a Gentile whom Jesus is healing, as he tries his hand at this expanded mission of his. And I wonder if, as Jesus is looking up to his Father in heaven, he is sighing and saying, “Okay, Dad, I get it. Be opened. I’m up for the task.” And he puts his own blood and spit into the effort. And the man is immediately healed. 

Be opened. Be opened to seeing a new way. Be opened to redirection. Be opened to hearing the voice of God. Be opened.

So yes, I’ve been thinking about all of this: about Jesus’ own openness, about his willingness to hear God’s word through the voice of a woman he had little interest in seeing, about the possibility of going a way that had not yet been considered. 

But more specifically, I have been trying to hear those words, “be opened,” spoken into my own life. I am someone who, especially when I have a big decision to make, looks for God’s voice and gentle guidance anywhere I can find it. I obviously seek it in scripture (I’m literally doing that aloud with you right now!), but I also often seek it in the words of dear friends, or in whatever song randomly pops up when I get in the car, or even in something I just keep noticing in a way I hadn’t before. For example, once, in the midst of making some important decisions, and I found myself noticing how frequently the image of a bird kept presenting itself. Birds flying across my path or sitting on my house, friends using bird analogies, songs about birds getting stuck in my head. Each time, I noticed how free and unbound these birds were. Was God trying to open my ears, my heart, my eyes, to learn something from all these birds, from their freedom and unbound-ness? What was God saying – to what was I being opened? All these birds may have seemed inconsequential, if I hadn’t been actively seeking God’s guidance. I may not have even noticed all the birds at all. But with ears, eyes, and tongue opened, I was drawn into wondering what new thing God was nudging me toward. 

Be opened. Be opened to seeing God where you didn’t expect. Be opened to God’s direction for you. Be opened to trusting God in a way you haven’t before, believing only that if you jump, God will catch you. Be opened.

And this brings me back to the story of this Syrophoenician woman, which I find so captivating. She is gutsy and bold, this one. She is persistent. Today is my daughter Grace’s 6th birthday. One of her favorite books is called She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World. Grace wants so badly to persist at something, to trailblaze, to be the first woman to do something important. (Her most recent idea is to be the first woman on the moon.) She also wants to meet what she calls “a persist-y woman,” a woman who beats the odds, aspires, and inspires. Well, the woman in this story is indeed a “persist-y” woman, who advocates for herself and her daughter at the very feet of Jesus. What trust! What openness to God’s power! Her very persistence seems to speak to us as much as anything else in this story, for in Jesus’ initial no, she finds the hidden yes. She finds in him the yes beneath the no, trusting as she does in God’s mercy, in God’s openness to her and to her needs, leaving space enough for mercy to fall even on one of the dogs under the table. She is open to, and persists in finding, God’s yes.

“Be opened,” she seems to say in her pleas – says it perhaps to Jesus, but all the more to us. Be opened to God’s redemptive work even when all you hear is “no.” Be opened to the possibility that what is on the surface isn’t all there is, that with more persistence you can get to God’s yes. Be opened to a new and abundant life you had, until now, only hoped for, but which can indeed be yours by grace through faith in the One who always hears our pleas, who grants us mercy, and to whom we absolutely matter. 

Be opened.

Let us pray… Merciful God, you command our hearts, minds, ears and eyes to be opened. Help us to hear the command, and to do it, so that we would see the abundant life you want for us, and to which you are bringing us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.