Jean Germain Drouais: Christ and the Canaanite WomanI am always impressed by the persistence of this woman who urges Christ to heal her sick daughter. Mark, writing to a mainly non-Jewish audience, describes her patient belief in this new message of hope and healing. If we were as unrelenting as this woman in asking for justice and redemption, might not the entire world benefit from our prayers? She is reminiscent of the persistent widow in Luke 18 who badgers the corrupt judge into giving her what she is due. Her continual plea became an embarrassment for this man, and so he gave in – to do what ought to have been done in the first place.
How do we react to rejection? Do we cave in to harsh criticism? Do we evaluate the words and actions we have heard and seen? Do we put our experience in a proper context to measure its validity? Do we ask God for advice? Do we ignore what has been said entirely without giving it further thought?
Jesus has gone to Tyre, the city of Jezebel, a pagan center out of reach of the influence of the Jews; and here he encounters a woman who challenges him with his own good news, reminding him that even the lowest of the low deserve respect and fair treatment. What I like about this Greek woman, this Syrophoenician by birth, is that she enters into a dialog with the master and is not cowed by his authority. Perhaps she has lived so long in subjugation she has nothing to lose.
There is something to be learned here: that when we experience rejection we ought to evaluate it, and take it apart to discover its origin. Once satisfied that we have heard and understood, and once we have established that we come in justice and peace, then we must pursue justice. We must be bold, we must be constant. We must enter into a conversation with Christ to further our argument. And if – as in the story of Job about which we thought yesterday – we bring an innocent heart to the healer, we may find that which our own heart seeks. Justice and peace – in place of the offered rejection.
National Geographic: Ruins of Roman Archway in Tyre, Lebanon
Friday, May 24, 2024
As a counterbalance to the description of the downfall of Tyre on which we have reflected before, today we have a description of the temple in the New Jerusalem. What we see described here is God living with all of the Israelites forever. The manleading the prophet through this beautiful scenario says: Describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple – its arrangements, its exits and entrances – its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.This portion of Ezekiel’s prophecy is full of detailed descriptions of the place and the people who make up this new city where God dwells forever with his people. It was meant to both instruct and to bring comfort to those who lived in exile with this prophet. The footnotes in the NAB point out that in the new Israel the temple is free, even physically, from civil jurisdiction – moving away from the habit of corrupt kings like Ahaz and Manasseh who treated it as a private chapel for pagan rites.
Noam Chen: Old City of Jerusalem
When Jesus arrived on the scene hundreds of years later as the true Messiah, he upset much of this separatistand puristthinking. It was for his openness and universality that he was hunted down, condemned and put to death. Because his new Law of Love fulfilled and superseded the old Law of Moses, he and his apostles were hounded out of towns and executed. Even in the early Christian church we see the struggle with this idea of openness and universality with the first Council which convened in Jerusalem to determine the importance of circumcision as a requirement for church membership. After discussion, and when the dust settles, we read in Acts that circumcision was not determined necessary. God’s church is open to Gentile and Jew, slave or free, woman or man – to all those who will be faithful to the Covenant first established with Adam and Eve.
This is how we see the New Temple and the New Jerusalem as revealed by Ezekiel millennia ago. This place of worship where God dwells is where we live even today, if we might only choose to open our eyes and ears to it. This prophet was painting a picture of radiance for his exiled people, and they must have taken heart at the memories these words stirred of how it is to gather together as Yahweh’s faithful to repent, to petition, to give thanks, to worship.
As Easter people who believe in the Resurrected Jesus, we too, can relax into these images and make them our own. We can carry them into the world with us each day as we encounter and then counter the darkness that wishes to prevail. We can arm ourselves with these pictures of the universal gathering of all of God’s People, the Faithful to the Covenant, the Hopeful in all things hopeless, the Truthful in all relationships, the Struggling with the cares of this world, the Freed who have escaped the chains of doubt and anxiety. For we are Easter people who live the Resurrection even now. For God’s Glory has returned in us in our willingness to serve, our willingness to be vulnerable, our willingness to witness, our willingness to be Christ and Light and Truth to a world struggling to be free of the darkness.
This is God’s Plan. This is God’s Design. This is God’s Law.
Amen. Alleluia!
A Favorite from April 13, 2008.
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For more National Geographic images of Lebanon, click on the image above or visit: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/lebanon-photos#/archway-roman-ruins-tyre-lebanon
Today we stand on the threshold of a great opportunity, an opportunity to shed all that we dislike about ourselves, an opportunity to return fully to the promise God sends to the world through us. We have taken up the prophecy of Amos as our first Lenten lesson plan and today we re-visit an old theme: we ask for the courage to open our hearts and minds and souls to the possibility of newness, we ask for the strength to be receptive to God’s announced gift of regeneration.
God calls to us through Amos just as he called to the faithful millennia ago. nd what is the message we hear today? Where are we to go to do the work of self-conversion and kingdom building? Amos tells us simply: We are to look to our own homes, communities, work, worship and play places . . . we are to begin . . . and then we are to take this newness in which we find ourselves into all we do, think and say. Social injustice and religious arrogance: these are the two devils we are to combat. We must invert these two ideas (as Jesus always does when he stands us on our heads – calling us to the margins rather than to the comfortable middle) to social justiceand to religious humility.They are the standard bearers we are to carry each day as we step out of our homes and into the world. hey are the same standards we carry into our evenings as we return home to rest and rebuild.
To learn more about the places named in Amos 1, click on the following words and consider . . . Do we live in these places? If so, what do we do to change ourselves . . . so that the world might also change? Aram, Philistia, Tyre, Edomand Ammon.
We have looked at Jezebel and the role she played in the death of Naboth (1 Kings 21); several weeks ago we reflected on the city of Tyre, the birthplace of Jezebel. Today we pause to think about her end. It is not a pleasant story. In fact, it is dreadful.
My sister passed along to me a recipe for an appetizer which combines horseradish, apple jelly, yellow mustard, and pineapple preserves. This concoction – generously spiced with ground pepper and served over cream cheese, is spread on crackers. It sounds dreadful, but it is divine. Every time I take it to a party – or place it on my own front porch table when my family gathers – it disappears in a flash. It stimulates and tantalizes, is piquant but lovely. It does not remain long on the table. It is called Jezebel. And without fail, each time I put jam and jelly in my shopping cart, I think of this story. What is about this woman who so enamored some and so enraged others? Do we have modern-day Jezebels? How do they rise to power? What draws us to them? What repels us from them?
When we are lured by the Jezebels in our lives to enter into their games of deceit and lies, it is difficult to pull ourselves away. Even after we have escaped their siren call we find them seated next to us in church, working by our side . . . living in our home. There is only one sure way to avoid the luring call of the dark and exciting killer game of Jezebels. We must put all our decisions about this portion of our lives into the hands of God. God creates us . . . God creates the Jezebels. God understands these people . . . we do not.
Life consists of opposites attracting and repelling, pulling and pushing. This much we can expect. And when Jezebel moves in next door and covets what we have, we can only turn to God. When she whispers lies to friends to bring about our end, we can only turn to God. Only God can understand her inmost workings.
Our work with Jezebel is that we witness to her schemes. Our plan with Jezebel is that we keep God close while she is near. For in the end, we of ourselves can do nothing on our own but to listen to the voice within which tells us how to behave, what to say and do. And in the end . . . when we find that we have sailed dangerously close to the Jezebels in our lives and have escaped with our souls, we will know that God has been watching, protecting and guiding. We will know that the sum and total of their worth is that they are no longer among us. Only God can pronounce with authority the judgment that wipes out their existence so that no one might say . . . This was Jezebel.
Written on September 24, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
Yesterday we took a look at Ezekiel 25; today and tomorrow we spend time with Chapter 26 as we examine our own views on prophecy . . .
James Tissot: The Prophet Ezekiel
Several hundred years before Alexander the Great destroyed the city of Tyre, Ezekiel writes a nearly perfect description of the siege. And perhaps the princes of the coastlands trembled for a while at the wrath they witnessed . . . just as we do when we see a prophecy fulfilled. But humans quickly forget the consequences of actions taken and promises kept in their own lives. While it is not good to dwell upon failure and misery, neither is it good to repeat the mistakes in our own history; yet this is how we so often live: learning little while recycling our pain, scoffing at prophecies brought to us by our own holy ones.
I had a dream last night that was unusual in that first, I remembered it, and second, I was with people in my present life whom I mistrust deeply. However, in this dream I was open and frank, honest and unafraid. I awoke before I knew the outcome. Had they changed? Had I changed? Was I correct in trusting them? Was my trust in them repaid by more violence or by genuine friendship? I spent a bit of time wondering if this dream might be a window into the future and, more importantly, I wondered if this were perhaps a portent of things to come, of bridges mended, friendships renewed and extended, trust restored. Was this a prophecy? What do I do if it is?
I sometimes wish I might be as innocent as people in ancient times who put so much faith in dreams and their portent. I think that our scientific method and our modernism may have jaded us by requiring that we seek hard evidence for beliefs. Faith, of course, springs from the heart rather than the microscope and yet . . .
I have read somewhere that Einstein grew in his belief in a higher power and in the presence of God in creation as his knowledge of math grew. His famous E = mc2 brought him not only a belief that the power of tiny atoms might be unleashed . . . but that there was a purpose and a plan behind that power.
Prophecy . . . what to believe . . . what to discount . . . how to act . . . false and true prophets . . . magicians and tricks . . . deception . . . fidelity . . . interlopers . . . constant friends. Concepts converge and unravel as we examine them closely. Who do we believe . . . and how do we believe?
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