Sermon for September 6, 2015 /
5:30pm
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
(Proper 18)
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Philip’s In The Hills,
Tucson, AZ
Lord, open our lips, that our mouth
shall proclaim your praise. Amen
We have all heard stories
of mothers who pick up a car to save
their baby,
or heroes who do incredible feats
to save someone who is in an accident.
In 2006 in Tucson, Tim Boyle watched
as a Chevrolet Camaro hit an
18-year-old.
The car pinned the young adult,
still alive, underneath.
Boyle ran to the scene of the accident
and
lifted the Camaro off the teenager,
while the driver of the car pulled him
to safety.[1]
This is just one of dozens of
stories.
Stories of well-documented feats
of what the medical community calls
“hysterical
strength” – that
-- unnatural and amazing strength
tapped during high-stress situations.
These stories jar our sense of
possibility.
This
“hysterical strength” might be
what
happened with the woman
in
the gospel reading today.
Jesus
had left Jerusalem
and
went away to the region of Tyre,
a
Gentile, non-Jewish region, to get away.
He
did not want anyone to know he was there.
The
Syro-Phoenician woman
heard
he was in the area and
sought
him out immediately.
She
felt the horror of her daughter’s affliction
and
was filled with fierce motherly love.
She
approached Jesus and
begged
him to cast out the demon
from
her daughter.
And
then, she heard, “No.”
From
Jesus. She heard, “No.”
Have
you ever heard a “No” from Jesus
in
your life? Or sensed a “No”?
It
seems so out of character! It seems so unfair.
Sometimes,
we seem to hear
a
“no” from God when we ask for help
in
the midst of our struggle while
nothing
seems to soothe us.
Sometimes,
we don’t even ask;
Thinking
that we are not worthy
to
ask for our needs –
maybe
we feel we are not holy enough,
since
we can’t come to church every Sunday,
or
we forget to pray every day.
Sometimes,
we might feel that
our
struggle seems so minor
compared
to the horrors we hear about:
the
striking SunTran employees;
out
of work on Labor Day.
the
refugee crisis in Europe
(and in our
own country)
… people
fleeing a deadly life
in their own country
and
are turned
away at the borders,
the
struggle of race relations in our country,
shown by high
percentage
of Af Am’s in
prison
compared to
the general population,
the
death of endangered species
threatened
by climate change
We
wonder –
why
would God even bother with our little pain?
So
we hear “No.”
Or
we think we hear “No.”
But
is it possible, that it is a “not yet,”?
Is
it possible that we simply have not recognized
how
God is doing a new thing?
The
Syro-Phoenician woman heard “not yet.”
Standing
near Jesus, she came and bowed down.
Near
him, she found a hysterical strength
to
respond to Jesus, who engaged in a
verbal
sparring match.
And
with her phrase of equal strength and power,
the
woman expresses her gritty faith;
she
did not take his “No.”
She
made Jesus reconsider
what
“faith” looks like.
He
noticed her persistence.
He
noticed her hopeful insight.
He
noticed her trusting acceptance.
àHere, Jesus recognized the woman’s
argument
as
stronger than his own and
he
granted her petition.
àHere, Jesus reframed faith as –
clinging
to Jesus,
expecting
him to hear, to restore, to save.
It
is demanding he do
what
he says he is going to do.
The
woman,
fueled
by her hysterical strength,
knew
that Jesus
would
never turn away
anyone
who seeks help.
This
encounter recalls
the
story in John’s gospel
at
the wedding in Cana.
Mary,
Jesus’ mother,
insists
that since there is no wine,
that
he is to do something.
“Woman,
what concern is that to you and to me?
My
hour has not yet come.”
Yet,
he does do something and
changed
the jars of water into wine.
This
was the first of his signs,
revealing
his glory.
In
today’s story,
another
women pushes him
with
hysterical strength of wit
to
cross boundaries
of
gender, religion and ethnic origins,
to
heal her daughter.
He
was just trying to get away,
but
instead, he changed his mind.
He
healed the woman’s child.
The
miracle here is not just
the
demon extraction,
but
also the overcoming of
prejudices
and boundaries
for
his love.
Jesus
knew that he could never
turn
away anyone who seeks help –
even
those “gentiles” –
the
non-Jew population of the world.
And
so it is with us. Next to Jesus, we,
too,
find
in our community of faith
a
tenacity, a wisdom, a wit.
Next
to Jesus, in our community of faith,
we
find a hysterical strength.
For
example, from our own community,
Early
on, the
“Border
and Immigration” ministry team
heard
a “No” from the community.
There
was debate about
where
the community might support
– or not – the refugees and immigrants
from
our nearby border.
Yet
as the ministry team continued
to
pray and discern and be tenacious,
hearts
softened and opened up
to
realize our role and
the
possibilities to which God is calling us.
Our
community began to find healing
through
the presence of Jesus
and
monthly prayer vigils, border visits and sewing efforts.
Not
all the problems have been solved,
but
many hearts have been transformed
and
God’s redemption is making way.
In
another example, our own community engaged
“After
School Music (and homework) Program”
that
supports children of two
nearby
elementary schools.
At
these schools,
nearly
all the children qualify for free lunch
due
to their poverty.
Through
prayer and presence near Jesus,
our
community
discerned
a need to transform
hearts
through serving these kids.
Again
this year,
we
will have 22 children and 50 volunteers
each
weekday to make a difference
in
each others’ lives.
Not
all the poverty problems have been solved,
but
many hearts have been transformed
and
God’s redemption is making way.
Coming
up on October 31, you, too,
can
stand in the presence of Jesus –
in
this community.
On
that Saturday,
our
community will engage in prayer,
dreaming
of ways we can live into
our
vision for St. Philip’s.
How
do we do that?
Like
the Syro-Phoenician woman, we persist.
We
express hopeful insight.
We
demonstrate trusting acceptance.
We
dream of bringing about
God’s
redemptive powers to heal the world.
All
voices matter in this discussion;
we
hope you will participate.
The
good news today is that
God’s
hyperactive strength embues us
with
courage and hope and tenacity.
God
heals and reconciles and offers wholeness
to
you and to me and to our community.
For
when we are held together
by
the nearness of Jesus,
here
at the Eucharistic table,
we
can recognize new possibilities
in
a truly abundant world.
Amen.
[1] Cited at http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/arts/circus-arts/adrenaline-strength.htm#.VenTkW1oXQk.mailto on September 5, 2015
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