Sept 6, 2015 Sermon: "You're Not You When You're Exhausted"

Stephen Baldwin

NT: Mark 7.24-37

You're Not You When You're Exhausted

                       

            For some reason this week, I’ve been thinking about statues.  Like Michael Jordan’s statue in Chicago that shows him in his famous jumpman pose.  Or Rocky’s statue in Philedelphia at the top of the Art Museum steps which shows him in his victorious boxing pose.  Or John Henry’s statue here in southern WV which shows him with a hammer in his hand, commemorating the time he outworked a machine.  Statues always show people doing what they did best. 

            Have you ever wondered what your statue would look like?  Leah would be playing a harp.  Rodger’s statue would have to be motorized so it could rock as he played the piano.  And Kerry, my wife’s statue, would show her sleeping.  That is, according to her, what she does best.  We once took a trip to China together in college, and when we returned she asked me to show her my pictures. 

            “Here you are asleep on the train to Nanjing.  Here you are asleep on the plane to Tibet.  Here you are asleep on the yak riding over the Himilayas.  Here you are asleep on the Buddha’s belly in the monastery.”  I thought she would be mad at me for taking all those pictures, but when I turned around for her reaction…she was asleep! 

            The statue I’ve thought of most this week is Jesus on a mountaintop overlooking Rio de Janerio, Brazil.  His arms are outstretched, as if he’s welcoming the whole world into his arms.  That shows him at his best.  Practicing radical inclusion.  Welcoming any and everyone into his family. 

            That made me think about the way Jesus is often memorialized.  Whether it’s statues or paintings or stained glass, Jesus is always helping others--healing the sick, feeding the 5,000, baptizing the masses.  When we think of Jesus, we usually think of him helping others.    

            That’s why today’s story is so odd.  A woman comes to him for help, and he rejects her…sarcastically, nonetheless.  That’s not the Jesus we know.  So what’s going on in here?

             According to Mark, several important things have recently happened in Jesus’ life.  His cousin and mentor, John the Baptist, was recently murdered brutally by the government.  He tried to take his disciples out of town after that to get some rest and relaxation since they were being following night and day by people asking for help, but they couldn’t escape the crowds.  Thousands found them, and Jesus fed them all with five loaves and two fish.  When they left there, a terrible storm arose on the sea, prompting Jesus to walk on water in order to calm and save the disciples in their boat. 

            My point is that by Mark 7, Jesus is exhausted.  Exhausted by death and travel and healings and feedings.  Exhausted.  Verse 24 says he went to the region of Tyre, which was a significant distance from his home base.  He walked miles and miles to get there.  It was a port city where Jews would have gone for vacation but never would have lived.  Gentiles lived there, and Jews only went there to get away.  So this was a place Jesus wouldn’t have been as well known.  A place he could maybe get some rest.  He ducks into a house, hoping to have a moment to himself, and the Syrophoenician woman finds him.  Even though she’s a Gentile, she knows exactly who he is, and she wants his help with her sick daughter. 

We’ve heard this story before.  Woman approaches Jesus.  Has a sick relative.  Asks for help.  We know what’s supposed to happen next.  He’s supposed to help her.  That’s what he does.  Except, he refuses to help the Syrophoenician woman. 

            He says, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.”  Something may be lost in translation there…some saying with which we are unfamiliar today…but it’s pretty clear what he means.  He won’t help her.   Why not?   

            Because when we’re exhausted, we do things we wouldn’t normally do and say things we wouldn’t normally say.  Jesus is exhausted, and in that moment of weakness he says something he wouldn’t normally say. 

            As soon as the woman turns his sarcastic response on its head, though, he realizes his mistake and helps her daughter.  If you’ve ever lost your cool in a moment of exhaustion or anxiety, you know it only takes a small trigger to bring you back to reality.

            And for Jesus, reality is marked by radical inclusion. Like his statue overlooking Brazil, Jesus’ open arms welcome all those who have ears to hear.  His open arms beckon those whose eyes see him.  His open arms call to all of us, promising peace and respite from a raging world that can leave us all feeling like Jesus did when he took an impromptu beach trip to Tyre.  

            As Paul writes in Galatians, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  All of us…are one…in Christ Jesus.  Praise be to God.  Amen.