Worship Kit for August 16, 2020

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Jesus Said What!?

**Please take a few deep breaths to center yourself, light a candle, and do what you need to do in order to create an atmosphere of intentional worship**

GREETING

OPENING SONG

Great Are You Lord (lyrics below)

OPENING PRAYER {by enfleshed}

Come, Spirit of Christ, and uproot from within us anything that deadens from within. Wherever fear rules our choices, transform our minds and make us brave in spirit. Where we have grown cold to the needs of our neighbors, soften our hearts and fill us with generosity. Where pain threatens our capacities for connection, surround us with community to help us shoulder the load. Keep us on the path of liberation and let nothing lead us astray. Amen.

SCRIPTURE

            Matthew 15: 10-28 (NRSV)

                        ¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹² Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.^[a] And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

            ²¹ Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

SERMON

In the 1996 film, Jack, Robin Williams plays the title character Jack Powell, a boy who ages four times faster than the average person due to an exaggerated case of Werner Syndrome. 10 years after he is born, Jack is seen as a 10-year-old in the body of a forty-year-old. 

The movie pans to show a group of 10-year-old boys standing outside Jack’s house, telling stories of lore of the monstrosity of a human that lives in this house, and Jack scares them away by playing a prank. Eventually, Jack’s private tutor suggests that Jack be put in public school. Fearing the ridicule, he may face, Jack’s parents initially reject the idea, but to give their child the best life he deserves, they eventually decide to place Jack in public school.

            When Jack attends school, the fears of his parents are realized. He is teased and taunted. Jack is cast aside by several of the kids and called ‘freak’ because he looks like the other kids’ parents. Jack is an outsider because he doesn’t fit the standardized understanding of what a 10-year-old should look like.

            Our Scripture this morning is complex and complicated.

            In verse 10, Jesus is addressing the crowds, informing them that it is not what goes into our mouths that makes one unclean; rather, it is what comes out of your mouth that makes you unclean. You see, for our Jewish siblings, the Torah (or first 5 books of our modern day Bible), lays out very clearly what a person should and should not eat based on their understanding of what made a person clean and unclean in the sight of God. In the ancient and modern Jewish culture, there are certain foods that can and cannot be eaten.

            For Jesus’ hearers and audience, it was a very clear. If you ate the meat of an animal with a cloven hoof you were deemed unclean. This meant that you were cast out until you were able to a cleansing ritual that would wash you of your inequities and make you right with God again. And for the crowd that Jesus was talking to, their religious law was the same as their civil law, so everyone was under scrutiny around what they did and did not consume.

            But Jesus tells them that it isn’t what goes in your mouth that makes you unclean. This is the exact opposite of what their holy texts taught them. So when the disciple’s show up and tell Jesus that some of the religious leaders are offended at what Jesus said, it’s because they have every right to be! Jesus is literally contradicting what the law says. And this is throwing everyone into a tizzy.

            Jesus goes on to explain that everything we eat goes into our bodies, gets digested by the stomach, and enters into the sewers. He continues by telling people that what comes out of our mouth comes from our hearts and that is what defiles because our hearts are corrupt by the ways of the world. We, here and now, have hearts that are more focused on our own self-preservation and what benefits us and our loved ones. Greed, notoriety, hurt, deceit are all things that reside in our hearts. And when we speak from those spaces, even though our intentions feel kind and good, we end up hurting and defiling God’s good creation.

            Dock Hollingsworth of Feasting on the Word writes, “while most people are preoccupied with what would defile and hurt the body, Jesus was more concerned with what comes out of our bodies that can defile and hurt the world.”

            The concern about food purity was real and legit and a way that our Jewish siblings have interacted and communed with the Divine. It was their understanding and belief that these rules and regulations needed to be followed in order to keep people clean and in right relationship with God. So when Jesus pushes back on that, it’s confusing; especially because Jesus is Jewish and these are rules and regulations he would have followed. Yet, Jesus is concerned with how we treat one another, and shares that when we speak from places that are not of God, we harm and defile the rest of creation.

            As the Scripture continues, we come to the encounter of the Canaanite woman. In the Gospel of Mark, it’s the encounter with the Syrophoenician Woman. Either way, noting that she is a Canaanite Woman tells us that this is someone who is on the very outskirts of society.

            First, she’s a Canaanite. Israelites and Canaanites have had a long-standing rivalry and hatred towards one another. The Land of Canaan was the land that the tribes of Israel conquered. And the people of Canaan were outsiders. They were not God’s chosen and so they were less-than. So Jesus and his followers come from a tradition and history that has always put the Canaanites on the outside.

            Second, she is a woman. In ancient Israel, women were second-class citizens. They were considered property and it was a huge cultural no-no for a woman to talk with a Jewish man.

            Third, to set her apart even further, this woman is coming to advocate for mercy and healing for her daughter who was possessed by a demon. Demonic possessions put you into a class of untouchability because of how unclean one was believed to be.

            So this unnamed woman has three strikes against her as far as any respect or standing in the community. She’s a Canaanite, a woman, and her daughter is possessed. She is as far removed from the community as one can get. Yet, she knows of Jesus and she comes to him pleading, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!”

            This is a person who Jesus does not know. The disciples are even annoyed with her coming and bothering them and they tell Jesus to just turn her away. She’s shouting at them and they want her gone. She’s a freak and doesn’t deserve to be acknowledged in their minds. And she isn’t. When she cries out, Jesus didn’t answer her. He ignores her plea. When the disciples tell him to send her away, he answers, but he does not specifically address the woman. Rather, all Jesus says is, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

            In this moment, Jesus is drawing a line. He knows she’s a Canaanite woman, and he’s telling her that he only came for Israel, a land that she is not a part of. 

            Nonetheless, the woman takes the posture of worship and kneels before him and asks again for his help. Jesus retorts back that it isn’t fair and goes as far as to refer to her as a dog. An insult that is still as bad today as it was back then.

            Oof.                                                          

            Our Scripture is complex and complicated because right before this moment with the Canaanite woman, Jesus is telling people that it isn’t what we eat that makes us unclean; rather, it’s what we say and the things that come from our mouths. And then we have this moment in which Jesus says something unkind to a woman who is thrice down on her luck. She is an outcast, a freak, someone in desperate need of help for her child, and she is rejected and insulted by the person who she knew and believed could heal her daughter.

            So what do we do with this?

            Often times we want to make excuses for Jesus. Perhaps he was tired. We all get a little edgy when we are tired or hungry. Or perhaps this was just a human-moment and his compassion was down for a hot minute. 

            What I encourage and implore you to do, however, is to sit with this story and it’s complexity a little while longer. This is a story that highlights the moments in our life that we don’t like to talk about so much – the moments when we feel that God has let us down. The frustration with bad things that happen to good people.

            This is a concept that has baffled theologians, scholars, and philosophers for a long time. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why weren’t my prayers of healing met with a cure for my cancer? Why weren’t my prayers of protection and safety listened to when my friend got into that car wreck and is now paralyzed?

            And it is easy to focus on God and Jesus and their roles in the world, but I want to take your focus to the Canaanite woman for a moment. This is a woman who KNOWS she is an outsider. She has been told her entire life, and the divide is reinforced in this interaction. Nonetheless, she persisted.

            But why? Why did she continue to plead with Jesus to heal her daughter when she knew it was a long shot? Because she knew that she was worthy and deserving of mercy. She understood the greater depths of God’s love and mercy for creation than the disciples. She is the only person in Scripture to verbally spar with Jesus and win. She boldly tells Jesus that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. And in this moment, Jesus responds and grants mercy and healing.

            The Canaanite Woman realizes that God is a God of mercy and that God chooses to be merciful always and always. So she persists and calls Jesus to task despite the very real divide between her and Jesus.

            As humans, we thrive on order and structure. We are hard-wired to love binaries and dichotomies. Left-handed and right-handed. Up and down. Yes and no. Right and wrong. If we know what is right, then we won’t do what is wrong. We are rewarded for following the rules and doing the ‘right’ thing. So, when we are faced with a Scripture that shows Jesus initially not doing the right thing, we are forced into a grey, middle area that is hard for us to compute. And while it’s important for us to hang out in this grey area, the larger lesson here is that God’s mercy and grace thrive in the grey, middle area.

            We as humans are quick to determine who is in and who is out. For Jesus’ hearers, the Canaanite woman with a demon-possessed daughter was very clearly out. Who is that for us today? 

Growing up, I was the outsider because I wore Champion clothes and not Nike or Adidas. Today it’s Apple or Android; Democrat or Republican; Vikings or Packers. And each side believes the other side is the outsider, undeserving of grace or mercy.

            But what the story of the Canaanite woman tells us is that God’s mercy and grace picks the side of creation no matter what. God’s mercy and grace has no outsiders. All of God’s creation is worthy and deserving of mercy, and the Canaanite woman demonstrates that to us.

            This story is about the hard truth that more often than not, God’s grace is extended to the very person we have determined doesn’t deserve it. I will say that again. God’s grace is extended to the very person that you and I have determined is on the outside and, therefore, undeserving of God’s grace. Grace and mercy are not fair. Grace and mercy are beyond us and of God, extended to all who come and ask no matter their social standing, their gender, their faith affiliation, their abilities or disabilities. God’s mercy and grace demolishes our neat little boxes and draws us into deeper, more authentic relationship with one another. And in this deeper community, healing is found.

            For Jack, he was the outsider because of something that was out of his control. But he was offered grace from Louis who needed someone to play on his pick-up basketball team against the school bullies. Through this invitation, the students in Jack’s class come to realize the very thing that Jack and his parents knew – that Jack deserved to live an abundant life of belonging.

            And Jesus, despite the toughness of this Scripture, shows us that God’s mercy and grace extends to all people – Jews and Canaanites, Packers and Vikings, men and women, Republicans and Democrats, demon-possessed and restored. And that we are called into drawing our circles much wider than we already do and to bear the Good News, that Jesus came and died for ALL of God’s children. May we hear these words, know them in our hearts, and be bold in extending God’s mercy and grace. Amen.

OFFERING

            Your financial gifts help support the ministry of Hope UMC to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. There are two ways to give back to God

Mail:   Hope UMC 301 St Marie St Duluth, MN 55803
Online:   www.hopemethodistchurch.com/giving

SONG

The Gift of Love UMH #408 (lyrics below)

PASTORAL PRAYER & THE LORD’S PRAYER

CLOSING SONG

Lord, I Want To Be a Christian UMH #402 (lyrics below)

CLOSING BLESSING {by enfleshed}

Faithful ones, the grace of God goes with us into the messiness of life, extending to us peace in the midst of what is unfinished, untidy, unclear, or unresolved. With steadfast patience, let us go from here encouraged in the labors of love, pressing on through complexities, and staying present to the troubles that call for our attention – within us, between us, and around us. Blessed be our journeys of healing and transformation.

POSTLUDE

Song Lyrics