09/27/2020 - “Jesus Follower? Twitter Follower?” Pastor Akiko Van Antwerpen - Luke 9:21-279/27/2020 -Let us pray
Jesus, the Messiah, the anointed one, send your Holy Spirit now to illumine your words. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts together this morning be pleasing in your sight O Lord, your are our rock and redeemer. Amen. It was maybe the first year or so after I became a Christian; I was talking to a sister in Christ, who seemed to have been Christian a lot longer than I had been, and we were just chatting. She was telling me about a Bible Study for seekers that she was leading in the area she lived. She confided in me that she was struggling, not sure what the best way forward was. I asked her, “what do you mean?” She said that she was struggling with not knowing how to share with seekers the fundamental, core beliefs of Christianity. She said, “I know we were born with sin, and we couldn’t save ourselves from our sin. So we deserved to die. Our destiny was a graveyard unless we accepted Christ and received new life in him.” As I listened to her, I kept thinking to myself “Well...this is some literally deadly thinking!” Starting a conversation with people who don’t know Christ from a place of sin and death. I thought to myself, “Wow...this is just too hard of a truth to share with people like this. Who wants to hear this kind of dark, gloomy, serious talk about the Christian life right off the bat? Who wants to start the conversation by accepting that we are doomed people, who can’t do anything to save ourselves? As a newly-converted Christian in those days, I focused so much on the idea of the new life in Christ. One of my favorite scripture passages comes from 2 Corinthians 5, and says “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. The old has passed away. See everything has become new!.” (v.17) In my then-limited understanding of my faith, I wanted the happy parts of the Christian story to come first, to be the parts that were emphasized above everything else. For instance, in sharing my testimony after I became a Christian, I often talked about my struggles with depression. I talked about struggling to accept my father’s remarriage after my mom died. I shared about struggling with my sense of self-worth... Before I became a Christian. I shared all of these as stories that were already ended, as though I had already gone through them and dealt with them completely, and everything had become peaceful. I wanted to talk about these struggles as things that I had already passed by. My depression, my anger, my misery; all these things had been dealt with and conquered by the power of God, so I didn’t have to think about them anymore. Praise God! I am free from these issues. I wanted things to be pretty, neat, and triumphant; not complex, unresolved and messy. Today’s scripture passage from Luke tells us about this rather harsh reality of our Christian life that my friend had been trying to tell me about. The disciples have just come back from their mission; Jesus had chosen the twelve disciples (back in Luke 6:13), had taught them about God’s love, and showed them his miraculous ability to heal in God’s name. Then, he called them out and sent them to Galilee; the central hub of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus actually gave to the disciples the power and authority (Luke 9:1) to share the Gospel and to heal. So, with Jesus’ blessing, the disciples went out. They went through villages and towns, bringing the good news and curing disease wherever and everywhere they went.(Luke 9:6) EVERYWHERE they went. I think that from the disciples point of view, at this point in the story, everything was going exactly as the disciples must have hoped and expected. They were pretty much able to do everything they wanted to do, just as Jesus did himself. How great that must have been! How majestic, to be a part of God’s work in the world like that! After they came back from their “mission trip,” Jesus proved not only to be a teacher and a healer, but a worker of miracles too. He fed a crowd of five thousand with just five loaves and two fish, right before the disciples' very eyes. The disciples must have been in awe! Can you imagine their excitement? They must have been geeking out, wondering what kind of miracles they’d be able to be part of and perform the next time Jesus sent them out on a mission trip. Jesus truly showed himself to them as the Savior and Ruler appointed by God, and they were ready to follow him all the more! This is when we come to the part that we read today. Despite the disciples' excitement to understand Jesus more fully, Jesus shares something that must have been a big stumbling block to these excited, eager to serve disciples. Jesus said, he must go through great suffering, and be rejected by the religious leaders; the elders, chief priests, and scribes. Suffering and rejection….Oh….ok……? And then there’s more! Jesus goes on to say that he must be killed, and raised again on the third day. Suffering and rejection that lead to death. This is nothing like what they were expecting, nothing like what they were ready to hear. The scripture says that Jesus said all these things openly and without hesitation (Mark 8:32). Can you picture the shock the disciples might have felt? In fact, in Mark 8 we see Peter’s response, and he takes Jesus the Son of God, aside and begins to rebuke him, criticizing Jesus for what he just said. (v.32) Peter rebuking Jesus? How about that, huh? Of course, Jesus rebuked them right back and said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Up until this point, the way the disciples had been following Jesus was like the way we follow people on social media today. I’m sure many of you know what Twitter is, (but for those of you who don’t) Twitter is a platform where people make short posts and comments online. When you connect to a person on Twitter, so you can see the things they post, you become a “follower” of that person. Followers can then “like” the things a person tweets, and share them with other people. It’s basically an interactive, online fan club. So far, this is basically what the disciples have been doing with Jesus; liking what he says, and sharing it with others. Jesus tells the disciples to become his followers, but what we learn here is that he is really asking for so much more than just joining up with his fan club. Jesus is asking the disciples to take up their very own crosses. Jesus is talking about risk, sacrifice, and a willingness to suffer even to the point of their own death, in order to follow him. And in those days, this meant a real, painful, physical death. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians are persecuted. Disciples are martyred; killed just for confessing their Christian faith. This is the next step(stage?) for the disciples; this is where following Jesus leads for them. They don’t get to choose to focus only on the “good” parts of the Christian life, enjoying the power and majesty of God, being fulfilled in God’s good work of healing and miracles without any cost to themselves. From this point on, Jesus reminds the disciples again and again that the way he is called to save the world is through suffering. He’s not a conquering Messiah, appointed by God to rule in strength. He is a suffering Messiah. He has to, he must go through great suffering in order to save the world. And, in order to become like Jesus, in order to follow Jesus, the disciples are called to do the same. Of course, doing this is something that runs complete against our own desires, something that contradicts the will of our own flesh and blood. If you know, as the disciples did, what the cross literally means; a tortuous, slow, and sluggish suffering unto death, who would want to go there? Who in their right mind would be so willing to be hung upon the cross? Who would be willing to pick up their own cross and carry it, knowing where it was going? But Jesus says that taking up our own cross is a requisite; a must-do for us as Christians. Without it, there is no real way for us to grasp how Jesus came to save the world, or what it takes to do it. He came to save the world by suffering in the most brutal way. This was the only path to salvation for us all. It isn’t pretty. It isn’t some instant-fix or cost-free miracle. It’s a discipline of perseverance. It’s a painful surrender. It’s the choice of obedience, even unto death. Jesus knew this might be embarrassing to some; he said as much in vs. 26. Jesus knew that some would be ashamed of him and his words. Some expected Jesus to be a powerful, conquering king, beating back the occupying and enslaving Roman forces and setting God’s people free. They expected a miracle, and they expected that miracle to happen immediately! I have to confess that sometimes, I am exactly the same way in how I approach God. Early in my Christian faith, and even sometimes still now, I find it embarrassing to share my own struggles because I want to keep my faith wrapped up in this tiny little box in my heart. I want to be able to limit Jesus’ role in my life to the magical and the miraculous. I want to skip past the great suffering part, and jump ahead to the glorious redemption. And I think that church can be like that too, sometimes. So determined to focus on the glorious, victorious, good parts of our faith journey that we forget the path we’re really called to walk here. It’s not that we don’t talk about suffering; I think we do. We talk about it during Lent, the period just before Easter. Much like my early testimonies, sometimes we are tempted only to share our stories as stories that have already happened; resurrection stories where the suffering has already ended. Not the current challenges we continue to face with Christ. It can be easy to avoid the messy, difficult parts of our lives. It can be easy not to make room for suffering, both individually and as a church community. The things that are happening in the world can feel too tough to talk about right now, because we haven’t yet reached the part of the story where we have the solution, and experience of glorious, redemptive victory in Christ. Racism, discrimination, anything about the upcoming US election, global warming, human trafficking, women’s rights, immigrants, refugees ; all of these are tough, still unresolved issues, so it is certainly easier not to talk about them. And in saying all this, I know that the first person who comes to mind as guilty of this is me. But this morning, I want to encourage us to share, openly, those things we struggle with (together as a community. What better way is there to truly acknowledge that we are powerless to our own sin and weakness as individuals, then to face it openly, together, and with love and in prayer? I am blessed to hear these stories of suffering as I walk with you and I would like us as a church community to share it more! In this we can begin to fully believe what Paul meant when he said, “Power is made perfect in weakness, so I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Can we take Paul’s boasting on to ourselves as a church? Can we, as a church, boast in our own weakness, boast in our sufferings, knowing that they lead to the power and glory of Christ made manifest in and among us? Do we know and believe that the power of Christ is made perfect not in our perfection, but in our weakness? These things will not be dealt with, cannot be dealt with in a human way; it can only be dealt with in God’s way, in a way that points directly to God’s majesty and glory! I think we can do that, because we all know that suffering is not the end. Death is not the final answer. Jesus had no shame in discussing the suffering that he knew was coming for him, because Jesus knew where that suffering led to. Not to indignity, but to glory. The glory of our triune God: Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit, the one God to whom all glory, honor, and power belong. This God, the God who dwells with the people, the God who wipes every tear from our eyes, this is our God. In the glory of our God suffering will be no more, mourning, crying and pain will be no more. (Revelation 21:4) Death will be no more because the Kingdom of God will be on earth as it is in heaven. All people and creatures will rise up the Hallelujah, because in this place of Glory, every eye can see that Christ is truly our Lord and King. Death, suffering, weakness; these things are just the beginning of our journey. They aren’t the end of our journey; they aren’t even the climax of it. Everything points to new life, new opportunities, renewal, and growth. We know where we are going when we go with Christ, so we don’t have to worry when that path goes to a dark place. We don’t have to avoid visiting our own graveyard. Rather, friends, take courage, and be resilient, knowing Christ is our Lord and Savior who promises to die with us, and to rise with us as well. Let us pray Holy Spirit, help us hear the whisper of your voice on our hearts. And give us the strength and courage to answer your call with action in our lives. Amen.
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Sermon: ‘The Word of the Lord came to me’ Rev. Musubi Tabuchi / Jeremiah 1:1-10, Matthew 8:5-89/20/2020 Good morning,
First of all, we now pray for Claudia-sensei for her quick recovery from her wrist injury and God's care for her, but she already comes back to the church and continues her ministry, though taking some surgery at the same time. (pause) Now, today I am going to talk about Prophet Jeremiah, and how do you understand his activities, office, his status and position in the Old Testament community. Of course, he spoke the words of God to the people, but his messages were not easily heard nor accepted by the people of Israel, because he had no clear "public authority" to his community. The Old Testament prophets prophesied quite actively mainly in the age of the king's reign. It sounds strange to you, but at the time of Israelaite kingdom, king himself were recognized as holy person and called as "the son of God" or it is often said that "God is the Father of the Kings." Israelite kings were chosen and sacred by God, with being anointed holy oil to his head. The word of “anointing” in Hebrew is Masha, and Messiah literally means “the anointed one,” that is, holy savior of Israel. As you all may know, the Hebrew word “Messiah” is translated into Greek as “Christ.” In the time of the Old Testament prophets, Jerusalem Temple with its priests was the key religious center, well-functioning for the people. Kings and Priests had their public backgrounds for their religious authorities. Splendid and marvelous buildings of the palace court, or Jerusalem temple built by king Solomon, overwhelmed the people, and these monumental structures were taken as their religious symbols for Israelites religious identity. On the other hand, the prophets were originally just an ordinary “lay” person and had no special quality to that position or activities. Prophet Amos even calls himself as “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. ”(Amos 7:14) Talking about Jeremiah, at the early stage of his life, he was called by God to be His prophet but he was determined to decline that call, and refuse it, saying , “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” (Jer 1:6)this expression, he was "young," did not mean only his age but his unreadiness, incapability, or inexperience as a messenger of God's word. Indeed, later when he announced the Lord's word, Israelite people were never willing to listen and ignored. Sometimes, Jeremiah's message was too harsh to the king's government, denouncing King's misconduct and calling it as "adultery." Even the king was sanctified by the God of Israel, but was attracted to worship foreign, pagan gods, Baal and Ashtaroth. Then Jeremiah’s words were taken as blasphemy to the holy, anointed king, and he was persecuted severely and put in prison sometime. As a prophet he had to face these hardships only to be mocked by the people and oppressed by the king. At one time, Jeremiah argued with God he would give up his office as a prophet and even condemned God’s calling was too hard, and saying “I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jer 20:9) As I preached last time, Jeremiah foresaw the approach of the Babylonian army to invade Israel as the tool of God's punishment. As such his prophecy referred to the destruction of the Israelite Kingdom if they fail to turn on the Lord. Who wanted to hear this gloomy message, destruction of their country, and Jeremiah himself did not think his prophecy would come true? As a matter of fact, his core message was focused on Israel’s repentance to God and not the destruction. However, it happened as he foretold. Jeremiah never wanted his catastrophic prophecy fulfilled. And, finally his prophecy came to happen, God's words were real and then Jeremiah’s religious authority was proved through the course of Israelite History. Babylonians destroyed and burnt down the Jerusalem Temples, the city was conquered, and people were deported even to Babylon, a thousand kilometer away, as diaspora, meaning refugee to the world. Still Jeremiah kept appealing to God's message until the last moment of Israelite Kingdom. Through Jeremiah's story, we find the great difficulties to stick to the word of God. Sometimes we may give it up to cope with our worldly relationship with people. Christian history tells many things about the persecutions from the surrounding society and people to their faith. But our predecessors kept their belief under those pressures. What about us, can we really be possible to keep our faith through the difficulties of the world. As Jesus told the parable of sower saying “When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.” (Mark 4:17) It is quite interesting to see our present situation. Now we have any direct persecutions to our faith or Christian beliefs. Still under these COVID-19 circumstances, I may say that we are facing a type of “soft persecutions”, or pressure on our Christian community. Our governments (national or local either) insist on avoiding clouded situations (San-Mitsu or 3cs) not to hold the gathering of many people. That is, our congregation was discouraged to “congregate” to worship. Because of this restriction, I see it “Soft Persecution”, I may say, we are scattered and remain in separate places, feeling sometimes isolated, lonely and feeling the loss of our friends. We are still uncertain when we can get together at KUC! And there are many anxieties and worries. economically, socially, and personally under these unusual circumstances. However, it is not totally impossible to keep our sense of communion, unity of the congregational membership even if we are separated. If we trust and listen to the words of God every day in our own places, we are one to perform his will in this unstable situation to show God’s unshakable love to our neighbors, as we follow Jesus’ fundamental teaching “Love your neighbors,” whatever circumstances we live in. Jeremiah was quite reluctant to be a prophet, and God encouraged him to put his word in his mouth, ( “I have put my words in your mouth.” Jer 1:9) as the sign of God’s presence with him always. If we recall Words of God in any situation, we should realize God is with us and Love of Jesus falls afresh on us, since we are members of the same Christian community of Kobe Union Church, listening to the same message of one God. Let us pray, Lord, give us your word always as the sign of your presence in our real context of daily life. We may keep resiliently praying to you to listen to your voice. Merciful Lord, be with the people who are in need, in great distress, anxiety or sick in bed, holding their hand and talking to them the words of hope and love. And we may be the instrument to carry your message to our neighbours though your guidance. We pray in the name of our loving Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen So, this is another hot topic- Is God in Control? Do all things happen for a reason- like a good reason? We often hear these phrases used but I want to walk around them and give you all some food for thought.
First, let’s look at some of the ways and places we hear this used and then some Bible passages to see how we back this up and finally a strategy I want to share for a new way to think about this. So, last night we had dinner with some of our best friends. Their 27-year-old daughter is like one of ours and is in trouble She just had a last resort back surgery – a rod implanted in her lower back- major surgery and tragically it did not go well and now is a bit of a crisis. Her mom shared with us that her faith is strong, and she knows God is in control and all things happen for a reason and there is purpose in all this. Their family has just read the book Suffering Is Never for Nothing and that seems to have helped. I have not read the book but part of me wants to see if we can get her healed but it almost seems at odds with this stance- awkward! OK, let me offer a couple other examples where these phrases have been used: My brother in law got a traffic ticket – he was driving illegally as a single person in the carpool lane which means you must have a min of 2 people. “Why does God do this to me?”, he said. His thinking is: God is in control and let him get ticketed. There have been some bad storms recently and I hear people say, “Well, God must have a reason.” In this pandemic many are comforted by “at least God is in control.” But this a hard word for our friend whose mother and father just passed away from Covid. Loving dedicated catholic Christians. What do I say to them? On the other side of the spectrum is Free will or the idea that we are free agents and that our choices matter. Also, that God actually can change his mind maybe by what I say or do! Remember the story of Hezekiah in the book of second Kings 20:1-6: It says, 20 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” SO what does he do- verse 2 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord,3 “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Okay then now from verse 4 4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. One of many examples not only of our free choice but more than that- our ability to influence God! Wow, so maybe prayer matters! Our choices matter! Inspiring! Cool! And we can cite various places in the Bible where God rewards some and punishes others- consequences for choices. Choices we make. And as most of you know by now- I often focus the passages where Jesus told someone who got healed how THEY had made the difference, like in Matthew 9:22 from the amplified: 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Take courage, daughter; your [personal trust and confident] faith [in Me] has made you well.” And at once the woman was [completely] healed. Okay, so this is a 15-minute talk, but I think we could spend a lot of time here referencing passages from the Bible that show God is sovereign and and how we have free choice. We know something is true about God being in control but also the power God has given us to shape our future…so how does one reconcile these? So what if these were both true. I learned a new word the other day for this: Antimony which simply means when two laws or truths seem to contradict each other. For those who are science oriented the classic example is whether light is a particle or a wave- which in ways …its both! BUT what many will say is there is now actually a new explanation- for the light issue - and it’s called quantum mechanics- which honestly feels sort of spiritual to me, but let’s come back to that another day but it means NOW there is an explanation for this which people did not have before. The point I would make is this- we often have phrases- actually ideas- which we must question and check- not because they are not true…but because they are incomplete or cause us to miss another truth. And one - of many verses like it - we read today helps some: Now I know in part [just in fragments], but then I will know fully, When someone says “God is in control” I have to check myself as I may be too quick to say- “And so are you!” A few years ago, I was musing on this- in prayer- and I felt like God said, “Look I ‘m doing the best I can do!” which cracked me up of course and I love that phrase now. What I felt was… God loves us, God is for us and as Christians God is actually in us- wow- okay that is true and solid. So, when STUFF happens, I have to be sure I remind myself of truths- with an s to see the moment right and accurately: Like Romans 8:28: 28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose. Of course, we love this verse- and we should! I mean God is saying- and I think not just here but a pattern of God in the Bible- that stuff will happen – I mean no need to assure people that God will make all things work together for good if it’s all good already – the implication is some stuff will be bad- BUT God can fix it- make it look better than before! Okay BUT …for those who love God- footnote there! I have bummed people out because someone said, “Don’t worry- it will all work out.” And I’m like “really? why would that be?” I mean yes if you love God! I just hate saying sweet stuff without the God part! Or someone will say, “Everything happens for a reason” and I’ll say yea, “sometimes to wake you up or show you how lame that choice was!” So the point is to recognize- God CAN Make things good- better than before in fact- but I want to add the IF and that prayer matters and that we matter and what we do matters- hence God does what he can but requires His people to partner with Him for the best outcomes. Last couple of weeks we talked about spiritual warfare and looked at Ephesians where we are told we have shields and swords implying our part in defense and offense which we cannot miss. Then on the other hand- we cannot ignore or under value the sovereignty and power of God- I might say instead of ‘God is in control’- “God is sovereign …. doing the best he can do!” So help if you can! We can discuss this more in Sunday school at 1030- one class is all in Japanese and one in English so zoom in for that. But here is my final point and its bigger to me even than these others on God’s power and how he shares that power with us and respects our free will – and this is HOW we handle these truths and present them. When my kids were little, I would often tell them you can be right and wrong at the same time. I still have to remind myself of this! Often! Right, you are right and its true but if you share that truth the wrong way or at the wrong time you can hurt people..and that’s wrong. we have to embrace THAT truth as well! Years ago, I got an image I felt was from God which has helped me – when I remember it! I felt it was a real God moment, so I am sure I’ve shared it before. In praying for people, I got this picture in my mind of trying to grab hold of both a hand of the person I am praying for and with my other hand… God- So, in my image of this I must really look at the person and see them and pay attention to reach over or up and get hold of their hand- gently and carefully and then hold it. Then at the same time I am trying to see where the hand of God is so I can get hold of that and be – essentially connected holding hands with God and the person- and somehow – in this image- whatever I needed or wanted to share gets adjusted both by God and by the person- some might call this getting a Rhema word- meaning if I am connected I hope to have not only the truth one needs from God but how to say it and how much or ..maybe not now. So what’s the point. First, I hope you will consider that truth or truths can coexist with other truths and we get better results when we see as many as we can. If you think you have them all just ask Michael or someone like him who will show you 3 more you need to see! Second, sometimes things seem to be contradictory but maybe we just don’t have a way to see them together yet. I just got a cool new book for this topic called “God of the possible” by Gregory Boyd and it’s about a topic called “the open view of God” which is a scholarly and Biblical way to explain how God can be all powerful but still let us have free choice. Third, my example of holding the hand of a brother or sister and the hand of God? Picture this- have you ever had someone do this? They have your hand- so that’s real and comforting- but in the other hand is the Bible. Ok, selah- what I mean is they may be pushing truth but at the wrong time or in the wrong way or not how God would. Here is even worse- both hands on the Bible! It’s confusing! I mean they are quoting the Bible but it feels NOT like God and not like love and you feel beat up! I call it weaponizing the Bible! So, I hope this illustration sticks even if you forget about the theory of light or the word antinomy! This partnership God has created can be messy and its cool sometimes but other times don’t you just want to say- “just take control and make things work for me! I don’t want free choise anymore! But he is with us, and for us and gives us what we need – if we learn to listen (study the manual) and listen to the Holy spirt. Ok, lets pray God thanks first of all for this adventure- I don’t really know a different way but when I see the dynamics here it’s exciting and less scary- thanks that you are with us and for us Thanks that no matter what the challenge we know we can come to you and get help Help us see our part and this thing called Faith and how to grow it Help me help you! (This is prayer but I feel like God smiles and remembers that line from Jerry Maguire) but I mean it We want to not only be blessed and walk humbly with you BUT ALSO we want to help our brothers and sisters so help see that way where you help us help you help others- Ok- in Jesus name – Amen! September 6 - Sermon: “Faith and Crumbs” A Narrative Sermon - Mathew 15:22-28 - Rev. Claudia Genung.9/5/2020 They called me a fool for pestering Jesus. I didn’t know what else to do. All the healers, all the prayers, all the incantations over my daughter did nothing. I was going to lose her. Her torments seemed to be getting stronger with each moment. I feared for her life. I love her so much. I needed help. And then Jesus came to town. I knew of the wonders that he had performed. Word gets around. And I wondered if he might be able to help me. I’m not an Israelite. My faith background is not the Israelite faith. And they said that I shouldn’t even be there. Who did I think I was? They kept shouting at me. “Get away from Jesus,” they said. You don’t belong here. You are not one of us. I didn’t listen to them, or at least didn’t follow what they wanted. I came to Jesus and tugged on his robes, pleading for my daughter’s restoration. And he looked at me. Even his disciples said that I should be sent away." Please, please, Lord. Please heal my daughter!” He looked at the crowds and said that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. I didn’t care. I took a risk. “Please, help us, Lord." He said that the bread was for the chosen people, for the children of God. “It was not fair to take their bread and throw it to the dogs.” I couldn’t believe it. A dog? I was a dog? So I summed up all my courage and told him that even the dogs get the crumbs that are dropped under the table. Crumbs are good – the best part sometimes! I will take the crumbs! I wasn’t asking for the whole thing, just some healing for one little girl, that’s all. With compassion in his eyes, he looked at me and said “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish!” Amazed, shocked, I felt as though I was floating! Let it be done for me as I wish? My daughter would be healed? Oh my God! It is true. She is healed! She is well! She is whole! And so am I. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for having compassion on me, a foreigner in need. Thank you. Thank you
Reflections on my sermon on the Canaanite woman I’d like to give some reflections on my narrative sermon. We do not know this woman’s name. She was a Canaanite woman and Canaanites were despised ethnic group. They were pagans and came from the country to the north of Palestine, a country very hostile to the Jews. Anyway, this Canaanite woman was presumably married, she had at least one child; but that’s all we know about her. She is brave and desperate, But we know this woman persisted –because she knew in her heart that somehow Jesus would eventually heal her daughter. It seems she had most likely heard of the great powers of Jesus - he was a healer, a savior and one who pities the poor and needy so she thought or she knew somehow that he would help her too . She had faith he would. She could have given up but she didn’t. There were a number of factors that could have made her give up. First there was the silence of Jesus. The scriptures tell us that to her cry of help and outstretched hand Jesus replied not a word. Surprisingly, this did not intimidate her. She perceived what very few people have the faith to perceive that the silence of God does not mean the indifference of God. This woman did not lose heart in the face of silence. Second, the disciples did not help this woman either and saw her merely as a nuisance. They urged Jesus: “Send her away; see how she comes shouting after us." The disciples said the same thing when they saw 5000 hungry people at the Sea of Galilee. They said the same thing when a poor crippled beggar cried out for help at the Pool of Bethesda. Even when the children tried to see Jesus, they tried to send them away. Too often this has been the church's response to human suffering. Send them away to prisons, to welfare agencies, to ghettos. The disciples, like the church today, had become fatigued under the constant pressure of the demands made upon them. We may also have suffered “crisis fatigue” and are tired. But part of this woman's faith, however, was that she would not be put off by the indifference of people. Third, Jesus finally said, “I have been sent to the lost sheep of Israel and to them alone." Was Jesus testing her? We don't know. Was he trapped in his tradition and like many people today- insensitive to the pain of other cultures? We don’t know. But even then she refused to be put off. In spite of what Jesus said she fell at his feet and cried out: “Sir, help me.” Now that was her faith. To this woman's plea for help Jesus makes another statement that we have difficulty in understanding. It does not sound like something that he would say. He said to her: “It is not right to take children's bread and throw it to the dogs." That sounded like an insult. Some commentaries have pointed out that the actual word that Jesus used was not dog but puppy. He was referring to a household pet and not the kind of wild dogs that roamed the streets at that time. Maybe that makes it a little better? Some say that he was not insulting her but teasing her and that he probably had a smile on his face when he spoke these words. Maybe. But maybe not. She answered Jesus by saying: ““Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” For me the crumbs sometimes are the best part! But that was her faith and that is still faith today. It is faith to admit that we do not deserve God’s mercy, but we go to God in faith. Great is your faith. I would love to hear those words from Jesus. Wouldn’t you? Great is your faith. On only one other occasion did Jesus praise a person for their faith. Interestingly, that was a Roman soldier stationed in Capernaum. Great is your faith. ( Matt 8:5-13) The greatness of this woman's faith comes is: 1. Her willingness to cross the barrier of racism. 2. Her refusal to be put off or ignored because of her position in life. Her persistence. 3. Her humility in admitting that she did not deserve the Master’s attention and time. None of us do. But she went to him in faith. We too, can go to God in faith. Don’t give up. God is with us in this time of change and that will never change Go in faith, Amen. |
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May 2024
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