Bristol Lutheran Mark 7:24-37 Pentecost 15B 9-6-2015 Who does God heal? Love? Save? Terrorists. Abortionists. Gay. Transgendered. Muslim. Buddhist. Witches and Wiccans. Gamblers. Atheist and Agnostic. Non-baptized. Mormons. Alcoholics. Drug addicts. Suicide victims. Abusers. Non-church going. All people that someone, at some time, by you, by me, have labeled as going to hell. Labeled as unsavable. Labeled as God forsaken. Labeled as wrong, worthless. Labeled as sinner.
There is another type of person, also labeled. A woman, an outsider, a gentile. A worthless piece of trash. A Syrophonician. A dog in the eyes of Jews. Even unworthy in the eyes of Jesus. The Jews were the children of God, the chosen ones, the saved ones. All others were damned. It is just the way it was. It is just the way it is. Let s not sugar coat this. Jesus called her a dog. He told her the chosen Jews need to eat first, and she doesn t deserve their food. Jesus told her the promises of God were for certain people and she was not included. But in a moment of grace this unsavable character finds the courage that only God can give to remind Jesus that ALL deserve healing. All deserve love. All deserve salvation. Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children s crumbs. Woah. Can you imagine saying that? After hearing this ethnic slur against her, she offers a lesson for us. The butterflies in her stomach must have been going crazy.
And this brave woman isn t saying that she should just be fed scraps from the table of riches, she is quietly demanding equity in a world where little equity is found. She desires the same promise that others were given even if it goes against societal rules, even if it is outside the norm, even if doesn t seem possible or probable or plausible, even if no one else can accept or understand it. And Jesus agrees with her, without requiring anything. She went from trash, to treasure. In one moment, Jesus shows us how he would view people forever. As worthy, as important, as deserving, as saved. In a world where everything was black and white, saved and lost, saint and sinner, Jew and Syrophonician, person and dog, male and female, worthy and worthless Jesus gave us a new story to follow, new rules, a new promise. So, why do we still live by the old way? Why do we make up our own story or rules for God? Why do we hear that we gotta do something or we gotta earn it. Why do we tell others they gotta confess. Gotta believe. Gotta repent. Gotta accept Jesus. Gotta, gotta, gotta. These gottas place conditions when God is unconditional. These gottas, gotta stop.
I had friends in college who were big with the conditions who said God s universal salvation is possible, but you gotta do this, gotta do that, you can t do that, you better do this. And I did the same thing, and hurt people along the way. Jesus shows us that salvation for all, is more than a possibility with conditions. And it is not just that we pray it that it happens, or hope that it happens, we can believe that it will happen. We say that we believe and trust in God s grace but trusting in God s grace is believing that God can and does save everyone without our attached conditions. Everyone deserves to hear Jesus yes for their lives even if it is a mystery to our understanding or logic and reason. I think that is what we have a hard time with. The demon inside of us is the belief that there are people that Jesus can t love, or can t save. I can t explain all the junk that happens in the world. I can t reason out sin or evil or hate. But I do believe that God s capacity to love, to transform brokenness in someone is far greater than what I can understand. Should we have any reason to tell others that they will not be in heaven? Is that even our right to decide?
The Evangelical Christian approach looks for bible passages that condemn others to hell, for doing the wrong things, or acting the wrong way but that is all according to OUR standards. But rarely does mainstream culture hear an amazing story like this gospel that speaks of God s immeasurable and undeserved grace and redemption. It is better evangelism to tell about God s compassion, understanding, and salvation beyond our wildest imaginations rather than God s anger that sends unbelievers to hell. Jesus spends much more of his life redeeming the marginalized sinners, than the righteous saints. He forgives the unforgivable, even when they don t ask. He reconciles outcasts with society and community. Why don t we? Why can t we live our lives with the belief that God is going to save all people? As many times as Jesus is ignored, denied, despised, and betrayed in the Gospels he never sentences someone to hell. Why would we? Jesus is rejected time and time again, throughout the gospels, even by faithful church people today. Why do we think that God would ever reject us?
And let s not forget that Jesus has destroyed hell. Let s not forget that Jesus promises to bring everyone to him. Why would we tell a different story? Let s stop finding reasons for eternal damnation and start finding ways to embrace salvation not for the frozen chosen but for all of creation. That is a better story. I wonder if the world, would hear the good news of God so much better, if we all came with the understanding that God redeems all of creation. I wonder if we would serve our community better if the pretense of salvation/damnation was gone. I wonder if the church would love, heal, forgive more as Christ did if we weren t so worried about saving souls, about who s in or who s out. Christ already made that clear. With the Syprophencian woman. Changing her life, changing her label, proclaiming her and her daughter healed, forgiven, loved, and saved. Everyone being saved, all of creation being redeemed doesn t cheapen what God is doing with us here now. It doesn t eliminate the need for the church. What we do hear is important and meaningful. But this story makes life better, it changes the approach and how we go about living our lives.
Don t you think that believing all are saved would impact how you may interact with others today? And don t you think that impacts how others may act with you? Maybe that is how real change happens. Maybe that would help to eliminate some of those labels Because there are lots of labels. And it seems we will always find ways to label someone, to figure why so and so doesn t deserve heaven. Whether we quietly think it or overtly say it. It is easy to pick and choose, because we want feel vindicated that we are close to God, that we made the right choice. But it never is about us choosing rightly or wrongly. It is about God choosing us. All of us. So that we can tell others All are saved. All are loved. All are welcome. All are deserving. This is what God s kingdom needs, both today, and for eternity.