Proper 18, Year B
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2:1-10, 14-17; Mark 7:24-37
Two high school football players were returning home from a college recruiting visit with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers when they struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to them on the plane. The young men learned that their seatmate was a Cornhuskers fan. They apparently had an enjoyable conversation with, in their words, this “regular old guy, sitting in coach.” However, by the time the plane landed, they learned that this regular old guy was Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The high school students asked their principal to invite Thomas to speak at their high school graduation and the Supreme Court Justice agreed (Carissa DiMargo and Chris Gordon, “We Didn’t Know He Was Clarence Thomas”, July 9, 2009, www.nbcwashington.com). This is a great story about opening ourselves up to others and the fun circumstance that ensues.
Both our Old Testament and Gospel lessons today bring home another aspect, a more serious message, regarding how we relate to one another. In our Gospel lesson today, we hear about the Gentile woman: “She begged (Jesus) 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’” (Mark 7:26-29). This Gospel passage is somewhat troubling – Jesus has just insulted this woman, he has called her a dog. Let me offer a contextual explanation…Jewish peasant farmers produced the food for Gentiles living in the wealthy cities. During food shortages, the farmers resented seeing the food they produced being consumed by others. Jesus is telling the Gentile woman that the Jewish farmers who produce the food should be able to take their share of the food before the food is given to the Gentiles, to the dogs (Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel of Mark,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. VIII, ed. Leander E. Keck, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, p. 610). But, the Gentile woman responds to this insult, confronts Jesus with his insult, and for that, Jesus heals her daughter. We should not confuse this healing with those in which Jesus heals because of faith. For example, Jesus heals the woman suffering from hemorrhages because she has faith that just touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak will make her well (Matt 9:20-22). And, Jesus heals the blind man because the blind man hears that Jesus is passing by and the blind man has the faith to call out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Luke 18:35-43). This healing in our Gospel lesson today is not about the Gentile woman’s faith – it is about this Gentile woman winning an argument with Jesus – neither the Jews nor the Gentiles are superior to one another – “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” – the Gentile woman has spoken a truth (p. 609). We are all children of God. Jesus recognizes the truth and heals the woman’s daughter. As we hear today in Proverbs, “The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22:2).
Back in 1998, John Wood was director of business development in China for Microsoft (Michelle Archer, “Chance led author to help kids,” USAToday.com, 8/27/2008). While on vacation in Nepal, Wood met a school administrator “who was in charge of finding resources for 17 schools, a daunting mission in a country where the illiteracy rate is 70% and resources are close to nil. Wood decided to make an impromptu school visit. He couldn’t shake a sense of injustice that place of birth determined access to books and education.” A year later he returned with thousands of books for the children. He started a non-profit organization called Room to Read. “His group has donated 2 million books to children in poor countries, set up 3,000 bilingual libraries, opened about 200 schools to date and established long-term scholarships for about 2,000 girls.” This organization is the result of an executive at Microsoft listening to, opening himself to having a relationship with a school administrator in Nepal.
We are all children of God. When we open ourselves to relationship with one another, when we allow ourselves to listen to one another, even the unlikeliest of partners, life changes, life becomes fuller. “The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all” (Proverbs 22:2). Let me clarify, though important, this sermon is not about serving the poor. This sermon is about recognizing equality, recognizing that we are all children of God, and allowing that understanding to lead us in how we live our lives. Also, this sermon is not espousing a political theory, a theory about how we should organize ourselves to function as a society. This sermon is simply about recognizing the value of every human being, and how that recognition opens ourselves to learning from others, to growing, to maturing, to caring.
Do you remember the story of the Tower of Babel? “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:1-9).
What do we learn from the story of the Tower of Babel? We learn that we are prone to forget our dependence on God. We build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. We are great. We are powerful. There is no end to what we can accomplish. In our little corner of the world, we are prone to understand ourselves as “one people”, as “the people”. And we forget that we are a part of Creation, a part of God’s Creation, and that every part of God’s Creation, not just our part, is loved and valued. When we understand ourselves as a part, not as a whole, we understand our dependence on God. And when we understand our dependence on God, when we give ourselves over to God, when we love God, we necessarily love one another because we understand how we are inextricably tied together in this one Creation. When we understand our dependence on God, we open ourselves to one another and welcome all that others have to offer us. You never know where this openness might lead.
Titus Virgil was a nurse’s aide at Cook County Hospital. She had been searching for her father for 40 years – she hadn’t seen him since she was 6 years old. At the hospital, she attended to a man named Charlie, a stroke victim who could barely hear or speak. She found herself growing close to this man and his brother, Joe, who would visit often – she opened herself to their lives. One day, while Virgil was visiting with Charlie, she asked Charlie if he remembered her name. “He laughed and said he didn’t. She showed him her employee ID and he read it as best he could: ‘Virgil, Titus.’” Charlie’s brother, Joe, who was in the room, said, “I had a daughter named Titus, but that was many years ago.” Joe had been searching for Titus for years after Titus’ mother had remarried and moved without notice. Father and daughter were reunited (Abdon M. Pallasch, “40 Years Apart, Then a Miracle,” Chicago Tribune, November 28, 1998). The most wonderful circumstances can arise from caring, from opening ourselves to one another, from understanding that we are all children of God, and allowing that understanding to lead us in how we live our lives. Amen.
