From Hateful Speaking to Truthful Hearing Proper 19B Trinity, Buffalo Sept. 5, 2021

 +Nobody wants to consider what Jesus is ACTUALLY saying to the foreign woman in today’s Gospel.
Nobody wants to hear that Jesus’s calling the woman a dog was akin to the worst racial slur anyone could utter.
Who wants to hear that Jesus’s behavior was elitist, that his message of Love for All really did have exceptions….that Jesus was sure he was the Savior for the Chosen People—never even considering that what was meant by Loving Everyone Everywhere really meant EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE.
Jesus didn’t know that until a certain woman taught him a thing or two.
The protagonist in this story is a foreign born, non-Jewish woman. A desperate mother who is demeaned, insulted, hated and all but spat upon by Jesus. But does she turn in shame and slink away, does she lash out in anger, does she beg?
No.
She peacefully stands her ground teaching the teacher respectfully debating him, and then, in a glorious example of Jesus’ humanity, the Savior of the world listens, learns and changes.
    Many scholars now agree, this event was a significant turning point in Jesus’ life and ministry. His rhetoric toward the Syrophonecian woman was a common response to those outside of the House of Israel—“get out, this land, this religion, this salvation is only for us, the Chosen Ones.” But this mother with nothing to lose, refused to accept the status quo and her little girl was healed. And Jesus? Well, He learned, he changed, he evolved.
He who was lost was found.
Thanks to the Syrophonecian woman who wouldn’t be denied grace.
The good news of this harsh, difficult to hear Gospel is this:
Even Jesus can learn. Even Jesus can be wrong and through listening, change.
    Can we?

For years many of us here gathered have worked diligently on our own internal racism, striving to learn and to change. And yet….our communities, our nation and our world continue to reject those with whom we don’t agree, those who look, love, worship and live differently than we. It’s normal to ask, well what more can we do? We have worked so hard and yet and still, hate seems to win. We may be so tired of it all that we want to stop trying…closing our eyes, plugging our ears and holding our tongues.
What more can we do?
Maybe we need a bit of that spit and prayer found in the second half of today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark.
    This coupling of readings in the gospel today---the bigotry of the first and the straight out healing of the second---may seem a bit odd, but I think it’s perfect.
You see, no one ever told Jesus that he was only the savior for one particular group of people---he just assumed it. When he said he was Love and he came to spread Love  I REALLY think He thought that meant all of the Jews not all of everyone, everywhere, always. It wasn’t that he was deliberately exclusionary, it’s that it never occurred to him that it could be any other way. That’s why this add-on reading about the deaf man is sooo clever. With some spit on the man’s tongue and His fingers in the man’s ears, Jesus says, “Ephphatha,” “Open up,” and the man? He’s healed.
These two stories, one with Jesus being closed and the other with Jesus “opening” the man’s ears  are connected through the actions of the Syrophonecian woman teaching Jesus the truth about his mission on earth. …that loving everyone always, everywhere, no exceptions really means EVERYONE. EVERYWHERE. ALWAYS. NO EXCEPTIONS.
We do a pretty good job of this when it comes to the traditional outcasts—those who are not white, the poor, the mentally ill, the non-Christian etc.
But what about the ultra-conservatives? What about the anti-vaxxers? What about the white supremacists? Do we remember that everyone, everywhere, always, no exceptions means them too? That is a tougher nut to crack, isn’t it?
Today’s gospel takes us from hateful speaking to truthful hearing. Jesus was blind, but now he sees, Jesus was deaf but now he hears, Jesus was closed, but now he’s open.
Are we?
Amen.