June 1, 2014 - Aldersgate UMC - Grand Rapids, MI
Oh, No She Didn’t! (Mark 7: 24-30)
Good morning Church! My name is Laura Witkowski and I think I’m grateful for this opportunity. This is a first for me, so I appreciate any grace you can offer. I have to say this is so much harder than our pastor’s at Aldersgate have made it look, just so you know. I also know that my husband, Matt, will be grateful when this is over so I stop talking about it.
I’m not afraid to admit I did not understand this passage from Mark the first…about 5 times I read it. I was a little frustrated and just wanted to know what it means. All I could think was: dogs, children and demons – Oh my goodness. Maybe this was the perfect scripture for me! Fortunately, I had some time to process this passage and really dive into it like I’ve never done before.
I started with ‘my people.’ I’m fortunate enough to work for The United Methodist Church and so I know some pastors… with lots of books. They gave me some great advice. This whole process is a new experience for me. Usually, I sit in the congregation or in the tech booth, but today I’ve had to pivot into this new place. I’m wondering if any of you have had a pivot moment in your life. You were going along doing one thing and had to pivot into something new. Not make major changes, but pivot. So this passage in Mark, I believe, was a pivot moment in Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus was likely tired and looking for some down time. Did you see everything he did leading up to this moment? The headings in my Bible say something like: Jesus is baptized and tempted, Jesus tells some fisherman to follow him, Jesus throws a demon out of someone, heals Simon’s mother-in-law, heals an entire town, heals a man with a skin disease, heals a man brought in through the roof, eats with sinners, travels through the wheat fields, heals on the Sabbath, more healing and demon throwing, Jesus appoints the 12 apostles, Jesus rattles off some parables, and then explains a parable, more parables, Jesus stops a storm, more demon throwing, more healing, Jesus sends out the disciples in pairs, feeds 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, JESUS WALKS ON WATER, PEOPLE!!!, more healing, Jesus sticks up for the disciples…finally he comes to this town and tries to find a house to rest in. Can you blame him? Clearly his Staff Parish Committee did not give him the four weeks off he should’ve been allowed.
So this woman comes in begging for his help. You should know that, I have decided to name her Lucy. I didn’t like to think of her as this “unnamed, no personality woman.” Clearly she’s got some spunk.
Then I started thinking about how persistent Lucy was in getting her request fulfilled; she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She had the faith that Jesus could and would help her daughter; there was no question about that. So what made this different? There are some background pieces that I suppose are somewhat important. Jesus and Lucy came from opposite sides in many different ways. One: he was male and she was female. Women approaching a man and requesting something of him was frowned upon in those days. Two: Jesus was a Jew and Lucy was a Gentile. He first refused to heal her daughter because she was “not from Israel.” As one author put it in the book Jesus and Courageous Women, basically, “Jesus was acting like a very conservative and traditional Jew.” Conservative and traditional…whoa, that seems heavy to me. I don’t know about you, but MY Jesus isn’t conservative and traditional. The third piece is how Jesus actually insulted Lucy, well at least tried. His response to her request of throwing the demon out of her daughter led Jesus to compare her to dogs, which is that day was a terrible thing to be compared to; one of the worst, in fact. Finally, Jesus may have seen her as someone he could banter a little with and he did.
The response Lucy gave was what the movie business calls the “Inciting Incident” or “Turning Point.” I took a film class in college, best class ever, by the way. I have always loved movies so I was pretty excited that I could take it to fulfill one of my needed credits. My favorite thing I learned in that class was that an Inciting Incident is an essential plot element where an event is forced upon the main character where their life changes from the norm to adapt to the story's plot. It turns the story around or in a new direction; it upsets the balance, it causes the main character to pivot. It’s usually something that happens TO the main character, not something the main character pursues. About 15 minutes into almost every movie something major happens. Look for it next time. You can decide immediately following this turning point if you’re going to like the movie or not. Some examples: The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy’s house gets picked up in the twister; in Alice in Wonderland, when Alice falls down the rabbit hole; in The Shawshank Redemption, it’s Andy Dufrane’s first night in prison; and in Toy Story, when Woody discovers Buzz Lightyear was Andy’s birthday present. Lucy’s answer to Jesus is the inciting incident. The balance shifted, the tables were turned, the plot changed.
The next thing that happened is the new direction of this story. Lucy’s reply changed the course of Jesus’ ministry. He healed her daughter. This is not the first time Jesus healed someone that wasn’t Jewish. This may be the most significant. Jesus is asked to be more intentional to non-Jews, to pivot his ministry. To recognize that the benefits of his ministry can naturally spill over to Gentiles. Jesus recognized – Hey, this is a cool chick, I can use this moment to make a point to the disciples. This line from the book The Storyteller’s Companion to the Bible, jumped out to me “Jesus is educated by this woman to understand that the implications of his vocational calling extend beyond the boundaries of Judaism.” She allowed him to teach others that it’s not just about his people, the Jews, it’s about those he hadn’t reached yet, the Gentiles. This woman, Lucy, is us! If it wasn’t for her, we may not know Jesus as Christians. Maybe we wouldn’t be Christians.
I said earlier I can relate Lucy as a woman and a mother, but there’s one more piece to her. This woman reminded me of the millennials.
Jesus knew but used this pivot moment from Lucy to teach others that there was a whole other world out there that needed him and God. It wasn’t just about the Jews anymore. In order to transform the world, Jesus needed to expand his ministry to those who were not Jewish and didn’t know about God yet and certainly didn’t know about him.
Hmm, expand his ministry – what does that look like for us? I feel like most people would like church on
Sunday morning to be like this: Click here for video meChurch.
I’m sorry to tell you this, but it’s not all about you anymore. Church and specifically, worship, really is not for those of us who are already here. We are here, we took that first step in the door and with the exception of some that are here for the first time, we have stayed. It’s for those who are not here yet and may not know about Jesus yet. They are missing God in their life. I do believe that your relationship with Jesus Christ is about you, but the church community and transforming the world is not. If I thought Sunday morning was about me, I wouldn’t be at Aldersgate. If I went to a church based on my Sunday morning worship preferences, I wouldn’t still be here. The service time and the people are what I have found most appealing about Sunday mornings here. Most of the time, in the past several years, I could take or leave my worship experience. The songs and hymns I chose during Lent like you did during this series are quite different than what we are singing today. I understand that you may not feel the same. I understand that many like it just the way it is. Some would rather hear the organ every Sunday, or hear the drums, or don’t want to sing new songs, or wished we didn’t greet each other in worship or wished we greeted each other every week. Those are preferences that may not reach the people who are not here and haven’t heard about living life with Christ. I believe there is a place for all of us, no matter what the preference. But I also believe what’s most important is making new disciples of Jesus Christ.
The authors of the book Get Their Name say it like this: “Are we willing to change our likes and preferences to reach our grandchildren? We find time after time that people in our dying congregations like the way things are. That is, they like the building, the worship services, the music, the fellowship and the ministries. At the same time, they are quick to add, ‘We just need some young people to come.’ They truly want to have young people in their churches. Everybody wants young people in their churches, but most are unwilling to make the changes necessary to reach those young people.” These same authors developed a process for The United Methodist Church that I have had the privilege to be a part of in the Michigan Area, called Vital Church Initiative. The details of that are for another time. But I do want to share is that I have been part of consulting teams on several events and have found the same thing. So many church members I have interviewed have said: “We just need them to come here, but we love things the way they are so we hope others don’t want us to change.” They haven’t had that pivot moment.
My friend, Lucy taught Jesus that change was necessary in order for his ministry to grow. He needed that pivot moment made clear to him. My favorite thing of being part of The United Methodist Church is our mission. “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” The second part of that mission is that “Local churches provide the most significant arena through which disciple-making occurs.” Do you know who that is? That’s Lucy! That’s me! That’s you! Lucy changed the world by telling Jesus what he needed to hear in order for his ministry to be effective. Are you willing to change in a similar way Jesus did, have that pivot moment – expand your ministry? Click here for Be The Church video.
