Loving God, you continue to break through humanly created barriers, desiring that all might come to know you through your Son, Jesus Christ.  Help us to open ourselves not only to you but to others, for all of us are one in you; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Jesus, it seems, was trying to get away from it all for a little while.  He left Galilee and entered the Roman province of Syria, and so he is no longer among the Jewish people.  At the same time, he goes to the region of Tyre, which is right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  It would have been a beautiful place to get away from it all for a while, and we are told that he entered a house there and did not want anybody to know he was there.

    However, even here in Gentile territory, those who are in desperate need of healing manage to find Jesus.  A woman comes to Jesus and begs that he would cast the unclean spirit out of her daughter.  Of course, today we don’t know exactly what sort of illness this unclean spirit might have been.  What we do know is that the girls mother is willing to go to any lengths to find healing for her daughter.

    Given the culture of the time, this woman shows tremendous courage in even speaking to Jesus.  For one thing, she is a woman, and women are not supposed to speak to men who are not close relatives.  At the same time she is a Gentile, which means that any faithful Jew would not want anything to do with her.  Jews were supposed to keep themselves separated from Gentiles in order to maintain their purity.  And yet, here is this Gentile woman who firmly believes in the healing power of Jesus.

    Jesus, for his part, responds with what has sometimes been described as a playful back and forth with her.  He implies that his mission is first and foremost to the people of Israel.  Yet, the woman persists, telling him that even the dogs under the table get the scraps left by the children.  And Jesus has compassion on her and smiles at her, and tells her that the demon has left her daughter.  And the woman returns home to find that her daughter has, indeed, been healed.

    It is just so like Jesus to cut through any barriers that seem to be in place.  We see it over and over again in the gospels, as he treats women with dignity and respect and extends his healing power even to Gentiles.  We see him touch those who are considered to be unclean and restore them to health.  And then, in stories like the second part of today’s gospel, we see Jesus sweep away the impediments that have kept a man deaf and mute, and open up the possibilities for this man to actually participate in his community.  Jesus is all about breaking down the walls that divide, whether they be between God and human beings or between people.  Yet, in how many different places in the world do human beings still insist on those barriers?

    One of the things that struck me in the Holy Land is how visible many of those humanly created barriers are.  There is a literal wall that passes through many places in the West Bank, called the Wall of Separation.  It not only separates Palestinians from Israelis, but separates Palestinians from their relatives or from their farmland or from their workplace.  In fact, the wall passes right through the town of Bethany, so that somebody who lives in one house might have to travel many miles, through many checkpoints, only with required permits (if they can get them), in order to visit relatives in a house that’s only 10 feet away, on the other side of the wall.

    At the same time, the barriers between men and women are still very evident, as men and women are kept separate at both Jewish and Muslim holy sites.  As well, any entry into a mosque requires that the women all cover up in these capes, while apparently the men are acceptable just the way they are.  For me, I have never before felt so degraded.  I also had the experience of walking into a Jewish book store and finding that not one of the men working there was willing to assist me.  I don’t know if it was because I was a Gentile or a woman, but either way it’s not a particularly enjoyable experience.

    I have no doubt that today, Jesus does not just weep over Jerusalem, but over the entire Middle East and over every other part of the world where humanly created barriers continue to keep people apart and to rob people of dignity and respect.  It is no accident that Paul wrote to the 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” (Gal. 3:28).  And perhaps we could add from James that the barriers between rich and poor also disappear when we believe in Jesus Christ.

    For those who believe in Jesus, a society such as the one depicted in The Hunger Games where a small number of people are rich and everybody else is poor and hungry is not okay.  For those who believe in Jesus, the kind of prejudice that happened here in Canada following World War II is not okay, whether it was directed toward Japanese Canadians or toward those of German ancestry.  For those who believe in Jesus, the prejudice that today gets directed toward aboriginal people in Canada is not okay.  For in Christ, every human being is loved and redeemed and worthy of dignity and respect.

    In the reading from James today we heard about one of the issues in the early church: Rich members and visitors were being treated far better than those who were poor.  One of the questions that comes out of this for us is who we would welcome or not welcome in this congregation.  Are those who are sick welcome, or only those who are healthy?  Are single people just as welcome as families with children?  Are people welcome regardless of their skin colour or heritage?  Are those who are struggling just as welcome as those who might give a big offering?

    No matter what situation somebody is in when they walk through that door, Jesus loves that person just as much as he loves you or me.  At the foot of the cross, we are all on level ground – every single one of us has been redeemed by Jesus Christ – and Jesus himself has broken down any barriers between us.  In the same way, it is Jesus who has bridged the gap between us and God – living the life that we never could and dying the death that we would never want to in order to open the way to eternal life – enabling us to enter into a life-giving relationship with God.

    As to the barriers that still exist, Jesus says, “Ephphatha” - “Be opened.”  And wherever people live by the power of the Holy Spirit, walking with God through Jesus Christ, those barriers continue to fall, for Jesus has already broken through them.  Amen.

Lectionary 23(B)                                Mark 7:24-37
September 9, 2012                                James 2:1-17
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved