Sunday, September 5, 2021 – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
– Psalm 125
– Second Reading: James 2:1-10 (11-13)
– Gospel Reading: Mark 7:24-37

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  She is one of those old masters there in the gallery of Scripture.  What she does is say, “Look at me.”  Don’t just glance and keep going as you run to the gift shop.  Not enough.  Look.  Look deeper.

And as we stop in that gallery and take her in…As we stop and really take her in—the texture of the lines on her face, the brush strokes, the background that plays prominently into the foreground—as we stop and take that in we see something—something that we did not see before…something that having seen it cannot be overlooked again.  It is there.  And it takes on a kind of life of its own.

In this particular story it is really that God’s saving work is not for Israel alone, but God is redeeming the whole of creation—ever and always.  Ever and always God is at work in redemption—redeeming this Gentile woman and her daughter with the challenges and redeeming the deaf man of the Decapolis too.

What she does is paint a picture of a whole different reality.  It is a reality where the healing of all God’s creation is by the very hand of Jesus.  It is a reality where a label of Jew or Gentile does not matter.  It is a reality where salvation and wholeness are for all.  It is a seeing of the cross in a global and even a cosmic way.

How are we painting that story of whole different reality in our places of ministry today?

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Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk