James 2: 1-17; Mark 8:27-38  “A Heart that Learns”

INTRODUCTION

            During the next several weeks, my messages on Sunday mornings will focus on what it means to have a heart committed to Christ.  You have probably noticed the posters up around the church, and perhaps you have read the article in the newsletter.  Open hands….committed hearts is the theme for our stewardship emphasis beginning this fall.  It is my prayer that through this emphasis, we will grow as individuals and as a congregation in our commitment to God and our service of others.

            Today I want to focus on how our hearts learn to love.  Every human being must learn, and there is much talk these days about lifelong learning.  Even Jesus learned as we see in today’s reading from Mark’s gospel.

Jesus Goes on Vacation

            Jesus and his disciples are looking for a little R & R.  They leave Galilee where their mission is going so well, but where they can’t escape the throngs of people following the miracle worker.  The crowds are worse than the paparazzi following Paris Hilton, without the camera flashes, of course.  Many have problems for Jesus to solve.  They want to be healed of whatever ails them.  Others are just looking for a hand-out—more of that free bread and fish for which he is famous. 

Jesus and his disciples go to the Phoenician city of Tyre, a port on the Mediterranean.  This city was noted for its export of fine dyes, particularly purple, glassware, and wine.  Tyre is a small city in what is now called Lebanon, but in Jesus’ day, it was a large, prosperous seaport.  When the gospel of Mark was written, a war was being waged between Jews and Gentiles, just as today, so this story had particular meaning to the early readers of this gospel.  Thirty to forty years before, in Jesus’ day there were socio-economic tensions between Jewish Galilee and Gentile Tyre.  Food produced in Galilee went to markets in Tyre, rather than feeding the poorer Jewish peasants. Perhaps this tension is evident in the exchange between the Syrophoenician woman and Jesus.   

The Syrophoenician Woman

            Jesus tries to keep his presence in Tyre under wraps, staying at a B & B or the home of an acquaintance.  But he is soon discovered.  A Syrophoenician woman comes and bows at his feet, begging him to heal her young daughter.  The child is desperately ill.  Jesus’ response to her is surprising.  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.”  Wait a minute!  Did Jesus just call this woman a dog?!  Yep.  He did.  It was not uncommon for rabbis to refer to Gentiles as dogs.  But we can’t imagine Jesus insulting this mother who is only concerned for her daughter.

            When I met with my colleagues for our weekly study of scripture, a few of them had great trouble with this passage.  They didn’t like to think of Jesus as being, well… downright mean.  Meanness is not one of the words we’d generally use to describe Jesus, though, thinking about it, he did have some harsh words for the Pharisees and other religious leaders.  We tried to think of why Jesus might make such an insulting statement.  I pointed out to my colleagues that Jesus after all was fully human as well as fully divine.  Maybe in this moment he was overwhelmingly tired and his humanity was very evident. One of my friends exclaimed, “But I want Jesus to be a better human being than I am!”  So did the people Jesus encountered in his earthly ministry.  In fact they really didn’t want Jesus to be human at all, but the superhero who would rescue them from their troubled and oppressive lives.

            Jesus’ comment to the woman of Tyre seems both racist and possibly sexist.  How could Jesus be racist and sexist?  Again, perhaps we are seeing the human aspect of Jesus.  The woman has a very clever comeback.  I’m reminded of a Chinese proverb, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog.”  I know people who become remarkably acute and articulate when under great pressure.  This woman’s beloved child may have had epilepsy or mental illness, which people in those days attributed to outside evil forces.  She is desperate to find help for her child.  This woman may have been one of those people who expresses herself well under pressure.  Or perhaps she rehearsed what she would say to Jesus, considering all the possible responses she might make based on his reaction to her request.  At any rate, her retort is very humble and wise.  “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs,” she says.  While Jesus may have imagined the Gentiles as stray dogs begging on the streets for scraps of food, the woman twists the reference.  She imagines the family pets which wait under the table for the children to drop crumbs for them to eat, or as my children frequently did, feed them the food they are required to eat before they can have dessert.  The woman places the Gentiles among those who would be part of God’s eschatological banquet, as those included in God’s kingdom. 

Jesus Learns

            Jesus is impressed with the woman’s response.  She is direct, honest, humble, and demonstrates her faith in Jesus.  The heart of Jesus is moved by this woman.  She reminds him of a broader perspective, that of seeing beyond what’s on the outside to what’s in the heart of another.  She reminds him that God’s love is inclusive and non-discriminating. Furthermore, God’s grace is abundant—more than sufficient for all.  It is not to be hoarded and spent only on those who are like us—our family members, friends, racial group or fellow citizens.   Perhaps it is that Jesus learns from this woman.  At the very least he is reminded that God’s love is expansive and available to all people.

Economic Disparity

The writer of James tackles another form of discrimination—economic.  He encourages Christians to “show no partiality” between the rich and the poor.  He raises the question, “Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”  James speaks of stewardship.  He writes of love and compassion that flows from hearts committed to God’s purposes. 

When it comes to money, we rarely view ourselves as being “rich.” Even though billions of people in the world survive each day on the equivalent of about two dollars a day, we still hesitate to label ourselves as being wealthy. In a recent survey of people with a net worth of between $1 and $4 million, “only 9 percent would admit to being wealthy....The rest said they were comfortable, or possibly ‘very comfortable.’” About half of the people in that survey “defined wealth as $5 million or more.” Yet when people who had assets of $5 million were surveyed, they identified the “rich” as those who had at least $10 million. And in turn, when those who had $10 million were surveyed, in their opinion it took $25 million before one was to be deemed truly rich.[1]

How many of you have heard the quote, “God helps those who help themselves?”  Many people believe that this quote comes from the Bible, but it doesn’t.  Benjamin Franklin is credited with having said or written this adage.  It has become a kind of motto for the United States.  If people are poor, it’s probably their own fault.  They haven’t been helping themselves—pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.  The wisdom of the Bible contrasts with the quote from Ben Franklin:  “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.” And “do not rob the poor because they are poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate.”  (Proverbs 22: 9 & 22)  Jesus was challenged by the Syrophoenician woman to consider who is included in God’s love and James disturbs us with a challenge to reexamine how God calls us to relate to those in our world who have less than us.

However, there is a tendency that goes like this: the richer a person becomes in terms of material wealth, the poorer he/she becomes in faith.  The accumulation of money for ourselves can lead us not only to turn away from those in need around us, but in some cases to turn away from God.  A study asked Americans, “How important to you is having faith in God?” 79% of those in the lower income brackets, earning less than $30,000 a year replied, “Very important.” The study showed that the higher the income level, the lower the importance of faith in God. “…Of those who earn $50,000-75,000, the number who said “very important” fell to 74%. But then there was a precipitous drop when it came to those who make over $150,000 a year, of whom just 54% said that having faith in God was very important to them.”[2]  Hoarding our money can create barriers to faith.

TITHING

The Presbytery of Baltimore encourages each congregation to give a tithe to the mission work of the larger church, that is, the presbytery and General Assembly.  Our congregation severely cut its giving to mission this year due to lack of financial support, and this year we are unable to give any support to the mission of the larger church.  It grieves me that we are doing little to support the work of organizations in our community and around the world that are feeding hungry people, providing vital medical care to those who have none, and giving shelter to those who are homeless. Yet, I know that we want to help others. The generous giving to the Heifer Project this summer during Vacation Bible School is proof.  But, we must learn to be more generous. 

The other day I saw a bumper sticker that read: "Tithe if you love Jesus.  Any fool can honk".  In the Bible a tithe is 1/10^th of a person’s income.  The tithe was expected from the people for the ministry enabled by the spiritual leaders in the community.  Many of us believe we are unable to tithe 10%.  I, myself, am at about 7-8%, and trying to live more simply so that I can give more.  Putting one or two dollars into the offering plate on Sunday doesn’t cut it, unless you make no income or are dependent (such as a child or youth).  To refer to the Gospel lesson, giving a few dollars is like giving the crumbs under the table instead an invitation to sit at the table and eat the abundant food.

I came across a story that explains our attitude toward tithing.  It’s called, "Who Owns Your French Fries". It is the story of a man who buys his little boy some French fries. The father eyes the tempting French fries and reaches over to take one fry to taste it. The little boy slaps his father’s hand and says, "Don’t touch my French fries." The father thinks that his son is selfish. The father knows that he bought the French fries, and they belong to him. The father knows that his son belongs to him as well. The father could get angry and never buy his son another French fry to teach his son a lesson, or the father could "bury" his son in French fries. The father thinks, "Why is my son selfish, I have given him a whole package of French fries; I just want one French fry."

God has given us money. When God asks for a tithe, people figuratively slap God’s hand and say, "Keep Your hands off my money." God owns everything we have. God wants us: 1. To manage what we have: our time, talent, bodies, relationships, and resources, for God’s glory, and 2. To give back a portion of what God has given us.[3]

CONCLUSION

We at Hunting Ridge Church need to grow in our relationship with God, to become generous, as God is generous. Even Jesus, who gave his life for the world, learned from another of God’s inclusive love.  Our goal at Hunting Ridge Church is to model and share God’s extravagant love in our community and in our world.  But it takes the committed hearts of all of us to fulfill this mission.

Let us pray:  Generous God, give us hands that are open to share with the world and hearts committed to you.  Amen.