"THE OTHER" September 27, 2015

Esther 3:7 – 4:14 Mark 9:38-50 This morning I need us to recognize that faith in God through Jesus Christ is about believing in what we do not understand. Faith in God through Jesus Christ is believing in what we, individually and collectively, even through our government or military cannot control. Faith in God through Christ is not believing in myth, nor fantasy, not a dream, theoretical paradigm or virtual reality. In the reality we consider to be normal life, there is the world of our creation: waking in the morning to an alarm clock, eating breakfast, going to work or school, enjoying a meal together in the evening, having time to relax and sleeping soundly, someday retiring to happily ever after. In that reality, life is defined, we are the center of our identity. We pay taxes to our elected officials, who provide roads and schools and safety and security. We amass education to increase our knowledge and understanding, to increase our accomplishments, in a known quantified universe. In 2001 that reality changed, not because of the new millennium, not an apocalypse or armageddon, but prior to 2001 our culture naively believed that we were in control of our destiny, that we could determine our own fate, that life was basically Good and strangers were not a threat to us. Then on one beautiful Tuesday morning, where the sky was blue, and life routine; we suddenly experienced the unthinkable. Terrorism went from being the isolated random act of a few radical crazies at Ruby Ridge or Waco, Texas; AND instead, commercial airplanes became weapons of mass destruction; Manhattan went from being Madison Avenue Designers, Wall Street's Stock Exchange, Broadway's White Lights, to being Ground Zero. In the aftermath of being attacked in our places of business, on our soil, without provocation, our leaders declared: “Whoever is not for us is against us!” The home of the free and land of the brave, became reactionary and defensive, concerned with our own survival, and we began going from one crisis to another, one hurricane to another, one school shooting to another, fear upon fear. The point is not to convince you of the error of our ways. Not for one brief hour, or even 15 minutes of that, to say that two thousand years ago, on the other side of the world there was a Good and Righteous man, God in our midst. But rather, that our reality, whether naive or defensive, in control or in fear, is only the known part of life, only that part of creation we want to believe we control, or fear we do not. The wholeness of creation requires that we also believe in THE OTHER. That if there is fear, there can also be hope. If there is Control and Chaos, there can also be God, Mercy and Compassion. Like Jesus' disciples we are fearful enough to react to an Us against Them; Me against the world; survival of the fittest. The solution to the Syrian Refugee Crisis is not how many million refugees each country can take, not a question of racism or fear or economies, or immigration. Millions of people are being forced to leave their homeland because of genocide, because of war and oppression. Many of our problems are because we have accepted a basic premise without considering an alternative reality, any Other reality. The idea of “Whoever is not for us is against us!” is nothing new, it was the cultural reality of Rome, which the Caesars and Senate legislated with the Pax Romana: an Enforced Peace of the Roman Legion. Empire after Empire throughout human history have sought to eliminate those who were different, those who were feared. Jesus instruction here to the disciples was not the Golden Rule, but rather a radical up-ending of reality, to consider what if GOD is in control? What if: “Whoever is not against us is actually for us?” What if we are only afraid of our fears of what we do not control? In the 1700s Jonathan Edwards was the charismatic preacher of the Great Awakening, who preached Hell-fire and brimstone. Edwards described Hell, with flames of fire burning away at your flesh, an unending terror, in order that people might fear Sin and choose the lesser suffering of working for their redemption. We already live in an world of fear, a time where we never know if on that routine visit to the doctor's office we might have an illness; when every day the business we work for may be sold or secrets be revealed; when the stock market may tumble; our home lose all value; when our spouse may abandon us; when our children may be taken from us by drugs, by relationships, by mental illness. Someone asked me why I never preach on Hell or Sin? I think we are acquainted with these very well, but that there is an alternative, there is redemption, there is hope, these are The OTHER that we need to believe in, that we need to be convinced we want. I believe we are not convinced by Fear as by Hope. But there are two things to remember... First that we each are responsible for our actions, and to harm another, to lead one who s naive astray and abuse them is wrong, and there is judgement for our wrong. Second, that there is a cost to discipleship, a cost to caring about others, that we are human and we might take on the sins of the world. If we who are the salt of the world were to become corrupt, how could we be made new? I do NOT believe Jesus was being rhetorical! I believe this was the linchpin for the disciples to come to a new reality. Jesus had described to Nicodemus that he must be born anew that life is not a straight line, but perpetually beginning again. That if we truly believe all those Not against us ARE for us, then if we became corrupted we could trust others to help us. But also, faith loves correlations, comparisons, word plays. I believe Jesus chose SALT as the image here, because another word for Saltiness is SAVOR, so who is to restore the SAVOR of the Faithful: the SAVIOR! Growing up in the Presbyterian Church, we never heard the story of Esther. The story of David, Yes! The 10 Commandments. Solomon and his wisdom. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Gideon, Joshua, Samson, Hannah, Jonah, Rahab the Prostitute, Mary, Martha, Peter and Paul, Zachaeus; but Esther was obscure. This is a book that never mentions God. Esther is an Old Testament book that does not require following the 10 Commandments, or Redemption, or mention the Prophets, Priests or Kings of Israel. The Story of Esther is the Script of a Melodrama, read at the Feast of Purim, which annually occurs in March. This is “Theater of the Absurd,” because the ideas at the basis of this story are so absurd. After King David and King Solomon, when the People of Israel were beaten and dispersed in exile in Babylon, the Medes conquered the Babylonians, the Persians conquered the Medes, eventually the Greeks would conquer the Persians, and through it all Judaism repeatedly faced Genocide. Over and over throughout history, the people of faith have faced extermination, so the Feast of Purim and the Story of Esther were an annual remembrance that we have been here before. In a world focused on Power and Shame, on Vanity and Beauty; a world where others fear that anyone who is not like them must be against them... Here, the people of faith can offer feasts to feed the poor, to welcome enemies and strangers into our homes, and to laugh at the absurdity of our fears and prejudices of the OTHER. But also, that no matter who we are, we cannot escape the circumstance of the world; and who knows that perhaps God has put us in this place and time to act in this circumstance! To understand just how absurd is living in constant fear, reading Esther requires Other's participation. In the far off Land of Persia, there was a King Ahasuerus who was such a Fool he was only concerned with Beauty and Vanity, so pre-occupied with showing off beauty he held a Banquet and ordered his Wife the Queen to appear wearing nothing but her jewels. The queen refused, so the King called for a Beauty Pageant to pick the most beautiful woman in the Kingdom to be his new Queen, and not knowing she was Jewish, he chose Esther. SO, in the story every time you hear the name of the Foolish King Ahasuerus like Homer Simpson, the people are to say “DUH!” And every time the Name of the Beauty Pageant Winner Esther is Named, “You are to Wolf Whistle.” But where leaders are foolish and concerned with appearances, others play dangerous games of Power. Haman was the Grand Viser, who fearful and indignant calls for the Extermination of all the Jews for being different. Adding to his corruption, Haman offered Ahasuerus that for every Jew who was Killed, Haman would pay a reward into the Treasury. SO when the name of Haman is spoken, we identify the Villian with “Nya-aa-ah!” Ahasuerus has given to Queen Esther a Servant named Hathach, who had been made a Eunuch; when Hathach's name is spoken we collectively say “Ouch!” And the Hero of the story, who saved the King from a plot of assassination, who suffers indignity, wears sackcloth for the redemption of the people and never gives up hope, is Esther's Uncle Mordecai. When Mordecai's name is spoke people “Cheer!” Let's again read Esther 3:7 - 4:14.

The Child in Our Midst, September 20, 2015

Mark 9: 9-37 We routinely go through life aware of the people and things around us, without seeing them in the broader picture. When we see a child maturing as a youth or a loved one aging, whom we have not seen for a while, we notice changes unobserved in day to day existence. When we read individual verses, or stories as we always have, we sometimes miss what is there in the broader context. For the last several weeks we have been following as Jesus went back and forth across the sea, from the Jewish to the Gentile world, calling, teaching, accomplishing miracles and sending the disciples out in pairs with power to preach and teach and heal. Last time, we read together of Jesus asking the disciples “Who do they think I AM?” and Whom do you say I AM? With Peter's confession that “CHRIST” is not Jesus' last name, but Jesus' identity, he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. After which Jesus told them of his suffering, death, resurrection, and different from healings where he said tell no one, they were afraid. Afterward, Jesus took with him Peter, James and John, going up the mountain, where the Transfiguration took place. They saw him changed in a blinding light, they saw Moses and Elijah with him, they heard a voice of affirmation from heaven: “This is my Beloved Son, listen to him!” And Jesus tells them of his being handed over to people who will cause his suffering, death and resurrection, and they were afraid in stunned silence. This morning, as they come down the mountain, they come to Capernaum. Jesus approaches a crowd, where his other disciples have been trying in vain to exorcise a demon from a boy who has been scarred by fire and water, and the boy's father is frustrated. I was surprised by the Gospel in the RSV using the word “Dumb” in the NRSV: “Stupid,” so I looked up the origin of the adjective. 1. The negative of one who is wise. And the last few weeks we have been focused on Wisdom! 2. Annoying, irritating, troublesome; 3. tediously dull, due to a lack of sense or meaning, pointless; 4. foolish, senseless; 5. in a state of stupor, stupefied, silent... Cappernaum was a small fishing village on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, like our being here at the north end of Skaneateles Sea. Cappernaum was the home of the fishermen who became disciples. Capernaum is where you and I work and play, where our children go to school, the ordinary places of our lives, where we try to make ends meet. The real place where faith and fears collide. Jesus does not spit on his fingers, or cry or groan, he prays to God. Later when the disciples ask, Why when we tried everything to cast it out, it did not work, but when you did, the boy was healed? And Jesus explained “With this kind of demon, it is very difficult, a demon without wisdom, can only be met with prayer.” There are times, when we try everything we know, we find the best doctors, the best advisors, and nothing makes sense. Prayer is not only for centering, and calming yourself, for anti-anxiety; but also for dealing with what is senseless, annoying, irritating, stupefying, scarring life. And the Scripture describes a very ordinary, shameless human ambition. Along the road to Capernaum, coming down the mountain from the Transfiguration, Peter, James and John were arguing over who is greatest. It may have been as simple as who is most loved, who healed the most people, challenged the greatest circumstance, who prays the longest, or the most eloquent. When we were little, our parents worked out that one of us got to divide a dessert or coveted thing, and the other got to choose first. Today, there is a horrific draught in California, we hear of it in fires, and rationing of water. I am told that controversy has arisen because most acres of grain are worth $1,000/acre to the farmer. But if you plant pistachios, they are currently worth $10,000/acre. Then again, pistachios take 10 times as much water to grow as do normal crops. In a time of draught, Hedge-funds have come in purchasing up individual farms, to plow under and cultivate pistachios, because it is worth 10 times as much, as you use 10 times the water. In the ancient world, childhood was a time of terror. 1/3 of all births ended in death of the child. 2/3 of children died before age 12. Disease and lack of hygiene exterminated 2/3 the total population annually. Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages described, “In a fire, your first responsibility is to save your father, then Grandmother, then wife, then your cow, and if there were time: children. In a famine, the strongest, the adults ate first, it was survival of the fittest. What Jesus said to the disciples was counter-cultural, a challenge to their most basic family values. To be my disciples, you must be without rank, without position. In Greek and Aramaic, the word for Child can also mean Servant, a non-person, a thing, as children and servants are unable to repay you, unable to elevate your status by showing you honor. When we hold up a child, it is not for how cute, or how perfect they are. An infant is without jealousy, or guile, without desire for honor or reputation, without memory of a moment before, life is a miracle that they are witness to. In the bulletin, we described that Jesus interrogated the disciples. Not simply that he wanted to know what they were arguing about on the road, but I believe what he was asking was WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF and also WHAT DO YOU IMAGINE IS THE NATURE OF FAITH? Because under our arguments, underneath our debates for dominance and control, are our fears. The opposite of Fear is Faith. The Opposite of Faith is not doubt, not science, not Law; the Opposite of Faith is Fear. Fear is ubiquitous through the Gospels. When the Heavenly Messenger comes to Mary, the first word is FEAR NOT! When the Heavenly Host appeared to the Shepherds in the field, they shouted FEAR NOT! Here again, and even at the foot of the Cross, Jesus' challenge to us is Fear Not, but Believe. Our Faith is not about having easy answers, telling you what you must do, how you must think in order to be perfect. But rather, to affirm that you are not alone in your doubts, you are in a community of living with questions, confronting fears, struggling to have fidelity and commitment to believe. Years ago, there was a man, who was filled with fear. He lived alone and raged at everyone. He would throw things, storm out of meetings, slamming doors, one Christmas Eve he spit in the Pastor's face. Finally, we asked why he did this? He immediately replied: Here you have to forgive. Family, School, Work, Neighbors, they can cut you off, if you demonstrate rage, anger, fear they will have no part of you... but here, here in the church you have to forgive. I named that in my experience, there had been tragedy at the very beginning of life, and the church extended love. Growing up, there had been mentors and teachers, a place of challenge and opportunity where you could explore questions and risk to say what was in your heart, knowing you would not be judged. Our whole point as the community of faith, is not to be a punching bag for others, accepting their anger, but to provide the faith, hope and love, that circumstance had denied, that fears had destroyed. Reading this Gospel passage, “Jesus put a child in their midst” My mind immediately jumped to The LionKing, with Mustafa the Baboon Priest holding the child Simba up before the world. Or The Movie Roots with Kunta Kinte lifting up his infant in this new world, holding him up before the stars, that also shown over his ancestral home in Africa. But I think what this is really about, are two other images. The first is that Jesus Called the disciples to gather in a circle, as if in judgement, surrounding the child as others had for stoning to death a sinner. But all the while, at the center of that Judgement Circle Jesus himself stood with the child. Whatever was to happen to the child, must also happen to Jesus. When I met John Dau's father in S.Sudan, Daniel was Chief of the Dinka Tribe at Duk Payuel, a Soldier, a Warrior, a Judge, a Leader standing 6'8.” His newest wife had a toddler. Daniel described, “What we need, is not for Americans to come in and carry us in their arms. What we need is simply a finger to hold onto and steady ourselves as we learn to stand and to walk and to grow without fear.”

"Like Trees Walking" September 13, 2015

James 3:1-12 Mark 8:17-38 One of the greatest problems for having faith is there are so few surprises for us. We look forward to the release of iPhone 6 or Windows 10, or the season's recycling of plots in new television shows, seeking to be surprised, amazed and awed, to have something new and different to imagine. The 8th Chapter of Mark is the center of these 16 Chapters, the critical turning point of the Gospel. When we get to the 8th Chapter we are supposed to be on the edge of our seats, wondering, questioning our hearts, saying to our neighbors “Who is Jesus?” Have you ever asked yourself, or those closest to you, let alone neighbors: Who is Jesus? We take faith, miracles and God for granted; we debate the relevance of Jesus' life and teachings, we argue about whether to go to church … but never question: “Who Jesus is.” He called followers and taught them in parables; he healed: the blind, the lame, the deaf, lepers and mutes; he has calmed the storms and calmed irrational minds; he has fed thousands of people like Moses in the wilderness; he even resurrected a 12 year old child from death to life. We have become so accustomed to acceptance of the identity of Jesus Christ, we have dropped out verb and direct articles to make Jesus' name “Jesus Christ”, instead of the radical declaration of Peter: “You Are the Christ, the Messiah, The Son of the Living God!” Something surprising happened last week, a shocking awareness for me. I preached what I thought was a pretty good sermon, it started off with a joke, had good Bible Study interpretation and application, even a fresh interpretation I had come up with of the meaning of the words of Jesus, that I thought was controversial, as well as applications of Mom spit I thought everyone could identify. But after the sermon, someone asked “That sound! Where did it sound come from?” Knowing full well I asked what sound? And they said “You described how Jesus had taken the deaf man off away from the crowd, spit on his hands, then looked up to heaven and there came a sound I never heard before!” And again, as I believe Jesus did, I Groaned with a deep groan originating in my toes. Hearing this grunt, someone different began describing the depth of their feelings at a recent gut-wrenching experience; another the decision of their adult child to leave everything they knew to pursue a different career and life; a third that they were touched by the circumstance of another person's cancer that they could finally reach out to share their own. Similar circumstances have happened each time when we voiced God's SIGH, and when the Sudanese voiced the sound of Angels YAYAYAYAYA, and when BARKing the Barking Billy stories. My conclusion being that either this is just circumstance that we were fortunate to experience and pay attention to; OR it is people being Surprised that unleashes our willingness to share concerns; OR that rather than a well researched and creative sermon, no matter how well delivered, or the topic, by giving voice to the Holy Spirit evokes something from us different than reasoning and logic. As human beings, even though we are believers, we have difficulty letting go, trusting others. This summer, I have come to realize I have failed you as your pastor. While pride is named as a sin, I take great joy in what this church has done. When asked if we could fulfill the concern of a member to provide a home for older persons in the community, we have fed and housed all who have come for 40 years! We took on successive campaigns to raise millions of dollars, with no one giving over $100,000, and we did so! We have shared our building and resources with the community, and in the process created an identity for the church as a center of exceptional quality music and mission! We have created Health Care in the most military insecure and most food insecure place in the world, where no one else had done so, and we have continued it for over a decade! We have directly addressed domestic violence, alcohol's abuses, terrorism and fear, cyber-bullying, and war, each immediately and with a passion for changing the world, redeeming the individuals, and not casting blame. But over and over this summer, members of our congregation have described the cliques of our kids are perpetuated by adults, we talk to the same people and hold animosities from decades ago. We have preached forgiveness, we have demonstrated compassion and love, but as believers we have been cold and separate from others. I had not recognized it before this, because as pastor I visit with everyone, knowing each personally; but the grace and relationship you offer me is not extended to brothers and sisters and sometimes is quite caustic. This is nothing overt or monumental, but as subtle as the movement of a rudder, or the pulling of a bridle which determines our direction. The professors and experts have described this healing of the blind man at Bethsaida as the only occurrence in all the Scriptures where a miracle takes two efforts to become realized. However, I think perhaps all the miracles take multiple efforts! Usually Jesus tells persons to tell no one, but go present themselves for acceptance at the Temple, or to go to wash themselves. There is the grace of God being extended and there is belief in the possibility. When Jesus touches the man's eyes, Jesus offers possibility, but the man's own inability to believe means that even with grace all he can see is people as if creatures, trees walking. When they try again, the man is able to see beyond the creatureliness, to see the divinity in people. The emphasis of the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, is that Jesus is fully human, the son of Mary and Joseph the Carpenter, firstborn of his brothers and sisters. In the Baptism, in the Temptation in the Wilderness, in the Healings and Miracles, Jesus is personally wrestling with what it means for him to be the Messiah sent from God, and whether he can do this. We play this game with our children, asking what they will be when they are grown. Will you be a Prize fighter, a Fire fighter, a Teacher an Engineer, a Mom or Dad? While we imagine what we could be, and we work toward those accomplishments, few of us can perceive what questions and challenges will come to us by accepting these vocations and identities. When we were preparing to have a child, I imagined holding that child, loving them, feeding them, their going to school and graduating, their wedding days,... I never imagined being proud of them as adults: one being a Veterinary nurse and farmer in Brooklyn, one being an Engineer proving Global Warming and the threat to world defenses. Being a pastor, I envisioned hours of study and counseling and meetings, never traveling to S.Sudan. But my experience of a mother dying in delivery and their experience of 50% of their mother's dying in delivery was a sudden connection that allowed the Holy Spirit to work. We who have always known the story of Christianity wonder why Peter and the others were so dense. But the expectation for hundreds of years had NOT been that there would be a crucifixion and resurrection; but rather that in triumphalism, the Savior would come to overthrow the Empire. Like the Calvary rushing in, or Luke Skywalker in StarWars, the Savior would Save the Day. They individually and communally experienced miraculous wonders. They had witnessed the rise and fall of empires and cultures as part of human existence, where we observe the struggles of Greece and Syria, reacting to what we can do to help refugees. They speculated: perhaps Jesus was like an Old Testament Prophet, who would announce the coming destruction of the Romans. The replies of the disciples that “Some say Elijah and others one of the prophets, still others John the Baptist raised from the dead,” was belief that before the coming of the Messiah, before the coming of the Judgement Day, first Elijah would return, or Jeremiah or Nathan, one of the Prophets or Judges of Old. There was recognition that John the Baptist had been something special, but exactly what was uncertain, and still today, we are unclear what to make of John. Peter makes this enormous leap, that his friend, Jesus the Rabbi, the Preacher, the Miracle Worker is more than a prophet, more than any leader who has come before, he is the Christ, Divinity personified, The Son of The Living God. To which Jesus says YES AND what that means is Jesus' need for atonement for all the sins and suffering of the world, to bring reconciliation. Jesus' acceptance of being the Christ, is that Setting the captives free in a new Exodus, miracles of parting the Red Sea, destruction of the oppressors (Be that Pharaoh or Caesar and the Whole Roman Legion and Roman Senate) would never suffice. September 11th, 2001 happened, it was a horrible event, the loss of tens of thousands of lives, the devastation of families, the undermining of our economy, a change to culture... but 14 years later, September 11th happened and we went on as if any other Friday. What is mandated is to redeem the world, not only one empire, or people. To pioneer and perfect a different relationship between people and God, between People and People, and between us and all Creation. What Peter head was suffering and suicidal self-sacrifice, what jesus described was a Sacrifice of atonement that never needed repetition or ratification, once and for all. With all the miracles we have witnessed, do we see the world as a continuation of what has been, dimly reflected as if Trees are Walking; or do we see God present with us? Do we sing Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, as a lovely old hymn, or recognize that the mountains and flowers and all creation, even you and I, can sing God's glory together?

"Jesus The Devil's Advocate" September 6, 2015

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 Mark 7: 24-37 Friday evening we were at Mirbeau a 5 Star Spa for a Rehearsal Dinner with all the Bridal Party and Generations of Family gathered together. There were the Parents, Grandparents Great grandparents and 5 great great grandchildren under 3 years of age. At the end of this fabulous meal, the eldest child looked under the table at the mess created by he and his cousins and announced “This place needs to have a Dog!” I fear calling attention to the fact that there is Anything religious, spiritual or sacred in a public place, for fear those wanting to avoid conflict or avoid anything Judeo-Christian, will take it down. But in our community there has long been a plaque on the wall in State Street School quoting Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...” However, this is only the beginning of the proverb which continues: “But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The plaque might be more powerful if it were only the conclusion: “Fools Despise Wisdom and Instruction!” Our readings today deal with “foolishness.” Popular culture attributes gangs, violence, racism, drugs to either a Societal Disease or Family Dysfunction. The Wisdom material of the Bible came to a different conclusion, that the ultimate responsibility for Social Order is personal and individual, a symptom of a crisis in character labeled in English as “Folly, literally being a fool.” Being a fool is not a matter of intelligence, aptitude or application of self; being a fool is being un-wise, despising wisdom and instruction, and the fear or knowledge of God. We do not really know who created the Wisdom Literature, tradition holds that in his youth Solomon wrote The Song of Solomon about his lusts and desires. In Midlife, attempting to share the wisdom he had received, Solomon wrote the Book of Proverbs. In his latter years, with cynicism about life, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. At the time the Bible was compiled, there was question about including the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes, but because they had been attributed to Solomon they were kept alongside the Psalms attributed to David. In Hebrew, there is actually not one kind of fool, but four words describing different levels of depravity, or self-imposed distance from God. First is the Naive Fool, who is gullible, unthinking, without understanding of cause and effect of behavior.This is an individual lacking maturity, lacking judgement that comes with experience. The Hebrew word for this is PETHI. This is what was often referred to as Gullible, not because they were a dumb-blonde or airhead, they simply did not have the prudence to be able to discern. Second is a Self-Confident Fool, the Hebrew word is KESIL, meaning someone full of themselves, and this is the individual the Book of Proverbs speaks against more than any other. The Self-Confident Fool has no delight in the Lord. The Self-Confident Fool identifies himself by three characteristics: His stubbornness preferring to be punished than proven wrong. He is mouthy, saying everything within his mind without control. And the Self-Confident Fool thinks it is fun to cause trouble to others. It becomes impossible to reason with the Self-Confident Fool because his sport is causing mischief. The Naive Fool does not realize that Sin has consequences. The Self-Confident Fool does not believe Sin has consequences. The third type, the Committed Fool, does not care that Sin has consequences. The Hebrew word for this is HEVIL. The Committed Fool is at war with wisdom, believing he is right in his own eye. I have come to wonder if this was what was intended in the Garden of Eden, that Eve chose to do EVIL to Take and Consume regardless of consequences, because as the serpent said You will be like God able to choose for yourself without God. To change Hevil, is like changing Evil, you cannot redirect, you can only resurrect and change nature, his only hope is the grace of God. There is according to Proverbs a level of Folly worse than being a Committed Fool and that is to be a Scorner, a Scoffer, a Contemptuous person who mocks others. In Hebrew this is LUTS rhyming with Boots.The Scornful Fool, the Book of Proverbs says, the wise believer should stay away from, they are proud and haughty, the only hope for which is Judgement. Which in the Hebrew Scriptures was the only end, yet the whole point of the Gospels is that in Jesus Christ, God offer something new. For in Jesus Christ, God chose to supersede Judgement, to change nature with grace. Rather than Wisdom and adherence to the Law, the point of relationship with God became God making us whole. To set the context for this chapter of Mark, we need to recall that Jesus has been going back and forth across the waters, the point of which is not geographic but on one side is Jewish culture, on the opposite side is the Non-Jewish Roman and Greek Gentile world. Different from the other Gospels, in Mark, Jesus is the human embodiment of God appealing to Israel and to the rest of the world. In Chapter 6 Jesus had fed the 5,000 and in Chapter 8 in a Gentile culture he will feed 4,000, so the fact that in Chapter 7 Jesus is being asked to heal a Syrophoencian Woman and a Deaf Mute are significant. Many have heard Jesus response to this woman as uncharacteristic and rude. Some have felt they would rather feed crumbs to Dogs under the table than some people. Some preachers have attempted to Save the Savior by interpreting Jesus did not actually call her a dog but rather a cute puppy. No Jesus not only called her a dog, he called her a female dog in heat bowing at his feet. It was a common racial slur, as offensive as the “N word” or Uncle Tom, or Oreo, or Cracker, similar words of prejudice today. Have you ever felt strongly about the righteousness of your position, but you knew in front of family or friends it would be unpopular and incite trouble. So instead of provoking trouble by defending your position, instead of swallowing your commitments and beliefs to say nothing; instead you play the role of advocating or representing the side you know to be wrong. The origin of “the Devil's Advocate” came from the Catholic Church in the process of Canonization for Sainthood, one church lawyer would take the role of advocating for the Canonization, identified as “God's Advocate;” while the Lawyer challenging assumptions, challenging miracles, questioning the person's righteousness was labeled as The Devil's Advocate not because they believed this but because the other side needed a voice. Here, I believe Jesus takes the role of Devil's Advocate! Tyre was a Port City, so Jesus was at the Beach. He is in a place not wanting to be found, and she seeks him out for help. The culture has identified her as a triple outcast, she is a Syrophoencian what earlier cultures had named as a Canaanite! She is a woman without a man to plead her case in a Patriarchal culture. And her child is so ill, she pleads the child's case, identifying herself and child as unclean. Jesus baits her response, and she fights for the healing of her child. The point is not whether she won the argument, this is the only occasion in the Scriptures where the reason a person is healed is not “Your Faith has made you well” but rather her reasoning, proving the case. She is a model of how all of us, Jew or Gentile, Slave or Free, Male or Female is to advocate for the wholeness of those we love. I have known persons who stuttered. It is a helpless frustrating feeling of wanting to fix the person, wanting to communicate without this barrier. Each of those I have known has felt a level of shame about their impediment, they wanted to hide, they wanted to not been seen, to not be the center of attention as a fool, which the stuttering did to them. Increasingly, I am convinced one of the implicit issues of faith is redeeming people from their shame. The Gospel describes a group bring this man to Jesus. The first thing Jesus did, was to take him off to a different place by themselves. The second was to touch him. Touch is a level of communication, of connection beyond words. Then Jesus does the most amazing thing, the Bible records “Jesus spit on his fingers and touched his tongue.” As children, did you ever have a cowlick that would not lay down, and your parent wet their fingers and held it down, or you had chocolate on your face, and with “Mom spit” it was rubbed off? Have you ever done this to another? It is an automatic response of love and affection. You want the very best for the other, so you put your scent and moisture and mark upon them, making them clean. Here, I am convinced the Revised Standard Version mis-translated the text. In Verse 34 the RSV says he looked up to heaven and “sighed.” There are places where God sighs. But here the Greek word better translates as “Jesus Groaned.” This is gutteral, it is primordial, it is a sound of maximum effort. Afterward, Jesus says “Ephathah” which is Aramaic for “Be Opened!” That is the point, the wish of Jesus for every type of fool, of Jesus being our Advocate, whether for those who cannot speak, cannot hear, have a child who is ill or circumstance beyond their control which makes them outcast as a fool, those who have to fight to be heard, even by representing the foolishness of the other's argument, or those who are Naive to Wisdom, those who are Self-Confident Fools, those who are Committed to being Wrong, and those who Arrogantly Scorn the world.