It is good to know and have a relationship with God this morning. He is truly the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star.

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1 Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, Psalm 125 James 2: 1-10, 11-13, Mark 7: It is good to know and have a relationship with God this morning. He is truly the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer. Last week in my message I reminded us to Trust in the Lord, and I do the same this morning. Trust in the Lord! From time to time Jesus calls us to open our eyes to the wonders that he performs in our lives every day. If you open them you will be astounded beyond measure and belief. To begin with the five thousand were fed, a deaf man s hearing and speech are restored, the demons were cast out of a Syrophoenician women s daughter, an a blind man s sight was restored. Miracles abound but the scribes and Pharisees continue to antagonize him, and the disciples display little faith in him. They worry about feeding a multitude of people. The five thousand were fed. This worry or concern about where the food to feed the five thousand was coming from, prompted Jesus to ask, Why do you reason that it s because you have no bread? Don t you perceive it yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, don t you see? Having ears don t you hear? Don t you remember? Jesus is here to impart physical healing, but his greater purpose is opening spiritual eyes ears. 1

2 We are tasked with opening our eyes and ears but even greater than that with opening our hearts and minds to see things more clearly, hear things more clearly. Seeing things more clearly brings to mind two words which I feel are more than appropriate for what the message of today s Gospel lesson. And adjective Astonishing defined as surprise, amazing; a verb to fill with sudden and overpowering surprise and wonder; let s stay together with this. The second word is surprise; as an adjective, causing surprise, wonder, astonishment, unexpected; as a verb, to strike or occur with a sudden feeling of wonder. These synonyms are two very strong and powerful words. Astonishing, Surprising they aptly describe what Jesus has done and continues to do every day of our lives. He did not like or want the spot light, he did not brag and strut around heaven all day with his chest stuck out. We have a responsibility to nurture holy things and thoughts in our hearts. He ousted demons, healed lepers, made the blind see, had the cripple walk, and brought Jews and Gentiles together. In these seemingly ugly, dangerous times where we have an eleven year old shooting a seventeen year old, a baby s father shaking the child and injuring her because he could not get her to stop crying. These are the times that try a person s soul, these are times that put your faith and belief to the test, these are times that say to us, stand up for Jesus if not we are lost. Remember the Syrophoenician women who had a daughter with an unclean spirit, she was a Gentile but she went to Jesus and asked rather begged him to cast the demon out. Isn t ironic that Phoenicia of yesterday is Lebanon today. The major cities of Phoenicia were Tyre and Sidon which links this woman to Syria. I think it was not easy for this woman a Gentile to ask a Jewish man for help. It was not easy for her need was overwhelming. Our need today is also overwhelming beyond belief; we are behind the curve in the war against drugs, we have resorted to fighting and killing not sitting and talking. Our politicians have decided to divide and conquer not come together for the better good. We have forgotten to treat others as you would have them treat you. 2

3 Our moral compass has lost its way and is paralyzed. We are relying on a GPS system that is taking us on a long disappointing trip with no end in sight. We are making excuses for not coming to Jesus. The Phoenician woman was not discouraged when initially rebuffed by Jesus. She persisted. Some of us have given up. We have in some cases advocated excessively for our children, not allowing them to resolve their conflicts. This sounds like I m talking out of both sides of my mouth, not so; did I get a gun, knife to settle a problem, not at all it usually ended with all concerned going home not even remembering what we were about to fight about. There is always a but, and here it is; some parents fail to provide appropriate guidance and support (see it every day in school) resulting in very laid back parenting which can lead and yield very disastrous results. We cannot continue this laid back behavior to persist. The scribes and Pharisees knew of the work of Jesus but they chose to find fault with him. When the opportunity to see him through the eyes of faith, they chose tinted lenses. Not so for the Gentile woman she chose faith with no tint. The demon was cast out! Many times the disciples are compared to the deaf man. As the man cannot hear or speak the disciples failed to understand what Jesus is telling them. They need Jesus touch in order to see, hear, and understand. In parallel we need Jesus touch so that we might understand. The church today often experiences the same feelings. Many preachers proclaim a Prosperity Gospel ( Believe and Grow Rich ). What they should be saying to their faithful is take up the cross and follow Jesus. It is easier to sell prosperity. The church today is easy to tolerate divisions within its midst racial, gender, denominational, national, and socio-economic why? Because crossing these lines makes us nervous and uncomfortable. It is easier to stay with our own kind than to reach out to those who are different. Jesus visit to Decapolis where he restored a mutes hearing (spat in the mans ear) and speech demonstrated his commitment to those who are different and calls for us to behave in the same manner. In moving around in social gatherings I hear many saying to Give God 3

4 the Glory. Quite the contrary, our worship agenda is what do we get out of it God serving us rather than us serving God. Like the deaf, like the Disciples we too, need Christ s healing touch. We would do well to recover our ability to be astonished astonished at God s creation, to be astonished at the wonderful things that Jesus does in our lives every day. The miracles in the Bible are remote to us not real. But Jesus still works miracles. Jesus changes lives, sometimes dramatically, sometimes not. Sometimes we do not even notice or fail to see a change. Every one of us here this morning is a miracle and I thank God for that. If Jesus had healed us when we were terribly sick, we would say Wow! Why then can t we give thanks that Jesus helped us to stay well he took care of us before we got sick that he kept us healthy and on the right track! Why can t we be astonished at the little everyday miracles that keep us from selfdestructing! In all of this Jesus purpose was to open the people s eyes our eyes to the glory of God. Last week I left you with two questions, who pulls your chain and who directs your life? A two part daily spiritual discipline Open your eyes and your ears and your heart to see and hear and feel the wondrous things of God happening all around us. Count our blessings not just the riches we have but also the troubles we do not have. Allow ourselves to be astonished and we will find that our sense of wonder is another is blessing layered on top of all of all the other blessings. Bring a friend to Jesus. Think of one or some friends who would benefit from knowing Jesus and bring them to Jesus. At least bring their names to 4

5 Jesus in your prayers. Pray for your friends daily. Then consider inviting them to come to church with you. BRING A FRIEND TO JESUS! Open our eyes to see the blessing and your heart to receive the blessing. And then share the blessing with a friend. Now! Prepare yourself to be astonished! Amen 5