Be Opened - A Sermon for Sunday September 8th 2024

GOSPEL: Mark 7:24-37

The holy gospel according to Mark.

Glory to you, O Lord.

In Mark’s gospel, encounters with women usually signify turning points in Jesus’ ministry. Here, a conversation with a Syrophoenician woman marks the beginning of his mission to the Gentiles.

24[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,25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He 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.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

 31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

The majority of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew;

the Newer Testament in Greek.

But Jesus didn’t speak primarily Greek.

Jesus spoke Aramaic.

Very little of the New Testament is found in Aramaic -

there a mere 24 occurrences of Aramaic

in the New Testament.

3 are places - like Golgotha and Gethsemane.

12 are personal names -

like Barrabas and Cephas.

Only 9 are Aramaic words or terms of phrase

that are spoken in the New Testament,

and of those,

only 7 Aramaic words or phrases

were recorded as being spoken by Jesus.

For example, Abba -

Jesus refers to God as Abba, Father, Daddy.

On the cross, Jesus cried out -

“Eloi, Eloi, Lamma Sabacthani”

which means “My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?”

When Jesus raised the little girl who had died,

Jesus said “Talitha Koum” -

little girl rise, and she did.

Suffice it to say, when the Greek New Testament

records words of Jesus in Aramaic,

we ought to pay attention.

“They brought to (Jesus) a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; …  He took him aside, put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34 Then looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him “Ephphatha.” that is “Be opened” and immediately his ears were opened, his tongue released, and he spoke plainly.

Some might say that these kind of Aramaic words

are recorded because

they serve like some kind of magic word,

like “Abra-cadabra”

or “hocus pocus”,

and with the magic word God heals.

The truth is that these Aramaic words -

special as they are -

are simple words that help us see

who God is and what God is all about;

God is intimate -

like a loving parent - Abba,

God offers healing and new life -

Talitha Koum - little girl, daughter, arise.

God invites us to Be Opened

and releases us from that which possesses us.

Ephphatha. God calls us to be opened.

Try as we might,

we are all-to-often not open.

This congregation is facing numerous deaths

too many beloved members have died

and are dying.

I have seen your openness,

to each other,

to those who grieve,

and you are sharing the Gospel

with your compassionate ministry.

Thank you for your openness.

But we know we aren’t always open minded,

to God, or to the other.

We close our minds.

We enclose God in a box in our heads.

It happens politically

- whether leaning right or left -

we easily close our minds to all but our own beliefs,

and are often not open to the other.

We respond to certain people prejudicially -

stereotyping people

over that which they have no control.

Whether it is gender,

sex or class,

ethnicity, race

sexual orientation -

or like the problem in James’ worshiping community,

we sometimes give preferential treatment.

God shows no partiality.

God is open to us - each of us.

We struggle to be open to the other.

You are not alone in this struggle

Even our Saviour struggled to be open to the other;

we heard this struggle

in his encounter with the Syrophoenician woman.

There are two main historical options

for how this interaction between Jesus

and the Gentile woman is interpreted.

Either Jesus was creating

some kind of test of faith for her,

or this woman persuaded Jesus -

she changed his mind.

I’m not convinced that this is the ever-wise God

testing this woman’s faith

through cultural and gender insults.

I don’t believe that’s how God works -

Our God isn’t in the business of parlour tricks

and showmanship.

Silly Christian, tricks are for the devil.

I’d say Jesus changed his mind.

This is difficult for some to accept.

many of us have been raised

worshipping the unchanging God.

Thou changest not,

thy compassions, they fail not.

We sing in Great is Thy Faithfulness.

God’s character doesn’t change,

but there are plenty of stories in our bible

of God changing God’s mind,

towards compassion.

That’s what happened here.

Take a step back from the story;

we believe Jesus the Christ is a walking paradox:

completely, 100% God,

completely, 100% human.

For Jesus to be completely human,

There must be the human experience:

Jesus had to learn how to crawl

before he could walk on water.

Jesus had to learn how to use the potty

before enlivening the wedding party at Cana.

Even the 12 year old Jesus in the temple

had 12 years of growth and learning first.

The Syrophoenician woman helped Jesus,

completely God and completely human

to grow;

to learn;

to be opened - Ephphatha -

not magic words -

but God’s call for all humanity.

In my experience,

and dare I say, even with Jesus of Nazareth,

we hear God best

from those who differ from us the most.

The Syrophoenician woman dares ask to ask Jesus

for the demon to be cast out of her daughter.

She has two reasons to ask Jesus for healing:

1. because her daughter needs it

and 2. because she believes Jesus

has the power to heal.

She also has plenty of reasons not to ask Jesus,

a Jewish Healer, for healing:

She’s the wrong gender,

wrong religion,

wrong race, wrong ethnicity

(a hated ethnicity)

and her daughter is possessed by a demon to boot.

Ironically in this story,

it is Jesus who is the outsider -

Jesus is the one who travelled into her land

and insulted her.

There are plenty of reasons not to ask Jesus for help.

But she asks anyway.

Jesus says,

“Let the children be fed first,

for it is not fair to take the children’s food

and throw it to the dogs”

Yes, Jesus called her a dog.

Never before had Jesus refused healing.

It was probably a common insult

that Jews gave to Syrophoenician people -

but it was no mere insult.

Their conversation was driven

by racism, sexism and prejudice.

Dogs 2000 years ago were not

the lovable pets they are today.

Women were not viewed as equals with men.

Jesus did not call her a pretty puppy.

Jesus was calling her a female,

scavenging, begging dog.

We don’t have to think hard to guess the sexist and racist slur.

We know the word.

It’s time for us to recover from our racism & prejudices.

Jesus did.

Jesus had lessons to learn.

In today’s language,

Jesus listened to,

and learned from,

a woman of colour.

Jesus recognizes, remembers, re-learns

perhaps in that moment of clarity,

that God’s salvation, God's healing,

- God’s love - are not just for the Jews,

but for all people - insiders and outsiders.

Even Jesus, Hope of the world,

the perfect One, the one without sin,

could learn and grow in understanding.

We all are given opportunities to change and grow -

and even the best of us needs to be put in our place 

every now and again.

After this encounter,

Jesus moves on to a non-Jewish territory,

and engages in ministry with the Gentiles,

giving hearing and voice back to a non-Jew

who is deaf and has a speech impediment.

Ephphatha - be opened.

Move ahead to Mark 9,

and Jesus welcomes the little children,

another lesser-than group,

that the disciples want sent away.

Ephphatha - be opened.

I will say,

it is dangerous to try and imagine

what was going on in Jesus’ mind.

After all, Jesus is God in the flesh,

and we can never say with certainty

what Jesus was thinking or feeling,

but I wonder if Jesus knew all along

that his love, healing, salvation

was indeed for all people -

but perhaps even Jesus needed a reminder -

a reminder the Syrophoenician woman gave him.

Like Jesus,

maybe we too all know, deep down,

that all people are God’s beloved,

that all people are welcome

in the kin-dom of God

but sometimes we too need a reminder

to be opened.

The Syrophoenician woman gave the reminder,

turning the insult around:

“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

In Matthew’s version of this story,

Jesus commends her: Great is your faith!

And great faith indeed,

for all she needs - all she believes she needs -

is just a crumb from the Bread of Life.

Here, it’s not just faith that commended,

but for speaking words of faith.

And it is true.

just the hem of the cloak,

just a crumb fallen from the table

is more than enough.

After Jesus healed the deaf man,

Those who saw it “were astounded beyond measure, saying,

“Jesus has done everything well;

he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

In hindsight, I believe it is even more astounding

that Jesus himself, God in the flesh,

could be opened

and if Jesus can be opened to a new outsider -

then by God’s grace,

so can we be opened,

to the other,

to God.

Ephphatha! Be opened!

God is alive and at work in our world.

God is constantly entering new territory

and breaking boundaries.

This God is in the unsettling business

of meeting outsiders

and granting them not just a crumb,

but a place at the table.

All you need is a crumb.

but Jesus offers you more than that.

Jesus prepares a place at the table

for you.

May you receive Jesus,

and be opened to new life.

May you be opened - Ephphatha -

to God, to neighbour, to outsider.

And with hearts wide open,

May God’s kingdom come in and among us.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.