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    Mar 26, 2017

    Transformed

    Passage: Mark 15:21-28

    Speaker: Rev. Vivian McCarthy, Pastor

    Series: Gospeled Lives

    Category: Discipleship

    We are transformed for the good by drawing near to Christ. This is not without pain or difficulty.

    Maybe it was because he had just left a crowd that was just plain nasty. Maybe he was so sick and tired of dealing with inflexible, judgmental, hypocritical, nit-picky, pharisaical, snarky people that he wasn’t thinking. Maybe it was because he had his last confrontation on his mind.

    Oh, wait! We didn’t read about that last confrontation, so I’ll try to set this up for you. Matthew paints the picture this way, beginning with chapter 14. Jesus learned that his cousin John was beheaded, and he tried to withdraw to a deserted place where he thought he was going to get a little alone time with God – and maybe even some rest. He needed a little time to grieve and get his bearings, but the crowd didn’t leave him alone. They trailed him all the way to the deserted place – and when they got hungry he fed them – about 5,000 people. I imagine that felt pretty good.

    Now, I don’t know why, but Jesus stayed behind to send the people on their way. Maybe he was still praying with them. Maybe the disciples were just getting in the way – but for some reason, Matthew tells us that Jesus sends the disciples on ahead to cross the Sea of Galilee and he joins them later, walking over the water. Yet another rather dramatic event – can’t imagine there was much resting done then, either.

    They get out of the boat at Genessaret and Jesus heals the sick and then he is confronted by Pharisees and scribes who had traveled from Jerusalem to argue with him about why he allowed the disciples to defile tradition because they don’t always wash their hands before they eat. By the time he argued with the delegation and cleared up a few things with the disciples and the crowd, he must have been beyond weary – emotionally drained.

    And then they walked the 30+ miles to Tyre and the scripture says that a woman came out and started shouting at him. He couldn’t seem to catch a break, and I wonder if Jesus’ human side got the better of him.

    He ignored her. Matthew says, he did not answer her at all. Doesn’t seem much like Jesus – the guy who welcomed little children and lepers and tax collectors and other women – but it’s right there. He ignored her. It was as if she wasn’t even there.

    Nevertheless she persisted. The life of her child was at stake, and the Canaanite woman was not about to sacrifice her child just because another man ignored her. Women were used to that kind of treatment back then. And, if we are honest with ourselves, too often they still are!

    Nevertheless, when the stakes are high enough, when their children are at risk, women persist.

    So what did Jesus say to her? “I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

    So, maybe it was the tone of her voice. Maybe it was the fact that she knelt. Maybe it was her reasonable words brought him back to himself: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table.”

    Jesus was transformed. He went from stooping to sarcasm to raising the woman’s daughter to wholeness.

    I love what our author says about Jesus being subject to change:

    I find it redemptive and hopeful. If God as revealed in Christ is not open to change, why do we pray for God’s intercession, seeking transformation in a particular situation? Why is Jonah sent to Nineveh, and what does it mean to read, ‘God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.’ (Indermark, page 81)

    When people tell me about the angry God of the Old Testament, I can’t help but say that every time there is a warning of judgment, God pulls the people back into covenant. Those prophetic warnings are a recognition of how the people have wandered away from God’s ways. The prophets warn that God will punish.

    However, just as last week’s readings reminded us that we are free to reject God, the Old Testament stories remind us again and again that we have the freedom to walk away – to walk in sin – to ignore God. And they consistently remind us that there are usually consequences for our actions. Those consequences are often the result of our actions, not God’s.

    Our author again:

    It is not God’s unchangeable nature that results in the choice of a rainbow after the choice of a flood. It is not God’s unchangeable nature revealed in Jesus’ birth in a manger and Jesus’ death on a cross. God consistently opens up to being affected by the creation God loves. The Incarnation reveals the radical degree of change undertaken for the sake of the beloved. (Indermark, page 82)

    The stories of transformation in this week’s readings are mostly about how people were transformed: healings, reconciliations, even a resurrection. In each case, someone reaches out to Jesus – either out of their own desperation or on behalf of someone else – and transformation occurs.

    As I’ve pondered these transformations, I’ve realized that every one of the people in these stories was willing to seek transformation – and their lives were changed for the better. I chose the story we read because that story gets at how risky transformation can be. The Canaanite woman risked being turned away – humiliated. She must have known that seeking transformation – opening herself up to change – could result in more heartbreak. She must have known that the community would not back her up.

    What of us?

    I must tell you that I was very surprised when we were working on the mission statement for the library. Most of the wording of the statement was fairly easy. However, we stumbled over “transformation.” Some folks thought that word was much too strong.

    Beloved, if our faith does not shape us – change us – transform us – we are not listening. If we see faith in Jesus as simply confirming our opinions and actions and biases and behaviors, we need to take a closer look – a deeper look – an inward look. Every one of us is bent over in some way. Every one of us faces impairment. Every one of us experiences death or threat to those that we love. Every one of us has an issue in need of transformation.

    The difference may be that we haven’t recognized that we are in need. Unlike the woman with the hemorrhage, we may not yet have experienced the utter desperation that it took for her to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe.

    Or, we may be resisting our need for transformation, fearful of change, content to live with those things that bind us, bend us, mark us, and make us sick.

    Be honest with yourself. Where in your life do you need to be transformed? I know a Savior who is compassionate, courageous, and bold.