Mark 7:24-37 is the Gospel text for Sunday, September 5.
A gentile, unclean. A woman, never one of power and not one with whom a Rabbi should be talking. The marginalized and disenfranchised came to Jesus. Jesus at first put her in her place, acknowledged the social mores of the time. Then He shattered them. She "talked back." She persisted. She stood up to Jesus and debated Him, the Rabbi. She also recognized who Jesus was - a powerful man who could help her daughter. It worked this time.
Our social mores, religious practices and pieties hurt people. We set up these precepts of humans as a reflection of our own bigotries, ideologies and false beliefs of superiority. Jesus knocked them down with His words and actions. After two thousand years, should not those who claim to follow Jesus also knock down the divisive, derisive, discriminatory and destructive expressions of empire? Should we who claim Jesus' name not be tearing down political and economic systems and social practices that marginalize and disenfranchise some for the gain of others who are just like us?
Should women not have equal pay for doing the same jobs? Should they not be represented equally in the government of, by and for the people? Should they not be able to make their own decisions about their moralities, particularly concerning their own bodies? Should those of different ethnicities, faiths and sexual orientations not have equality and equitable treatment in our society?
Should we not be tearing down the systems that promote the greed, lust for power over others, desire for status above others and normalized hatred as a people who claim Jesus? Yes. But do we? No. We reflect empire, rather than address it with the Gospel. In fact, we twist the Gospel to suit our empire values. It is idolatry. For people who claim devotion to a Lord who reached out to the marginalized and disenfranchised, and who addressed the corruptions of empire in politics and religion, it is at the very least hypocrisy.
And the demons win because the church in America that claims to be of Jesus, walks away from those whose lives are being destroyed by the powers and principalities that occupy them. They win because the church in America has become the church of idolatry, hypocrisy and evil forces. It has become the promoter of empire and its evils in ideology and practice. Oh, there are some who give lip service to Jesus, but there hearts are far from Him. There are others who do live loving, generous and faithful lives, but they are often silent about the evils of the systems that hold down, back and out their sisters and brothers. There are others who do speak, write and demonstrate, but they are marginalized for doing so by the public AND the church (i.e. Cornell West, William Barber, Jim Wallis, Michael Eric Dyson, Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Jacqueline Grant, Traci C. West, Yvette Flunder, David Eng, etc.). The church is afraid to "lose members," if it makes a stand for those who are marginalized and disenfranchised among us.
But Jesus. Jesus reached out to powerless, gentile, female dogs. Jesus did not dismiss their cries or their attitudes, their begging or their debate. Jesus saw the need and practiced the Agape Love that He preached, according to Mark's Gospel. He healed the people in the Greek ten cities region that were influenced and occupied by Rome. He built bridges and not walls. He tore down barriers. He touched lives and changed them. And His followers did the same in the First Century, until empire subjugated the movement into an institution to serve her.
And Jesus' followers today? We have seen where the institution of church has gone in ideology and practice. The movement of followers of Jesus is something else, within and beyond the institution. Of which are you a part?
The Gospel of Jesus is relevant in resistance to empire and its values. It is rendered irrelevant in compliance with it. In that context, it is just one more tool used to hold God's children down, back and out.
So the question is, will the followers of Jesus be relevant or irrelevant in the Kingdom, here and now?
Pastor Jamie
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