Is. 35: 4-7, Ps. 146
James 1:17-27 Mark 7:31-37
Lectionary Link
Performing good works through faith is one of the messages of the Epistle of James, a book that was not fully appreciated by Martin Luther because he thought that it contradicted St. Paul's emphasis: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast."
One of the weaknesses of Martin Luther and many people who call themselves evangelical is that they are "too much pro-eternal life, and not enough pro-this life." If one is willing to accept grace to get into heaven, then one should also accept grace to get one's act together here and now and do what is good.
I believe that our readings today encourage to have the kind of faith which knows how to distinguish between having favorites and being slaves to favoritism.
It is impossible to live and not have favorites. How can your home team not be your favorite? To live and be located in environments with familiar people, places and life activities means that one has personal affinities.
You might like chocolate ice cream better than strawberry or vice versa. You might like rap music better than classical music or vice versa. We cannot help but have personal affinities in our lives. We have favorites. And even mom and dad might strategically use the trope of favoritism. "Phil, you are my favorite child." And what does that mean? It means that in the very moment that I was alone with them, I was their favorite in that moment.
It is a mystery of how we come to have favorite, except to say that our favorites in some way pleasure us, make us feel good, and provide us with some satisfying identity. Your favorite team may always lose, but still one gets some sort of special identity even from a losing team.
How is favoritism deconstructed? I think favoritism is deconstructed by tapping into God's favoritism. God's deconstructs favoritism by saying "I love and favor all of you equally, because each of you is a different child made in the divine image."
This sense of being God's favorite is what true esteem is built upon. If we can know such esteem from God, then we won't be so hurt or elated by the fickle favoritism of other people toward us.
How do we abuse the favoritism of God? By assuming that God favors me more than God favors you or other people, especially those who live in a different country, or who look completely different than I do.
One might say that Jesus appeared in this world to correct some abuse of the "most favored status" that many Jewish people thought that they had.
God loves us more than God loves Gentiles and we have all of this history in our beloved sacred writings to prove it.
By assuming God's special favoritism toward us, we feel justified to practice segregation from other people who obviously don't have the same favor of God. And what happens in religious communities? They become segregated communities which highlight their different identities rather than their common humanity which is about bearing the image of God.
In our practice of favoritism we betray the image of God which resides equally upon all people.
How do we remain loyal to the gifts of God which make us good and at the same time recognized and appreciate that God works in different ways and shares different gifts with other people which fit into their life circumstances?
We have some hints on how not to be be slaves to our personal affinities from our readings from today's appointed Scriptures.
First, we need to go out of our way to people people who are different from us. As people we can get very clannish and clubbish and not socialize outside our immediate circle, both out of pride and out of fear.
Jesus went outside of his familiar territory with his disciples to encounter a foreigner, the woman from Tyre who had a sick daughter.
Let us go out of our comfort zones to meet people who are different than us.
Next is to highlight things which are common to humanity. What do we all like? We all are in favor of good health. What do we hate? We all hate illness and sickness, and especially the sickness of one's child. Sometimes disasters bring people together who normally stay separated, because a big need requires greater unified actions. But we shouldn't just need disasters to bring us together; healthy things like general blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should also bring us together.
Jesus employed a challenge to the common prejudice to highlight that faith is the way to overcome favoritism and prejudice. The foreign woman said, "Jesus, make my daughter well. " Jesus replies, "But what about the common bias of separation regarding things being exclusively for Jews and foreigners having their own special practice." The woman replies, "Okay but even the crumbs of blessing are better than no blessing at all. Throw me a crumb Jesus; my daughter's health is more important than separation between our ethnic groups."
And Jesus said, "Bingo, your faith has made it happen." And this rhetorical device is a teaching for the church in the Gospels. The health and blessing of God belongs to all and to have faith is to receive it and to share it.
The writer of James exposes the sheer silliness of dividing faith and works. If someone is hungry do serve them a sandwich of faith or a drink of faith or do you actual give them a sandwich which is your active faith and a cup of water which is your active faith? I will pray that you have faith to deal with your poverty...bye, bye. That is the hypocrisy of dividing faith from works.
We overcome our favoritism by not dividing faith from the work of faith; by keeping them intricately connected.
So, let us enjoy our favorite things today, even our favorite people, but let not our favorite things or people make us believe that our favorites are God's exclusive favorites. For us, let our faith mean the growing of our hearts toward the largesse of God's love so that the love does not stay inside of us but mobilizes our actions of care and love for others. This is Gospel faith of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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