What Is Just Beyond Your Comfort Zone?
Good Morning Friends,
During the time of Jesus walked the earth, the biggest boundary separating people was the boundary between Jew and non-Jew. That seems less significant today. We have changed…some. But we still, even today, are creatures separated by language, culture, and even race. So, What Is Just Beyond Your Comfort Zone?
Scripture: From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’
Mark 7:24-37 (NRSV)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Romans 1:16 (NRSV)
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
Isaiah 35:4-6 (NRSV)
Message: Several times people have tried to exterminate all the Jewish people. Haman the Persian tried, Hitler the Nazi tried. Others tried to eliminate their uniqueness and assimilate them. Jesus of course was born a Jew. He lived in a culture where Jews and non-Jews did not associate with each other. Now in today’s scripture we see Jesus test the boundaries of his culture. But he wanted a quiet revolution in this regard. People may be healed in a moment, but the healing of culture takes a long time if it is to be non-violent. And so we see him fleeing to Tyre, outside the jurisdiction of the Roman authorities in Galilee. Then we see him traveling to Sidon another non-Jewish city and then back to Decapolis. He was purposely going to the most non-Jewish places he could find. We get the impression that Jesus wanted a break from the crowds. But that is not to be. And so in today’s stories from Mark we get two interactions that should disturb us. In the first, Jesus is essentially calling a distraught Gentile mother a dog. No he does not call her a cuddly puppy. But it was a test, not only of the woman but primarily of the disciples. In the end Jesus implies she is a woman of great faith and heals her daughter. The actions of the Gentile woman in today’s story exhibit faith in three ways. First she obviously has an intellectual acceptance of the fact the Jesus could meet her demands. She has accepted another’s word as authority or has come to believe based on experience or has used powers of reason to determine that Jesus can meet her request. Regardless, somehow this woman knows that Jesus can heal. But knowing this fact about God, essential though it is, is not enough. Even demons have a knowing faith. She must show it through action and persistence. So she follows and pleads with Jesus. And when called a “dog”, which is exactly what the disciples were thinking Jesus should say, the woman responds by saying, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Here she not only demonstrates a showing faith but an affirming and saving faith. Here then Jesus, in response, not only heals the daughter but also with love, heals the disciples of their prejudice and arrogance. In the second story we have a fulfilment of a prophecy from Isaiah. Yet the wrinkle in the story is that it happens to a non-Jew. Yes the deaf and mute begin to hear and speak. What is happening here is that Jesus is extending salvation beyond the comfort zone of the disciples. He is leading us as well to be compassionate in responding to the needs around us. Friends, if you follow Jesus he is going to lead you to places that are not all that comfortable. In fact they often are not safe at all. Friends, you cannot be a Christian without following Jesus. And if you follow Jesus he will take you to places that are not comfortable.
Pray that we have a knowing faith. Pray that we have a showing faith. Pray that we have a saving faith. Pray that scripture and the Spirit take us into the deeper faith of total surrender to God having faith that a crumb of His power is all it will take. Pray we confront prejudice and arrogance with the power of being bold and persistent. Pray we have the confidence to ask for what we need. Pray we hear the words of the Savoir and know when to speak.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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