St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. Jeunée Godsey
Proper 18B – Sept 5, 2021
Holy Baptism
Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146; James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17; Mark 7:24-37
Ephphatha! Be Opened!
I’d like that to be the theme for this message today.
Jesus pronounces this word in Aramaic as he heals the deaf and mute man. …
Be opened, ears, to hear. Be opened, mouth, to speak!
Be opened to new experiences of understanding.
I believe that command from Jesus not only applies to the story we heard in the second part of our Gospel reading. I also see how it about the applies to the other passages we heard today, and to the occasion of the Baptism we are about to celebrate of little Hunna Gross. I even see how it applies to the first story we heard in Mark’s Gospel, that very uncomfortable story of where Jesus calls the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter “dogs.”
Let’s start there. As you heard the Gospel being read, some of you were probably taken aback. Did Jesus just call that woman a dog? The short answer is, well, yes. And yes, being called a dog back in Jesus’ day was no better than being called a dog today. This doesn’t sound like the Jesus we are used to.
There are lots of scholars that have tried to soften the blow of his harsh language. The word dog used here literally means “little dogs”, so maybe he was calling them “puppies” and being playful, delivering the words with a twinkle in his eye. Maybe like puppies and dogs in our own context, we see them as members of the family, just not as important as the humans. This is an interpretation that, in the past, I’ve even wanted to use myself. But if you look at the context, that really can’t be right.
Jesus is traveling in gentile territory. There has been tension between the Gentiles and the Jews for centuries. There are at least 12 places in the Hebrew scriptures that the gentiles are referred to as “dogs.” It seems it’s one of the main slurs Jews used toward gentiles. No doubt the gentiles had their favorite slurs to use against Jews. Jews did not have dogs as house pets. Dogs were scavengers, and therefore unclean, so they didn’t come inside. So, these gentiles are “other” outside his culture and context, and not regarded as clean.
Jesus understands his mission is to the lost sheep of Israel – a focused mission – and doesn’t want to get sidetracked and dilute that mission by casting his pearls before swine, or in this case, dogs. Outsiders.
But this woman does what any desperate mother would do. She fiercely pursues what she needs to find help for her daughter. She had burst into the house where Jesus is staying and had boldly asked for what she wanted. When Jesus refused her at first, she doesn’t try to argue that she should have a place inside Israel. Yes, their cultures are different. Here, in this gentile region, where the cultured Greeks eat at tables and have house pets, children do what children have continued to do for thousands of years… feed the dog under the table.
And this woman knows, in the center of her being, that even a crumb of what Jesus is feeding the children of Israel, just a morsel of the healing power that he has exhibited in his ministry, is more than sufficient to heal her daughter. “Fine, you all don’t feed dogs, but here, dogs are part of the household. And the leftovers from the table are just fine.” Fine, go to the household of Israel first, but there’s enough for us too.
Jesus has been caught off guard and shown a bigger truth about God’s expansive love and power by this outsider. Here’s where I think Jesus may have begun to get a twinkle in his eye, because his eyes have been opened. This woman has changed his mind. He gives her exactly what she has asked for immediately.
The idea of the expansiveness of God’s inclusivity has been evident in places throughout scripture, and becomes more explicit in Jesus’ ministry, and then in the early church as the Holy Spirit continues to break down walls.
In our Epistle reading, James is reminding the church not to show partiality, especially partiality having to do with class or wealth, rich or poor. He reminds the followers of Jesus that they can’t just say they have faith without putting that faith into action and actually helping those who are in need.
James reminds us, don’t show partiality and treat some people better than others – especially in the community of faith. This is pretty radical when the traditional custom would have had people seated at a fancy dinner table by rank or importance.
We, as human beings, are natural wall-builders. Who is in, and who is out. We make teams or tribes for any number of reasons. Boys against girls. Washington verses Dallas. Part of our evolution has made us wary of the outsider, to fear what is different. That may have helped our earliest ancestors survive, but today, we don’t have to rely on those instincts. We can use our minds and overcome the prejudices we have that make us reflexively think that differences are bad, and keep us away from those who are not “our kind of people.” We need to be opened.
I believe that is why the story about the deaf and mute man follows directly after the story of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus travels to another primarily Gentile area, the Decapolis, and heals a man is deaf and mute. His command, “Ephphatha” Be Opened, heals the man… and opens his ears to hear and his loosens his tongue to speak.
Be Opened is the command Jesus gives to us as well. Be opened to new understanding. Be opened to receive God’s healing. Be opened to the outsider. Open your ears to hear new things and use your tongue to share how God has touched you.
These last words of the Gospel reading echo directly the passage from Isaiah we heard earlier.
The people’s assessment, "he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak" alludes to Isaiah 35:5-6a: "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy."
It is a promise of God’s healing and wholeness, a promise of joy and salvation.
We are to be opened up to receive that joy and to accept God’s wholeness and salvation.
That is essentially what the promises of baptism are. They are meant to open our eyes and unstop our ears to be able to see and hear what God is up to in the world and in our lives, and then to loosen our tongues to proclaim the Good News to others.
“For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;”
Isaiah’s image of life-giving water reminds us of the life-giving water of baptism. Just as springs of water make the desert into an oasis, the waters of baptism bring new life and vitality. Our prayer for Hunna this morning is that as she is washed in the waters of baptism – ok, sprinkled – it will nourish in her a vital life in Christ.
The prayers we will pray for Hunna are prayers that she be Opened to God’s Spirit working in her and through her.
For Hunna, and for all of us, we can hold onto Jesus’ words – Ephphatha. Be opened. Be opened to the inclusive, healing power of God, that can break down walls of separation. Be opened to hearing and seeing things in a new light, with a lens looking for God’s purposes. Be opened to new life springing from the living water of our baptisms. Be open to the leaping joy God desires for all his children.
Amen.