The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18 - 9 September 2012
Isaiah
35:4-7a
Psalm
146
James
2:1-17
St.
Mark 7:24-37
Background: Tyre
In today’s Gospel we meet a woman, a
Syro-Phoenician, whom Jesus encounters while traveling in the region of
Tyre. Tyre was an ancient city, later
governed by the Phoenicians. Founded around
2750 BCE, it was originally two distinct centers, one on the mainland, and an
island just off shore. The two were
connected when Alexander the Great besieged Tyre and built a causeway from Ushu
(on the mainland) to Tyre, the island.
It was a harbor city and was noted for its production of “Tyrian
purple”, a rare purple dye that was often reserved only to the nobility or
royalty. It was at the cross roads of
the fertile crescent with teams of merchants coming from the South (Egypt) and
from the East (Mesopotamia) to take advantage of the two harbors of Tyre, and
the merchant fleets that docked there.
There is a quote from the Amarna Letters where the mayor of the city,
Abimilku, discusses water, wood, and the “Habiru” who are overtaking the
countryside.
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Say to those who are of
a fearful heart,
"Be strong, do not
fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with
vengeance,
with terrible
recompense.
He will come and save
you."
Then the eyes of the
blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the
deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall
leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the
speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break
forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the
desert;
the burning sand shall
become a pool,
and the thirsty ground
springs of water.
The writing here is very much in the style of IInd Isaiah, who like this
author, looks forward to or witnesses the release of Israel from exile. One wonders, then, if the release from Exile
had not already happened at the time this was written. The scene is somewhat akin to the Exodus of
Israel from Egypt, and may indeed be styled upon that important national
event. The start of the messianic age is
signaled in the naming of those who shall witness this great release: “the eyes
of the blind shall be opened…”.
Breaking
open Joshua:
- Have you ever been freed from an oppressive environment?
- What did it feel like?
- What are Isaiah’s emotions here?
Psalm 146 Lauda, anima mea
Hallelujah!
Praise the LORD, O my
soul! *
I will praise the LORD
as long as I live;
I will sing praises to
my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in
rulers, nor in any child of earth, *
for there is no help in
them.
When they breathe their
last, they return to earth, *
and in that day their
thoughts perish.
Happy are they who have
the God of Jacob for their help!*
whose hope is in the
LORD their God;
Who made heaven and
earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise
for ever;
Who gives justice to
those who are oppressed, *
and food to those who
hunger.
The LORD sets the
prisoners free;
the LORD opens the eyes
of the blind; *
the LORD lifts up those
who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the
righteous;
the LORD cares for the
stranger; *
he sustains the orphan
and widow,
but frustrates the way
of the wicked.
The LORD shall reign
for ever, *
your God, O Zion,
throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!
Although this psalm is considered a thanksgiving psalm, its collective
character marks it as a song of communal praise. The opening line is quite telling, the author
wants to sing God’s praise while still living (while I have my being, or while
I live), and that is the jumping off point of the psalms comments on the
goodness of the God who not only creates but who also blesses with continuing
life. Although in the midst of life,
there still is the reality of death, and the things that are celebrated are
caught in the nexus of life and death.
The actions that follow illustrate what it is that God desires of those
who honor him: freeing prisoners, giving justice, feeding the hungry,
sustaining the orphan and widow, and so on.
Especially interesting is a verse, which states that God “cares for the
stranger.” The Hebrew here relates to
the central character in the Gospel, the Syro-Phoenician Woman. The psalm describes God’s care for the
“resident alien”, which gives us some feel for the emotions that flow around
Jesus’ encounter with this Gentile woman.
Breaking
open Psalm 146
- Why does the author of the psalm want to sing God’s praise while
still alive?
- Which of the actions that God demonstrates have you done in your
life?
- How do you show thankfulness in your life?
James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17
My brothers and
sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious
Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes
into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if
you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat
here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand
there," or, "Sit at my feet," have you not made distinctions
among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved
brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in
faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love
him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is
it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent
name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you
really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love
your neighbor as yourself." But if you show partiality, you commit sin and
are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but
fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. [For the one who said,
"You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not
murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have
become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be
judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who
has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.]
What good is it, my
brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can
faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one
of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and
yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by
itself, if it has no works, is dead.
James continues his catechesis about how one must live a life. The main focus in today’s reading is the
avoidance of partiality after which we continues with the theme that a faith
without works is dead. The serendipity
of the lectionary is quite evident here (the Epistle lessons are often a lectio continua and are unrelated to
either the first reading, or the Gospel).
The story of the stranger who enters into the assembly is a reflection
of not only the psalm, but of the woman that Jesus’ encounters in the
Gospel. What should our behavior be
then, and how does it work out in the reality of our own lives as parishioners
and as neighbors? Here James looks
deeply into the Law, and more deeply into our motivations and intuitions – you
honor the rich who oppress you and dishonor the poor – how timely. Our good intentions do not fill stomachs, or
heal wounds. It is deeds that do
that. A faith without works is
dead. It is this message that so
troubled Luther, who called this a “straw epistle.” Taken with the whole of the Gospel message,
we need not be worried, but only encouraged in our emulation of Christ.
Breaking
open James:
- What “works” accompany your faith?
- How do you receive strangers?
- Have you ever been received as a stranger? What was it like?
Mark 7:24-37
Jesus set out and went
away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know
he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter
had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down
at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syro-Phoenician origin. She begged
him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the
children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw
it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the
table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying
that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter." So she went home,
found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he
returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of
Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had
an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He
took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his
ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed
and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And
immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke
plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them,
the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure,
saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and
the mute to speak."
In
Mark, these two healing stories (which also function as situations that teach
as well) are linked by a journey from Tyre to the Decapolis so that two Gentile
stories can be reported in tandem. The
first is the encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman, who engages Jesus in a
bit of a debate. It is important to
remember that this scene immediately follows the feeding of the 4,000, and its
emphasis on the loaves given to all.
There is an obvious universalist cast to this incident that Jesus only
comes lately to realize. He, Jesus,
states the party line, “Let the children (the Jews) be fed first.” The woman, who having recognized who Jesus
is, and falling at his feet, is not put off by the rebuff, but states her claim
to both healing and status. Her faith,
this exhibited, Jesus acquiesces.
The
second story illustrates in a very direct way the hopes written about in Isaiah
35 (see the First Reading). Not only is
this man a Gentile, he is also impeded by a hearing loss, and difficult speech
– a blow to the status of the man, as seen by Jewish society. Jesus underscores a pastoral concern by
taking him away from the crowd, and by a series of unmistakable gestures,
communicates the incarnate grace that will heal the man. In an odd command, Jesus having freed the man
now asks that he restrict his (and the crowd’s) speech about who Jesus really
is. They are astounded, but the faith is
in his ability to heal. Messianic
recognition will have to wait.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- What does the placement of these healing stories after the
feeding of the four-thousand have to say about this Gospel?
- How would you describe the woman’s argument?
- How would you describe Jesus’ “bedside manner” in dealing with
the deaf-mute man?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you
always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake
those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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