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The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 6, 2015

This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37

Strange Geography - Pr. Steve's Sermon on Sept 6

Feeding the Children - Children's Sermon on Sept 6

Having our Hearts Washed with a Brillo Pad - Pr. Christine's Sermon on August 30

Blessing of the Backpacks - Children's Sermon on August 30

Youth Gathering Reflections - August 22 & 23

Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve...

Years ago, when I was a college kid in DC, a bunch of my classmates and I went to see a movie that was set in DC. It was really cool for us, because as the movie went along, we recognized all of the streets and buildings and neighborhoods where the movie was taking place. You could actually imagine yourself in the movie.

I don't remember the name of the movie, but I'll never forget one scene. This was some kind of spy thriller movie and the good guys were being chased by an assassin through the city. The chase went past all the buildings we recognized. It wound through neighborhoods we regularly visited. And eventually, it went underground into the Washington Metro.

The chase went through several station changes, but finally, the good guys had an opening to escape! So they jumped off the train, ran up the escalator, and exited through the entrance to the Georgetown Metro station and got lost in the crowds on M Street. (We could see it was the Georgetown Metro station because there was a big pillar with the M that clearly said "Georgetown.")

And in that moment, we all forgot about the chase and the plot of the movie, and we all started laughing, "their ain't no Georgetown Metro!" If there was it would make our lives a whole lot easier! And it took me a few minutes to get over the geographical problem, and get back into the plot of the movie.

An occupational hazard for Pastors and others who have spent time in the Holy Land is that sometimes the same thing happens when we read the Bible. There are stories that, as they're recorded, make no geographical sense. Today's Gospel reading is one of them.

Mark records Jesus as being in the city of Tyre. And then Mark says that Jesus leaves Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards his home base near the Sea of Galilee. And on his way, he passed through the Decapolis. For most people (like folks outside of DC who saw that movie), these are just places. They have funny names, and most people are just glad that it's the Pastor who has to read the names!

But here's how the geography sounds when you've been to some of these places:

Jesus left Washington to return to Richmond by way of Philadelphia. And as he did that, he passed through the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

Huh? This is like Jesus popping out of the Georgetown Metro station! Probably, what's happened in this story is that Mark has put together two or three different stories about places Jesus visited and things Jesus did.

So the first challenge for me was to get over the geography and ask, "what's the plot really about?" How are these stories related and why did they get put together?

The first clue is actually in the geography: Tyre, Sidon, the Decapolis. You know what those all were? Gentile areas. Certainly, Jews lived there, but they were places outside of Israel proper. They were places you'd frankly expect to find people like the Syro-phoenecian woman. And they were places that, first of all, you'd wonder why Jesus would be. After all, if Jesus was first concerned about the children of Israel, then Jesus is going to places that are outside of the "comfort zone" for both him and his disciples.

It's really quite shocking for us to hear Jesus have a conversation in which he seems to buy into the ethnic slur of calling Gentiles "dogs." But he's in a place where he expects to encounter a lot of Gentiles; and it's a place where most Gentiles think the same thing about Jews.

It's not a place where Jesus' disciples would have expected or wanted him to go. The Gentiles are not people whom Jesus' disciples would have expected him to interact with, let alone help. And it's not a place where Jesus will probably get a lot of good PR from the things he does.

And maybe that's why Jesus is recorded as having gone to not just one, but several places that really would have made his disciples scratch their heads. In going not just to nice Jewish towns, but to relatively hostile Gentile places, Jesus was modeling for his disciples a way of living and sharing God's love and presence in such a way that:

It pushes you out of your comfort zone (it's not just about living your faith among people who already share it...)

You're willing to engage with people you didn't ask to meet (Jesus was, at least in Tyre, trying to fly under the radar; but when someone, even a Gentile, asked for help, he was willing to engage with her...)

You really don't care if you or your group gets glory or credit for helping (Jesus is always more interested in people giving thanks to God for what they've experienced than he is in being popular...)

Those things sound simple enough. But in reality, they're hard things for all of us to do. And these stories of Jesus' journeys into Gentile territory are perhaps Jesus' way of asking us, as modern disciples, whether we're willing to follow him in such a way that we're willing:

To be pushed out of our comfort zone - that is, to live our faith outside of the comfort of our own faith communities and families (that doesn't mean imposing our beliefs on others as we heard in the news this week, but it does mean being willing to be agents of God's love and patience in situations where we're not being treated very nicely...)

To let God interfere with our carefully planned schedules and ideas about how life is going to go today, and be interrupted enough to do something we feel God wants us to do even when we didn't plan it into our schedule ...

To totally let go of getting any credit or recognition for doing something that God wants me to do... (which is harder than it sounds, because at least it's nice to be appreciated, or at very least, to get a tax deduction!)

Today's story about Jesus involves some funny geography. And it's not just the geography of the land, but the geography of life. And Jesus calls us to join him in that funny geography.

Jesus calls us to join him in being God's agents of love and peace in places that are outside of our comfort zone. Jesus calls us to join him in being God's agents of help and healing in time zones that we don't expect. And Jesus calls us to join him in being people who even transcend the geography of our own egos, so that God's glory and love can shine through us.

Amen.