Turning Points – The Road Less Traveled, Continued

Proper 19B; Isa. 50:4-9a; Mark 8:27-38 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 9/13/2015

Jim Melnyk: 

“Turning Points – The Road Less Traveled, continued”

Last Sunday we witnessed Jesus facing a major turning point in his life.  Faced with the stubborn request on the part of the Syrophoenician woman that Jesus heal her daughter, Jesus had to come to grips with a widening of his calling.  Was he called only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, or did his messianic charge go beyond Galilee – beyond Jerusalem – beyond Israel – to encompass a whole world.  In Mark’s telling of the story it takes an argumentative gentile woman, and the healing of a deaf gentile man, for Jesus to embrace his turning point. 

Last week I mentioned that Jesus’ prayer as he healed the deaf man, “Ephphatha – be opened!” may well have been as much a prayer he uttered to himself and his disciples concerning their need to be open to the full inclusion of the gentiles in his mission as for the man he healed. 

Without that turn we would be outsiders looking in, rather than a people fully grafted into the household of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  That Jesus and his disciples made the turn is good news indeed, not just for each of us, but for a whole world as well.

One point the gospel seemed to drive home for us was the need to pay attention to the turning points in our lives, and how Jesus calls us to that same sense of openness in our own lives and ministries – a challenging reality for sure.  We closed with the promising words of the poet Robert Frost:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

And so, as we also mentioned last week, we come to a Sunday of multiple turning points in Mark’s gospel.

Just who is it everyone is saying this Jesus character might be? 

What will the disciples say when pressed by Jesus?  What will those statements elicit from Jesus?  What will his disciples do with this new-found knowledge?

Today’s lesson from Mark’s gospel begins with the first of two turning points in the lives of the disciples.  It all begins with a pop quiz by Jesus: “Who do the people say that I am?”  The answers run the gamut – everything from John the Baptist raised from the dead, to Elijah, to simply one of the prophets – nobody seems to know which – but one of them.  Question two: “But who do you say that I am?”  And Peter, bless his heart, is the one who jumps in with the pronouncement, “You are the Messiah.” 

None of the others argue Peter’s declaration.   Turning point one for the disciples: a bold statement that they believe Jesus to be the Christ of God.  What Jesus has to say next about his life and ministry will bring the disciples face-to-face with the second major turning point in their lives – what will they do with this insight – especially when Jesus introduces them to reality of his impending death on the cross?  In order to understand what’s going on in the mind of Jesus and then his disciples we need to take a brief look at our first lesson for today.

Our Old Testament passage is the third of the four servant songs in Isaiah, and it sets up the final two turning points in today’s gospel passage.  While there are multiple interpretations of who the suffering servant is meant to be, there is a great deal of evidence that points to Israel when she is at her covenantal best.  The servant songs of Isaiah point to Israel’s continuing suffering at the hands of gentile oppressors, and the hope and promise that God would vindicate Israel. 

Based on the gospels we know Jesus was conversant with the writings of Isaiah – and so it is no coincidence that his life and faith mirror those writings.  And it is not surprising that over the centuries Christians would identify Jesus with the suffering servant.

           

In today’s lesson from Isaiah we find Israel waiting upon and hoping, looking for vindication and a return from exile.  The nation, still in Babylon, sets her “face like flint” trusting God to present with her in the midst of all her troubles.  Likewise, in Mark’s gospel, Jesus sets his face like flint as he turns toward Jerusalem and the cross – he will not be stopped from trusting God to be with him along this challenging road. 

This is the second great turning point in the life and ministry of Jesus, following closely on the heels of last week’s passage from Mark.  Jesus has come to understand that his mission and the Good News he has proclaimed – especially to the poor and disenfranchised members of society – has become a threat to those in power around him.  And like the many faithful prophets of God who have come before him, Jesus has come to understand that the only place to speak a word of truth to power is at the very source of power itself. 

Jerusalem has become his inevitable destiny, and only someone not paying attention would fail to see the train wreck that such a journey is destined to become.  The disciples, also conversant with the stories of their faith, know what usually happens to prophets who show up in places like Jerusalem to speak a critical word to those in power – the disciples paid attention.

Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem and the cross and his disciples have come to a fork in the road – which path will they take?  They can turn away from Jesus and quite possibly live long, if not challenging, lives.  Or they can journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem – understanding that the Roman cross of crucifixion may well await them as much as it awaits Jesus.  The disciples turn their faces toward Jerusalem with Jesus – even though it takes a bit of debate between Jesus and Peter to get them moving – including a bit of name calling on Jesus’ part – and even though it takes the rest of the gospel, and finally Jesus’ death and resurrection, before the disciples fully understand what that journey means. 

The disciples’ turning points become our turning points as well.  Who is this Jesus for us – and in making our decision, will we follow him even if it means going to Jerusalem – to the places of power and great risk– as well.

Speaking the Good News of God in Christ only becomes a challenge and a threat to us when we understand that the Good News is a word of challenge to people in power – a word of challenge to people live only for themselves – a word of challenge to those who would ignore the very people Jesus sought out and embraced – the voiceless, the lost, and the powerless.  Speaking the Good News of God in Christ becomes a challenge when we speak it in places that cannot live beyond, or even see beyond, their own comfort zones.

           

And I am thankful that the ministry of St. Paul’s, through groups like the Outreach and Social Justice Committee, the ECW, and the Brotherhood of St. Andrew – as well as ministry of many others individually – speaks and lives words of comfort and hope for so many around us.  This is Good News indeed.

Pastor, author, and Christian activist Brian McLaren puts it this way: “Faith was never intended to be a destination, a status, a holding tank, or a warehouse.  Instead, it was to be a road, a path, a way out of old and destructive patterns into new and creative ones.  If a spiritual community only points back to where it has been, or if it only digs in its heels where it is now, it is a dead end or a parking lot, not a path” (citation unknown).  The Good News of God in Christ becomes a challenge when those around us would rather live their faith out in a dead end or a parking lot – and it becomes a word of comfort for all who long for a pathway that leads us – and leads others – into the heart of God.

It doesn’t take much research to understand Jesus’ understanding of the Good News.  Preaching in his home synagogue, according to the author of Luke, Jesus reads another passage from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

Having read that portion of scripture, Jesus looks at the congregation and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).  Jesus doesn’t add any qualifiers to Isaiah’s words.  He doesn’t give himself any outs, and therefore doesn’t give us any outs either.  As a modern day disciple of Jesus puts it: “Our job is not to judge.  Our job is not to figure out if someone deserves something.  Our job is to lift the fallen, to restore the broken, and to heal the hurting” (Facebook Meme).  The word we speak to power must also be a word of comfort for those who need hope.

As modern day disciples of Jesus we face turning points in our lives as well.  Having decided who this Jesus is for us, how will we proclaim the Good News of God in Christ in and through our own lives?  Having decided who this Jesus is in our lives, what word will we speak to power – especially when power ignores the very people whom Jesus embraced and commanded us to love? 

Many times throughout our lives we will find ourselves standing at forks in the road – and we will have to decide which path to take.

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Turning Points and the Road Less Traveled

Proper 18B; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 9/6/2015

Jim Melnyk: “Turning Points and the Road Less Traveled”

We all experience turning points in our lives – moments of decision that change the course of our destinies.  Poet Robert Frost wrote:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves not step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!”

This Sunday and the next are turning points in Mark’s gospel for both Jesus and his disciples – roads taken when other paths lay wanting.  In today’s lesson, Jesus comes face-to-face with a decision about his ministry – about whom it is he is called to serve.  Next week Jesus will ask his disciples what the crowds are saying about him, and will then ask them point blank – Who do you say that I am?  Jesus will turn his face toward Jerusalem and the cross, and the disciples will then face a turning point of their own.  They will have to come to grips with what they have come to believe about Jesus, and decide whether or not to follow him to Jerusalem. 

Looking at this morning’s lesson we realize that up to this point in Mark’s gospel Jesus has focused his ministry within Israel – predominantly around Galilee – and toward his Jewish sisters and brothers.  Taking a break from the crowds, Jesus and his disciples head to the nearby region of Tyre – gentile territory.  Perhaps they figure the crowds won’t follow them out of the comfort zone of their own faith communities.

When the gentile woman in today’s story – a woman whose daughter is possessed of an unclean spirit – when the gentile woman first approaches Jesus for help he comes to a turning point in his life that will change the course of history.  In Mark’s story Jesus simply points out to her that the children should be fed first, rather than taking their food and throwing it to the dogs.  You may recall from other times we’ve heard about this story that Jesus was being down-right insulting here.  He’s not calling the gentiles cute little puppies – but dogs – implying something less than human – not worth his attention.   As theologian Sharon Ringe puts it, Jesus “was caught with his compassion down,” and we find “Mark’s portrayal of Jesus” in this instance is neither “a typical or comfortable one” (Sojourners Online, Preaching the Word, 9/6/2015).

Later, in Matthew’s version of the story, Jesus will tell the woman more directly, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Jesus comes to a turning point.  Is the Good News of God for all people or not?  Can I actually turn my back on this woman and her daughter simply because they are not of the house of Israel?  To her credit, the woman stands fiercely before Jesus on behalf of her daughter – and to Jesus’ credit, he relents at the sign of her faith, and heals the little girl.  In essence, this unnamed Syrophoenician woman sets a table before Jesus “to which all are invited” (ibid), and Jesus affirms her faith.  God’s grace does extend beyond the house of Israel.  God’s grace is boundless.  Jesus is called to serve not just Israel, but the whole world.  And this moment becomes a turning point in Mark’s gospel – a turning point in Jesus’ life and ministry – an exclamation point of God’s love for a whole world.  And by this woman’s act, as the late lay theologian Verna Dozier commented, “The people of God have been enlarged” (ibid).

Now, as we heard a few minutes ago, we have two stories about Jesus today.  On the way home from the region of Tyre Jesus and his disciples stop in the region of the Decapolis – still in gentile territory.  There they come upon a deaf man who also had difficulty speaking.  By now Jesus’ reputation has spread, and the locals ask Jesus to heal their friend.  I cannot help but imagine the exchange with the Syrophoenician woman ringing in Jesus ears as he touches the man’s ears and tongue, and looking to heaven prays, “’Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened!’”

Perhaps Jesus was directing this prayer not only at the man who stood before him, but perhaps at himself and his disciples as well.  “I get it, Father,” he seems to be saying, “I am sent for all your people, and to all your people I must be open.”  And we find ourselves grafted into the household of God perhaps due in part to the two gentiles who come into contact with Jesus in today’s lesson and help him see beyond race, clan, and creed.

There are turning points in our lives as well – though I am convinced we’re not always open to seeing them play out in our lives.  I suspect there are times when our surety is challenged by the Good News of God in Christ – times when we feel compelled to circle the wagons and claim a wall of exclusivity around us – us being the good guys, of course – and those turning points pass us by.

The Episcopal Church has been asked by our sisters and brothers in the African Methodist Episcopal Church this Sunday to make visible our solidarity with them in desiring to put an end to racism in our nation and in the world.   And so our Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori has asked churches across the nation to acknowledge today as “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday.”  AME Bishop Reginald Jackson writes, “Racism will not end with the passage of legislation alone; it will also require a change of heart and thinking. This is an effort which the faith community must lead, and be the conscience of the nation...” (quoted in Letter to the Episcopal Church, 9/1/15).  Ephphatha!  Be opened!

We might wonder if so many recent senseless deaths – whether we’re talking about the civilians gunned down in Charleston, SC, or the National Guard soldiers in Chattanooga, TN – police officers in Houston and Chicago, or the civilians in places like Ferguson and Arlington – might somehow become a turning point in how we treat one another in our nation.  We might look at how refugees are being treated today in places like Germany and Hungary – or even in the US – and see that as a turning point in how we treat one another around the globe – treating everyone as people created in God’s image.  I hope so.  I hope to God, so.

“The writer of the Book of James makes it very clear that to show partiality of one segment of human beings over another is sinful. In today’s reading the example compares the treatment of the rich to the poor. But, the same type of example can apply to conduct between people of differing races and different nationalities.

Another example the writer of James uses is not addressing the needs of a brother or sister who is hungry. Using words to wish a hungry person peace is not sufficient. The hunger itself must be addressed. The reading ends with what may be the most well-known sentence from the Book of James: ‘So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead’” (Lorraine Ljunggren).

We need to stand together as a community, as a nation, as a world – we need to hold hands with one another – we need to stand vigil with each other – we need to pray together as the family of God.  We need to create turning points in our lives and in the lives of our communities – in the life of this world – that will enable us to respect one another’s dignity and honor one another as human beings created in the image and likeness of God. 

Honoring one another in that manner will enable us to come to the holy table together despite our differences of opinion and in celebration of our diversity as a people; and this is vital today because I see our world becoming more and more fractured.  I see our world selling life on the cheap.  I see our world so into our own lives that we fail to see Christ in the eyes of our neighbors – in the eyes of the stranger – and sometimes even in the lives of our families and closest friends.  And sometimes, like the author of James reminded us last week, sometimes we look in the mirror to see our own selves, but walking away we forget what we look like – we fail to see and remember the image of God looking back at us through the glass.

Do we as a community of faith say to ourselves, “Well, that’s happening in Houston or Chicago – that’s happening in Ferguson or Arlington – or Germany and Hungary – not in Smithfield.”?  Or do we say to ourselves, “As people of faith how can we work toward a more just society?” 

Unlike the two roads in Robert Frost’s poem, the other road isn’t always just as fair – even if it seems so at first glance – though it may seem easier or more enticing or alluring.  Do our personal turning points direct us toward the comfort and safety of hearth and home, or do we see our personal turning points directing us toward the challenges and risks of Jerusalem?

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

The Law of Relationship

Proper 17B; Mark 7:1-15, 21-23 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 8/30/2015

Jim Melnyk: “The Law of Relationship”

Once upon a time there was this guy who could be a real troublemaker.  It seems he was always a cause of disruption wherever he went – in fact his mother probably nick-named him “Trouble” when he was a kid.  The people in charge who kept watch over him were at times confused.  At other times they were angry.  Sometimes they were just jealous of this guy’s popularity.  They were often awestruck by his words and his actions – and anxious about his charisma.

           

He couldn’t – or wouldn’t – be told what to do or what to say.  He was his own person, and that just flat-out offended some.  If those in charge were to say “red,” there was a good chance he would say “blue.”  If they said “up,” he would say “down.”  And when they said “no,” he would most likely say “Yes!” – Sometimes rather emphatically.  At times he could be the proverbial pain in the lower back.

           

Sometimes it seemed like this guy had personal distain for anything traditional – he would shake his head when friends said, “But, we’ve always done it that way.”  And it seemed like he had absolutely no concern over matters of national security – endangering those around him with his words and deeds.  The community leaders realized this guy was a clear and present danger – not just to their authority, but to the community and even the nation.

           

Why couldn’t this guy just behave himself and toe the party line?  What was it with Jesus that made him seem so contrary to conventional wisdom?

           

Let’s face it – Jesus as we experience him in the gospels isn’t someone to shy away from a good argument.  In fact, a good bit of his ministry is surrounded by in-house debates with various religious and political leaders.  The debates with many of the Pharisees, though often barbed, are debates among equals – with sincere religious beliefs involved by all.  And Jesus is the one who tends to get in most of the verbal digs – like when he calls his detractors things like hypocrites and white-washed tombs, or when he jokingly asks teachers of the Law, “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures?”

           

To be sure, a lot of their arguments or debates center on how the Torah – the teachings – of Judaism are to be understood and lived.  However, we must remember that neither Jesus nor the Pharisees understand Torah to be relative or whimsical in nature – something to be followed if we feel up to it, or obeyed when it suits us and ignored when not.  Both Jesus and the Pharisees see the Law – see Torah – as foundational to their relationship with God – a way of faithfully responding to the God who creates and redeems Israel and the world.  Both Jesus and the Pharisees follow a tradition of interpreting what has been handed down through the ages – seeking an understanding of the ancient teachings in the midst of their everyday lives. 

And so we come to understand – to know – through Jesus and yes, even through the Pharisees once we move beyond the sniping at them that takes place in parts of the gospels, we come to understand that while the Law is not meant to be relative – changing in every circumstance – the Law is meant to be relational.  Torah is meant to be a way of honoring God and honoring one another as God’s people.  It is never designed to weigh down, or break down and destroy, the very people God both created and gifted with Torah in the first place.  First and foremost Torah – and for Christians, the Gospel – calls us into right relationship with one another and with God.  We see Jesus embracing Torah – not one consonant or vowel will be removed Jesus tells us.

And so we find ourselves caught in a tension here.  On the one hand we can’t pick and choose which parts of Torah – which verses of Scripture we will follow and which we won’t – and yet here is Jesus, telling his detractors not to get bent out of shape over his disciples not following the letter of Law.  What do we do with that, troublemaker Jesus?

Long before Jesus ever comes on the scene wise teachers of Torah understood there is a deeper level of meaning – a deeper truth, we might say – to the precise letter of the Law.  Undergirding all of the Law – undergirding all of Torah – undergirding all of Creation, for that matter, is the grace – the favor – of God.  God creates a world because God chooses to, not because God is compelled to do so – and that is grace.  God creates human beings in God’s own image – simply because God chooses to – not because God is compelled to do so – and that is grace.  And God constantly woos humanity, trying to win our hearts – as Julian of Norwich says, out of love – and that too, is grace.  So don’t ever let anyone tell you there is no grace in the Old Testament!

It is by the grace of God that we are created and have our being.  It is grace which calls our hearts to God, and grace which opens our hearts to God.  By grace God called Israel out of slavery in Egypt.  Grace gave Israel the Law as a way of living in faithful relationship with God.  Grace called the prophets and placed God’s words in their mouths.  It was the grace and love of God that became incarnate – the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.  Human beings tend to forget all that, and need to be reminded.  “It's a good thing that God is still a God of covenant—taking the initiative, choosing, guiding and forgiving” (Heidi Husted, Synthesis Today, 8/19/2015).

Jesus knows his faith tradition – he is conversant with the Scriptures of his day.  He recalls the psalm attributed to King David during one of the most painful moments of David’s life: “Had you desired it, [God,] I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.  The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17-18, BCP).  We know Jesus has participated in the sacrificial liturgies of the Temple throughout his life.  We know the Temple is an important focus in his life – he shows up there a lot.  Jesus understands – knows – that it’s what undergirds one’s Torah observance that makes it a right sacrifice to God.   Torah observance, without the relationship it is meant to nurture –without our openness to God’s grace, becomes empty; just as our Christianity, when we fail to follow the teachings of Jesus – when we fail to see the boundless scope of God’s grace – becomes empty as well.

Our lectionary framers skipped an important part of Mark’s gospel in today’s reading and we miss out on a commentary about how our traditions can get in the way of our relationships – how we can get so focused on doing one thing that is right, that we miss doing something even more important. Jesus talks about an interpretation of the tradition allowing a person to designate money they would have used to care for parents as an offering to God – a holy loophole of sorts – thereby ignoring the commandment to honor one’s father and mother. 

Jesus is saying, “How can we truly love God when we turn our backs on the very people God has called us to love?”  Jesus and many of the Pharisees, both, understood that there are weightier matters of the Law – that sometimes one teaching gets put aside for another – that worship of God loses its direction when we fail to love each other – when we fail to love as Christ loves us – when we fail to mirror the boundless grace of God.

We know that further along in all three of the synoptic gospels – in Matthew, Mark, and Luke – Jesus, when challenged to name the greatest of all the commandments, responded with two: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The two are tied together and cannot be separated – they are two sides of a single coin.  Our love for God drives our love for our neighbor, and our love for our neighbor is the tangible expression of our love for God.  As the author of James writes, “…be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that carried words often wrongly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.  “Preach the Gospel – if necessary, use words.”  While Francis may not have actually said those words, he certainly taught them.  Our lives should be a teaching about the love of God for this world that speaks out louder than any words we could shout.  And who knows – as we live out the gospels in our lives we might just get called troublemakers – choosing to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus.  But then, if so, we would certainly be in good company.