Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
August 20, 2017
15 Proper A
Some years ago, I ran
into a former grade school teacher of one of our sons. We were both at a reception following a
funeral when we had one of those "Don't I know you from somewhere"
moments. About 15 years had elapsed
since this teacher had taught our son, but during the year that our son was in
her classroom, the teacher and I had an unfortunate disagreement over the way a
particular situation had been handled.
If the teacher had 30 students a year, and 15 years had passed since we
last encountered each other, then some 450 students and no doubt several
disagreeable parents had passed through her classroom since we last met. So, hopefully the teacher had forgotten our
unpleasant encounter. However, here’s a free
parenting tip: if you don't want your children's teachers to remember them, do
not give them names like Slocomb and Caldwell!
And indeed, 15 years later, the teacher did remember our son. Whether or not she remembered our disagreement,
I will never know because if she did, she was gracious enough not to mention
it. Nonetheless, I felt a bit awkward to
say the least.
Awkward does not begin to describe what
Joseph's brothers are feeling this morning when they find out that the powerful
ruler standing before them is actually the little brother they sold into
slavery. Now, many years have passed and
a famine has come upon the land. Because
Joseph had understood one of Pharaoh's dreams to mean that there would be seven
years of abundance, followed by seven years of famine, Egypt had prepared well
for the famine. Not only that, but the
Pharaoh had made Joseph ruler over Egypt.
When we catch up with Joseph and his brothers this morning, Joseph's
brothers stand before him, unaware of his identity, in dire need of food to
purchase and take home to their father and families. When Joseph reveals his identity to his
brothers this morning, they are understandably mortified. But rather than be angry with his brothers, Joseph
explains that God has worked through their misdeeds so that now their family
can be kept alive. God has taken a bad
situation and used that situation to break down the barriers created between
the brothers so that the family could survive.
But those barriers did not come down by magic. Humility was required on the part of the
brothers, and charity was required on the part of Joseph. Love, despite the earlier barriers they had
put up, was required by all of them.
Jesus
seems to be creating barriers this morning.
When the Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and tells Jesus that her
daughter is possessed by a demon, Jesus ignores her as if she is not
there. The disciples, too, want to keep
the barrier between the woman and Jesus as they tell Jesus to send her away. Jesus’ mission is to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel, and this woman is of another house. Is Jesus’ testing the
woman? Is Jesus just in a bad mood that
day? Is Jesus so moved by the woman’s
faith that his understanding of his ministry is expanded? There are many theories about why Jesus
responds to the Canaanite woman in such a seemingly callous way. But
where the disciples and Jesus may see a barrier between the Canaanite woman and
themselves, the Canaanite woman sees no barrier. Her faith is so great that she believes Jesus
can heal her daughter with a word. She neither needs to bring her daughter to
Jesus nor take Jesus to her daughter.
The woman will not leave, and she even spars a bit with Jesus,
responding to his comment about not taking the children’s food and throwing it
to the dogs with “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from
their masters’ table.” At this point,
for whatever reason, the barrier falls, and Jesus says ““Woman, great is your
faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And the woman’s daughter was healed instantly. Not only was the barrier between the
Canaanite woman and the Jewish men destroyed, the barrier that separated the
daughter from her health was gone as well.
I
believe God wept this week as God witnessed the deep, vitriolic barriers
between human beings. God wept at the
extreme ugliness and violence that result when the gifts of race, religion, and
sexual orientation are used to divide the human family. God wept at the resulting chaos. There were times this week when I wanted to
say “Just wake me up when this is over.” But God did not give up and neither can we,
even if we may feel somewhat sheltered from that ugliness here in Hudson. Just as God was able to take the bad
situation in which Joseph was thrown into the pit and sold into slavery and use
that situation to advance the story of God’s people, we have seen God at work through
displays of unity in Charlottesville and around the country, as people of a
variety of races, faiths, and sexual orientations came together to stand in
solidarity with those who are marginalized.
God has been at work in new conversations that open our eyes to implicit
racism and privilege and open our ears to really hear each other. In the Good Friday world that we saw so
clearly this week, there were glimpses of Easter.
Our Presiding Bishop,
Michael Curry, our first African-American Presiding Bishop, reminded us this
week of the last book Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote. In 1967, when the
world was as divided then as it is now, King wrote the book “Where do we go
from here? Chaos or community?” This
week, we ask “Where do we go from
here?” We can choose chaos, but the
chaos will further tear us apart. And
that is not who we are. As Christians, we
are people who believe that, at the deepest level, we are all connected. Scripture is clear that God calls us to
choose community and to be a community that works for justice and peace, and respects
the dignity of every human being. But
there is no magic wand that will tear down the barriers and replace them with
bridges. Like Joseph and his brothers,
we must be willing to do the work. Like
the Canaanite woman, we must be persistent and not give the barriers the final
say. In the words of Dr. King, which
contain the gospel truth, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can
do that. Hate cannot drive out
hate. Only love can do that.” The gospel calls us to practice love.
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