Jesus, Our Brother
September 6, 2009

 

A sermon by

The Rev. Dr. Alan Kelchner

 

 

          I was driving home recently, late in the afternoon.  I was about to turn into my driveway, when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye.  My first impression was that it was a black cat, starting to run across the road in front of me.  I hit the brakes.  And then, I got a good look at it, and realized that this was no cat.  It had two white stripes running along its back!  From the safety of my car, I honked my horn, causing the skunk to veer off, and start running for all it was worth.  It went straight into my yard, right up the front sidewalk, and disappeared into the shrubbery along the front of our house.  I didn’t really want it there; but, I decided it might not be wise to pursue a highly-agitated skunk.

          Last Thursday, I came home, once again, in the afternoon, on a lovely warm summer day.   I pulled into the driveway, and, once again, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  This time it was over by the roses.  And this time, it was a deer: a big deer, with a full set of antlers.  A six-point buck. 

          He was happily eating our roses and watching me as he chewed.  I jumped out of the car and started yelling at him; and he calmly turned and trotted away, disappearing through the hedges, into the neighbor’s yard. 

          When Susan and I surveyed the damage, we discovered that he had not only devoured all our rose buds, but he had also annihilated the Impatiens and the Begonias - in broad daylight! 

          Now, I understand that deer, skunks, racoons, and gophers have lived in this valley much longer than I have, and they are not going to go away.  But at least these pesky creatures usually have the decency to do their foul deeds under the cover of darkness - instead of in daylight!  It makes me a little uneasy, to have these animals brazenly out-and-about in the afternoon.  It feels like something is not right.  It feels like a mistake.

          Now, I’m not much of an expert on animal behavior, but I do know what it’s like when things are not quite right.  And, I also know a lot about mistakes - because I’ve certainly made my share! 

          Recently, I made a mistake, and got myself in a bind, that caused consternation and pain for myself and for others as well.  At some point, I had to admit my error, and try to back-track out of the situation. 

          Now, I don’t know about you, but I hate to make mistakes.  And it’s even worse when I have to admit that I have made a mistake.  I much prefer to do the right thing or the wise thing.  And even if I’m not quite sure about what I’m doing, at least I like to, you know, “give the appearance” that I know what I am doing!  

          Actually, that particular trait might be attached to the male DNA; I’m not sure.  But I think it probably has something to do with why we men have such a hard time stopping to ask for directions....

          The truth is that, male or female, we don’t always know what we’re doing, and we are not always right:  none of us are.  We screw up sometimes.   We make assumptions.  We leap to conclusions.  We let our ego get in the way.  We act before we think, or we speak before we have thought things through.  

          Many times, it is not a pretty sight.  But, it is part of being human.  We are fortunate indeed that we have a God of Grace who is ready and willing to forgive us - if we but ask.   And, if we are truly lucky, we may also be surrounded by people of Grace, who are willing to forgive us as well.  

          Now, it’s true that our mistakes can sometimes be a gift to us, because they often turn out to be the means by which we learn and grow.  This can be a uncomfortable process.  Some of life’s lessons are quite painful.  But, we all know that the mistakes that we make, the conflicts and misunderstandings that we become involved in, often turn out to be “opportunities for learning.”  They become significant growth experiences for us.

          And I guess this is why today’s gospel lesson, which Bruce just read to us from the Gospel of Mark, gives me so much comfort and hope.   This is the surprising account of Jesus and the Syrophonecian woman. 

          I find this story comforting, although I realize that it is a major source of discomfort for some Christians, because Jesus so plainly seems to make a mistake here.   

          At the very least, this incident reveals a harsh and unattractive side of our gentle and loving savior.  For here we have a mother, pleading for Jesus to help her gravely ill daughter; and his response is hostile and rude, and it seems to be based on ethnic prejudice and bigotry. 

          The good news in the story is that Jesus realizes his mistake, and quickly makes changes his tune.  Moreover, he seems to have learned and grown from the experience.

          Here’s the story.  A woman whose name we do not know – which is unfortunate, because it seems to me that she is one of most wonderful characters in the Bible – a woman comes to Jesus, seeking help. 

          She is from Phonecia, in the north, an area that is part of modern Lebanon.   But the crucial issue for Jesus and his disciples is that she was a Gentile; that is, a heathen by Jewish standards. 

          She tells Jesus that she has a daughter who is very sick, convulsed with a demon.  It may be that the child has epilepsy, or perhaps she has suddenly come down with a high fever from some unknown disease, and now she is near death. 

          A very dramatic scene ensues.  The woman falls at Jesus’ feet.  She begs him to heal her daughter.

          Now, it is pretty clear that at this point in his ministry, Jesus believes that God has sent him to help his own people, the Jews.  In Matthew’s version of this story, Jesus says that his task is to “redeem the lost sheep of Israel.” 

          And so he refuses to help the woman, and he says to her, “It is not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  In other words, his healing powers and his teachings are food for his own people, the true Children of God.  Therefore, to take this precious food, and use it to help a heathen child, would be like “throwing it to the dogs.” 

          You have to admit it’s a pretty mean-spirited thing to say to a mother with a sick child:  to refer to them as “dogs.”  But, surprisingly – and it must have been quite a surprise to Jesus – the woman does not back down.  She is not intimidated; she doesn’t dissolve into tears, or get mad. 

          Instead, she quickly turns it around; and she says, "Yes, kind sir; but, you see, even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table."        

          It’s a very clever response, and it obviously makes an impression on Jesus.  I mean, here we have Christ, the Great Debater, being one-upped – by a woman.  And here we have Christ, the very essence of love and compassion, being challenged to greater love and compassion, by a foreigner.

          It is quite a  moment.  The way I picture it, Jesus kind of smiles, and graciously realizes his mistake.  And he heals the woman’s daughter.

          Perhaps it even passed through his mind at that moment that God was speaking to him through this woman.  For I believe that this is how God often speaks to us - through other people. 

          In any case, this incident appears to have made an impact on Jesus.  Many scholars describe this encounter as a turning point for Jesus, a turning point in his ministry, as he increasingly came to see that God intended for him to be the savior of all people, not just his own people.   

          This error in judgment becomes is a moment of insight, a growth experience, for Jesus.

 

          Now, perhaps it makes you uneasy for me to speak about Jesus in this way.  There are some who would say that Jesus never had any “growth experiences,” and that he never learned from his mistakes, because he never made any mistakes.  He was always perfect; so he never grew as a person, never changed his mind.  

          According to this theory, I guess he must have popped out of the womb fully formed spiritually, so he never really went through childhood “testing of limits” or adolescent rebellion against his parents. 

          But I don’t think so.  Moreover, I think there is plenty of biblical evidence to the contrary.   You may recall that the only childhood story we have of Jesus is one of adolescent rebellion, in the 2^nd chapter of Luke.  As a headstrong 12-year-old, Jesus decided to stay behind at the temple in Jerusalem, talking with the rabbis, when everyone else headed home.  This left his poor parents frantically searching for him for three days.  When Mary his mother finally found him, she said, “Son, why have you treated us like this?”   It’s a question often asked by parents of 12-year-olds. (!)

          Nor are these are not the only occasions in which we see a very human side of Jesus.  In Mark 11:13 (this is on page 824 of the pew Bible), we read that Jesus is hungry.   Mark 11.13

          No doubt he is tired as well, and perhaps feeling stressed out.  He sees a fig tree in the distance, and so he goes up to it, to get some fruit.  But there are no figs on the tree.  Why?  Well, because it’s not the right time of year for figs.  It’s the wrong season. 

          Still, it makes Jesus mad; and so he curses the little tree, and says to it, “May no one ever eat figs from you again.”   And in verse 20, we read that, the next day, when Jesus and the disciples come back past the tree, it has “withered away to its roots.” 

          Jesus cursed this poor innocent tree, and it died. 

          Now, it seems to me that if this had been Harry Potter mis-using his wizardry powers in such a way, Professor McGonagall no doubt would have penalized the House of Gryffindor 50 points or something!  But, at least with Harry Potter, when he misuses their powers, we readers usually understand why he did it, and know that he had a good reason for doing so.

          But this story about Jesus and the fig tree is much harder to understand.  There seems to be no motivation, no good reason, beyond frustration and fatigue.

          Well, these passages - including today’s story of Jesus referring to a sick child and her mother as “dogs” - these stories are extremely difficult for us.  Unless, unless we accept the fact that Jesus was a human being.

          He was human, like you and me.  Dear friends, I just want to encourage you to remember that Jesus was not a god who strode upon the earth in human clothes.  He was a person, like us; which means that, inevitably, he made mistakes.  Like all human beings, he had growth experiences, and some tough learning experiences. 

          And I have to say that I am really grateful to know that Jesus, my Lord and my brother, sometimes found himself in an uncomfortable position.  God knows, it happens to you and me often enough.

          There are those moments when our stress and our fatigue get the best of us.  There are those moments when our preconceived notions blow up in our face, or our self-centered bias is exposed for all the world to see.  We hate those moments when we just have to admit that we made a mistake, or that we’re wrong.  Life can be so disconcerting and humbling. 

          But, the wonderful thing about Jesus that we learn in today’s story of the Syrophonecian woman is that he changed his mind.  Jesus backed down.  He didn’t get stuck on his position.  He adapted and changed.  No doubt he was taken aback by this unexpected source of this new wisdom; but he accepted it, and he grew and learned from the experience. 

          And following in the pathway of our brother Jesus, you and I can do that, too.  We can admit our mistakes, we can seek forgiveness.  We can have growth experiences.  Indeed, as long as our hearts and minds are open, we can keep learning and changing our whole lives long.  

          We have so much to learn from our brother Jesus - his love, his compassion for others, his spiritual wisdom, his personal courage.  And may we also learn from our brother Jesus, how to respond to our mistakes, so that we may grow toward the spiritual maturity of Christ.      

          Dear friends, by the grace of God, may you and I be always ready to grow and to change. 

          For Jesus sake.  Amen.