Sermon for 18th Sunday after Pentecost – Mark 9:38-50

Are you a jealous person? Our readings from last week and this week have a lot to say about jealousy. Last week, Jesus’ disciples were arguing about who’s the greatest. Now, I don’t know about greatest, but I think we know who’s the favorite – Peter. At least until he rebukes Jesus and Jesus says “Get behind me, Satan!” Do you think that stirs the pot a little bit? They start jockeying for position? So Jesus tells them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last.” Because clearly they need to learn a little humility. Except apparently they didn’t listen. Today, we hear the disciple John complain, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he wasn’t following us!” Whenever I hear that verse I always imagine this super whiny voice. “TEEEECHER, we TRYYYYYYYED to STOOOOP them!” Now, it’s easy to call out John. Who in the world would stop someone from casting out demons? Except the demons? No wonder Jesus says, “Don’t stop him. Whoever is not against us is for us.” How bad is it when Jesus’ disciples go around undermining what God’s doing!

Sermon for 14th Sunday after Pentecost – Mark 7:24-37

Lucky me, preaching on one of the most controversial passages of scripture! A woman has a daughter who’s possessed with an unclean spirit. She’s powerless to help. But she hears Jesus is in town and seeks him out, because everyone knows what Jesus can do. She bows down at his feet and begs him to help her daughter. What does Jesus say? “Let the children be fed first, for it’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” How shocking is that?

Except this woman probably isn’t that shocked. Our gospel makes sure we know she’s Syrophonecian. That means Canaanite. We know them. The folks that were already living in the land God promised to Israel. So God commands the Israelites to wipe them out. That doesn’t make for a good relationship, does it? That’s bad history. And then you can find places in Torah that the ancient rabbis say are calling the Canaanites “dogs”. So, it’s an ethnic slur. Jesus really is calling this poor woman and people like her as dogs. Now, a lot of Christians don’t realize this, and they bend over backwards to try to explain it away, because Jesus can’t be a jerk, can he? But you can’t whitewash this. So it’s also pretty shocking that she’d want anything to do with this God at all. But she asks, and Jesus doesn’t exactly say no. He just says “wait your turn” in the nastiest way possible. She persists. “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” That pushes Jesus’ buttons. So he says, “For saying that, you may go – the demon has left your daughter.” Happy ending, right?