week 15

Psalm: Psalm 146
Old Testament : Isaiah 35:4-7a
Gospel : Mark 7:24-37
Epistle : James 2:1-17

We have some very interesting readings this week and I think even after trying to explain a little bit about what they mean, we still might be left with unsatisfactory answers.  We will begin this week in Mark because it actually quotes part of our Isaiah passage.  This week, we have 2 miracle stories.  In the first, Jesus heals a Phoenician woman’s daughter who has an unclean spirit.  What is interesting here, however, is that originally Jesus refuses to heal the daughter.  Jesus says that his mission is to Israel, whom he calls “the children.”  But her response is so pithy, “even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs,” that Jesus decides to heal her daughter anyway.  I find it interesting that Jesus doesn’t say something like, “your faith has healed her,” but that he heals the daughter because he was bested in argument, it seems.  Jewish Rabbis are famous for their questioning and arguing style and this seems to be what is at play here.  The end result is that the daughter is healed, but I think we are kind of left scratching our heads confused.  Jesus had already gone to Gentile territory twice before and the first time he had sent a “Legion” of demons into a group of pigs.  So, he had already performed miracles in Gentile territory (although that encounter was something radically different to what we have here). 
I understand the answer most people give to my confusion here; Jesus was sent to the Jews, God’s chosen people, and from there the message would be open to all people.  But does that answer really sit right?  Doesn’t compassion and morality demand that Jesus help if he can? Ultimately, I think this points to the problem of evil as we discussed many months ago.  Can God stop pain and hurt, and if, so why doesn’t he? Space forces us to move on, but I encourage you to think about this this week.  Here are two resources to get you started: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodicies

http://alecellis.blogspot.com/2012/02/epiphane-week-5.html

Also, we never did get to the second miracle which is kind of strange as well, but when Jesus heals the blind and mute man, it fulfills what Isaiah said in Isaiah 35:5.

Ok, James has so much to say in these 17 verses and I only hope we can begin to grasp them.  First, he talks about showing partiality.  Long story short, we are to be impartial.  So, don’t show favoritism to the rich, or look down your nose at the person who might be living on the streets.  James makes it clear that if you don’t love your neighbor, then you are breaking the law just like if you murdered or committed adultery.

After this, however, he gets into a contrast between faith and works.  For James, there is absolutely no way to divorce faith from works.  We in Protestant circles like to put a huge emphasis on faith.  It is by grace we have been saved through faith, we declare with Eph. 2:8, and right we are.  But, our debates about works over faith, which are often proxy wars between Protestant and Catholics whereby we condemn all Catholics to hell, don’t make sense Biblically.  Again, we cannot place a distinction between faith and works.  You can’t have faith without works and you can’t have works without faith.  Remember 1 Cor. 13:1-3 talks about doing all these goods works, but not having love, and so they count for nothing.  I think we can say that the love Paul talked about flows from faith in Christ.  We need to bring these two back together in our minds, our theology, and our churches.

Let me make one more point because it made me laugh. Compare these two verses; the first is from James 2:21 and the second is from Hebrews 11:17.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.

I don’t think there is a clearer example of how New Testament writers were using and interpreting the Old Testament for their purposes.  This is actually exactly what I was talking about last week.  I said that Christians read the Bible through the lens of Jesus.  It was implicit in that statement that the writers of the New Testament did so as well. James, Paul, Matthew and the rest didn’t just read the Old Testament for the literal meaning, but looking for foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.  Here are two great examples of how the same story can be used in what appears to be opposite ways.  But, they both make the same point—Abraham, and all the heroes of the Old Testament, followed God in obedience (faith and works) and so should we.

Grace and Peace