Gnaw on This ... The Gospel for This Sunday

The Gospel isn't meant to be gulped down on a Sunday morning, but gnawed on through the week so it really becomes a part of us.

You've got to work at it ... like a dog with a good bone!

Here's the Gospel for this Sunday ... with some notes and more "food for thought"

15th Sunday After Pentecost - Mark 7:24-37

From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’

Thanks to the blog "Momma Said What a Waste" for the pic.

The Backstory - What's Going On Here?

This section of Mark sees Jesus breaking barrier after barrier -- from the feeding of the 4,000 and walking on water to healings and casting out demons. Last week we saw Jesus tangle with the Pharisees about the barriers set up by the Law ... and reframe them in terms of what honors God best.

Immediately, we see Jesus take the conversation with the Pharisees and put it into action. And he keeps upping the ante. Not only does he go straight to Gentile territory. He has a conversation with a Gentile. And it's a woman. And he lets her touch him! And it's a woman with a demon-possessed daughter! And he is open to her changing his mind! And he heals the girl! And then with the deaf man, he even puts his fingers in his ears and touches his tongue. Jesus continues to break barrier after barrier. The reader must wonder ... where will it end?

A few things to chew on:

*The Syrophoenician woman argues with Jesus, comes back at him even after he insults her (he calls her a dog!). Sparring with God is nothing new in scripture - think of Jacob wrestling with the angel and Abraham bargaining with God in Genesis. All three examples lead to closer relationship with
God. How has a "good fight" (one where each is trying to help the other be the best they can be) been a part of your relationship with God? Can you think of a time when a "good fight" has been an important part of a relationship with a spouse/partner, friend, child, etc? How can we help each other not to shy away from those "good fights" but to have them lovingly and well ... and being willing to be changed by them?

*There may not be anything more powerful in our lives than touch. Touch has the power to break through barriers. Touch conveys intimacy, access to the deepest parts of us. But that can be both good and bad. Many among us have suffered "bad touch." The touch of an abuser -- physically and sexually. Too add to the damage what "bad touch" does is make not just the individual who has been abused but all of us fearful and leery of touch. Our insurance companies see touch as something we need to be protected from ... and not without good reason. And yet Jesus is a person of touch. Of good touch. Of loving touch. It is the touch when we embrace at the peace. It is the touch when we join hands to pray. How can we be a community that embraces "good touch" that communicates the love of Christ? Touch that offers itself but also asks permission, giving the recipient the chance to accept it (or not) at their own pace? Touch that "respects the dignity of every human being." Touch that brings Ephphatha ... touch that makes us open to Christ's love, not closed in pain.

Another View: Church Marketing Sucks

One of my favorite websites/RSS feeds is this one called "Church Marketing Sucks." It calls itself:

"The site to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ."

I love it partly because of the double meaning in its title.

As churches, we are awful at marketing ourselves. But beyond that the whole concept of "church marketing" ... well ... it sucks!

A continuing message in Mark's Gospel reading is the utter irresistability of Jesus and the life he offers. Jesus goes into the house wanting to avoid detection, but the woman finds him. He orders the people to "tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it."

Not only did Jesus not have a marketing plan, he was actively trying NOT to have his presence known and message spread. And yet it spread anyway.

So what can we learn from this?

That Church Marketing Sucks.

Jesus doesn't need a spin doctor or an ad campaign. The power of Christ, if we just let it run amok in our lives, is like a neodynium magnet to which people can't help but be drawn!

It's not the Gospel that needs a turbo-boost. It's us. The best vehicle for communicating "with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ" ... is us!

The whole idea that we need to message and market the Gospel and our faith communities comes from the fact that we have been so bad at living Jesus out loud! And so we have become convinced that it (and we) are a product like any other that needs to be marketed in the first place.

Here's an example. A parishioner told me yesterday that she knows so many people who know and love Christ Church Cathedral because of our presence ringing our bells and asperging the runners at Race for the Cure. They know that we are about healing. They know that we are about celebration and joy. And that is affecting their experience of Jesus.

And they know that not because we put together a great ad campaign but because there are people at Christ Church Cathedral who joyfully got out there and proclaimed it in word and deed ... in public, out loud, without ulterior motive or agenda!

The lead article on the Church Marketing Sucks website this morning is this one about a church that decided the answer to its "branding" question was not a slogan but "For one year, ... to give all of their tithes and offerings to the people of this community who are hurting.”

WOW!

Imagine if we did something like that! That's some serious trust in Jesus! But doesn't it sound like fun? Doesn't it sound like an interesting and exciting community of Christ?

That's the call that community discerned? What is ours?

What can each of us do as Christians and what can we do as a Christian community that expresses the joy we have in Jesus? What can each of us and all of us do that will communicate that joy to the world? That couldn't be stopped if we tried.

Church marketing does suck. What doesn't is being astounded beyond measure. What doesn't is giving ourselves away. What doesn't is realizing we are loved beyond meausure by a God who made us and who watches us every second with joy.

How zealously can we proclaim that?

Try This:

Jesus says "Ephphatha" or "be opened." In the context of the deaf and mute man being healed, it is clearly liberation. Not only does he have his sensory functions returned, he is now eligible to return to the community ... both because he has lost the "uncleanness" he had under the Law but also because, speaking and hearing, he can participate fully in conversation and in community life.

For us, "being opened" can be wonderful like this. But it can also be scary. Because Ephphatha is also about having us hear not just what reinforces our current beliefs, but hearing things that would deeply challenge them. Ephphatha is also about loosing our tongues not just to say the easy things but to lovingly speak the difficult truths as we wrestle with them ourselves.

Ephphatha on our lips is another way of saying "Jesus, use me." So this week, try that. This week, take a few minutes at the beginning of each day and just pray that word. Ephphatha. Jesus, use me. Help me to hear deeply. Use me to speak not my truth but yours.

Ephphatha. Ephphatha. Ephphatha.