St. James Episcopal Church
Greeneville, TN
Year B - Proper 18 - September 2, 2018
Today we kind of get bombarded from all directions! The scripture readings bring us full circle, calling us to a self-awareness, generosity, good works, humility, and dignity as God’s redeemed people.
The lesson from James is a sermon in itself; therefore, I am not going to preach that one again. It is something that we should probably meditate on. It is as direct as it gets with a call to action for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And how appropriate is it to hear this lesson of a call to action on the weekend we honor those who labor.
But this morning, I want to focus on the healing miracles that we just heard about in the Gospel reading. Jesus is going (somewhat haphazardly) from town to town, trying not to be noticed too much, for fear of drawing a large crowd and calling too much attention to himself… at this stage he has found himself as a stranger in a strange land, depending on the hospitality of strangers in order for him and his rag-tag caravan of followers to survive.
His mission at this point is to preach repentance and redemption to the children of Israel. They have found themselves in the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is pretty far north of their normal stomping grounds around the sea of Galilee. This was up near Mt. Lebanon, along the sea coast of the Mediterranean. This was most definitely Gentile territory. Not a good place for a good Jewish boy to roam.
You would have thought they had telephones or the internet because word had obviously spread in the region about all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing… the healing & the casting out of demons… He was developing quite a reputation. Jesus shows up, and all of a sudden all things are being made well. He comes for a visit and suddenly the mute are speaking, the crippled are walking, and the blind are seeing.
No wonder he can’t get a moments peace! We have to remember that this is ancient Palestine... In a time when there were no hospitals, no ambulances, and no pharmaceuticals – Compared to what we are accustomed to, this is an extremely harsh world with sickness and pain and death. That is… until Jesus shows up!
The grapevine of communication is quick, and a Syrophoenician woman immediately hears of the great healer that has come to town. She has a daughter who has an unclean spirit, so she goes to Jesus… and in an act of complete humility, this non-Jewish woman, bows down at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to help heal her daughter.
Not surprisingly, Jesus tries to dismiss her. He actually seems rude and insults her, insinuating that she was no more than a dog (which was pretty common for a Jew to say to a gentile – most of the time it was much worse)… Jesus’ words were, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Ooooo… you can almost feel the tension in the air, as this woman (who should have never addressed a man in public), claims her dignity and get’s very bold. She doesn’t return the derogatory remark, but remains humble and respectful in her dignity… She answers, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Jesus acknowledges her and tells her that because of her statement, she can go – that her daughter had been made well.
It is amazing that we get the images of humility, dignity, and restoration all in the same short story of an encounter with Jesus. It almost seems that we have heard it before? Maybe we have?
One of the things I miss most about the Rite I liturgy in the Episcopal Church is the prayer that was usually said after the Agnus Dei, before the bidding to the table called the Prayer of Humble Access… If you will indulge me for a moment and open your Prayer Books to page 337 – find that prayer at the bottom of the page and let us read it together… slowly.
And, if you have never done it before, this is the time to pay attention and think about the words…
"We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen."
Does it seem familiar? This prayer is older than we could probably possibly imagine… it was taken from the Old Latin Sarum Liturgy (13th Century) and was translated to English from Latin by Thomas Cranmer for the first Book of Common Prayer published in 1549.
It is a way of approach… A way to approach Jesus, who is present with us in the bread and wine of the blessed sacrament. Suddenly, in this prayer, we are brought to a mindset of complete humility, putting ourselves behind the place of even the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel lesson, by claiming that we are not even worthy to gather up the crumbs under thy table.
But the prayer also claims our dignity, the dignity that we receive in our baptism as followers of Christ, as we are admitted to the table to feast on Jesus... to eat and drink the body and blood and be nourished, restored, and ready to go out and proclaim the risen Christ!
But hold on!
That’s where we need the second part of the Gospel lesson that we heard… We now know how to approach Jesus (in complete humility), but what do we do when we get there?
A deaf man with a speech problem was brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him away from the crowd and then in the crudeness of form, puts his fingers in his ears and spits and touches his tongue and says the Aramaic word “Ephphatha” or “Be Opened” – Opening his ears and loosening his tongue… So that he can hear and speak plainly.
Jesus meets us, right where we are in the crudeness of our humanity. He is present with us and wants our ears to be open, being able to hear to his holy word, and he wants our tongue to be loosened so that we can proclaim it to the world.
We approach in humility, and we are restored to dignity then we go forward into the world and proclaim what we have heard…
These two stories of healing are very real to us in our own journey of faith… we come to Jesus from different places, through different circumstances, and Jesus meets us all right where we are. We experience his real presence in our lives through the Eucharist, and then we leave in dignity, forgiven and restored, ready to proclaim the gospel to others… And we are also ready to do all those good works that James is talking about!
So take this with you this morning… humble yourself and come to the table, receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… Take in His “real” presence in the Eucharistic elements and let your souls and your bodies be healed and nourished.
Be restored to that perfect wholeness that only Jesus can give and then go forth into the world to proclaim the gospel with your life and do the good works that Jesus has given us to do… Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment