Worship on the Lord’s Day
10:00 am 08 September 2024
Online & Onsite (Mixed Presence) Gathering as a Worshipping Community
Led by the Rev Brad Childs
Music director: Binu Kapadia Vocalist: Linda F-B
Elder: Iris Routledge
We gather to worship God
Music prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
P: and also with you.
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Silent preparation for worship
Call to Worship
L: Put your confidence in God.
P: We have God as our helper and so we rejoice.
L: God gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry.
P: God frees the prisoners and opens the eyes of the blind.
L: So put your trust in God’s goodness.
P: May God’s goodness endure forever! Let us worship God.
Opening praise: Everlasting God
Prayers of approach and confession
Eternal God, You are our beginning and our end.
You gave breath to all living things.
By your Spirit, you come among us this day, breathing new life into our familiar patterns, as the gift you offer us through Christ Jesus.
By your grace, you open new possibilities for the world you love.
So we offer you our lives in worship and in service, joining our voices with all your creatures, to offer you honour and blessing, glory and gratitude, now and always.
God of mercy, you keep an eye out for those who dwell on the margins of life.
We confess we fail to keep our eyes open for those on the margins.
We have been silent when we should have spoken up in the face of injustice.
Our generosity to others does not match what you offer us.
Forgive us for thinking of ourselves first.
Renew our commitment to show others the kindness we meet in Jesus Christ.
Response: We come to ask your forgiveness, O Lord
Assurance of God’s love
Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn us? Only Christ – and Christ died for us; Christ rose for us; Christ reigns in power for us; Christ prays for us. Believe the good news of the gospel. In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. So be renewed to live according to God’s generous grace.
Musical offering: Sung in Persian by Arghavan Ebrahimi, John and Sam Nejabatian, and accompanied by Binu
Beloved (translation)
Let me enter the holy court,
Through the blood of Jesus
Only for your worship, for the
Honor and praise of God
O my God, my beloved
Your name is holy, holy
We listen for the voice of God
Children’s time
Response: Jesus, we are gathered (514)
Story
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| It’s back to school time again. It is such an exciting time of year. You will be meeting new kids and learning a lot of new things. Are you ready? Do you have all of the school supplies you need? One thing that many of you will need is a box of crayons. I brought my big box of crayons with me this morning.
Look at all of my crayons. I have a lot of them, and they are all different sizes and colors. Some are sharp and some of them are a little dull. Some have strange-sounding names. Some of my crayons are brand new and some have been around for quite a while. The wrappers on some of them are fresh and clean while some of the wrappers are torn and dirty. You and I could learn a lot from these crayons. Even though they have a lot of differences, they all fit very nicely in the same box. That is a good picture of the way the church should be. The people that make up the church come in all sizes and colours, and some may have strange-sounding names. Some are old and some are young. Some are pretty sharp, some very kind, some fun some clever. Some are dressed in very nice clothes while others may wear clothing that is a little old or soiled and worn. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in the Bible that the followers of Jesus should not show favoritism. He said, “My friends, if you have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, you won’t treat some people better than others. Suppose a rich person wearing fancy clothes and a gold ring comes to one of your meetings. And suppose a poor person dressed in worn-out clothes also comes. You must not give the best seat to the one in fancy clothes and tell the one who is poor to stand at the side or sit on the floor. That is the same as saying that some people are better than others. If you treat some people better than others, you have done wrong, and the Scriptures teach that you have sinned.” We must be careful not to show favouritism in our church. We are all God’s children whether we are comfortable, rich, poor, white, brown, whatever. As James said, “You will do all right, if you obey the most important law in the Scriptures. It is the law that commands us to love others as much as we love ourselves.” |
Prayer: Father, help us to love one another as you have loved us — regardless of the color of our skin or whether we are rich or poor. In Jesus’ name we pray, as Jesus taught us to pray saying, Our Father…
The Lord’s Prayer (535)
Transition music
Song: Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (321)
Today’s Message
Scripture readings: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2:1-10, 14-17;
and Mark 7:24-37
Response: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
Message: Nobody owns him
The story is about an old shopkeeper who opened a small candy store in a small town. In truth, spending time with his grandchildren was as much a gimmick as it was a monetary enterprise. But the store needed to be completed. The shopkeeper was Iranian and was afraid that the people in his new small-town community would make inaccurate assumptions about his religious faith. He wanted the community to know that a Christian man owned the shop. So he went to a Christian bookstore and bought just the right decoration. With great pride, on his first day open, the man placed a small wooden statue of Jesus on the counter next to the till. The man went about his day making children from all over the community happy and sticky with sugar and temporary energy. But at the end of the day, the man noticed his statue was missing. It must have fallen somewhere, he told himself. After closing, he returned to the Christian bookstore and bought a second and much more giant Jesus statue this time. Again, his store was filled with family, friends, and neighbourhood kids; at the end of the day, his statue was missing. So the man returned to the Christian bookstore again and bought a three-foot-tall Jesus statue made of pure concrete.
In today’s reading, Mark writes, 31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.[c] Now, everything else we read in this story is predicated on that strange sentence filled with near-eastern geography that means little to nothing for most present-day Christians. Since we live 2000 years later in the Canadian prairies, it is hard to know why Mark thought that little detail even mattered. But the truth is, Mark’s whole story is based on this odd little geography lesson. But… we’ll get back to that.
In verse 32, Mark continues, “There some people brought to him [Jesus] a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged him to place his hand on the man.”
It’s an interesting verse. Some translators have rendered the word mo-ga-la-los as “dumb” and others more sensitively as “mute.” But the word mo-ga-la-los only appears once in the entire New Testament. And here, it probably doesn’t mean “mute.” See, they had a word for “mute”. It was Ko-phos (which appears 14 times in the New Testament), meaning that a person is entirely unable to speak. But here, the word is mo-ga-la-los. It means mumbly. In other words, the man is not totally mute. Instead, the man most likely had a severe speech impediment because he had learned to speak by mimicking people’s mouths without actually hearing others’ words. It’s not that he’s incapable of saying it; it’s just that he doesn’t know how to make the sounds.
There’s something else that’s a little odd here. Notice that no names are given. The man brought for healing has no name, and Mark doesn’t even say who brought him (they don’t have names either. Mark says, “Some people” brought the man to Jesus. It sort of like – he’s saying – this could be anybody.
Next, he writes, “33After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh (or groan), said to him, “Eph-pha-tha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.”
It’s interesting. Most of the healing narratives emphasize Jesus’ words. In some cases, Jesus heals people who aren’t even present. He just declares them healed. Even here, though Jesus touches the man twice, the actual healing takes place not because of his actions but when Jesus speaks, “Be opened.” For me, that begs a lot of questions. Did Jesus really need to do any of this other stuff, and if not… why did he do it?
Think about that for a second. It’s a bizarre scene! Jesus takes this guy aside and sticks his fingers in the guy’s ears. Then he spits on his fingers, puts his hands in the man’s mouth, and touches the guy’s tongue. I don’t know about you, but… Yuk! Do you have any idea how dirty people’s hands were back then? Let’s face it: this is just gross.
Now it begs, saying that this isn’t the only time Jesus does something like this. In Mark 8:22-26, Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud paste out of it, and then puts it on a blind man’s eyes to heal him. So it’s not the only time he does this… But it’s still really odd.
Next, Jesus looks up to the sky and groans. And then there is this strange word he speaks. There is no question for a Greek-speaking deaf man that the Aramaic command Eph-pha-tha would be unintelligible. And for a man who had probably survived by learning words by reading lips, this would look like crazy babble.
Can you imagine taking your friend to the doctor and having the doctor do this? He takes your friend aside, gives him a wet-willy, spits on his tongue depressor before checking his tonsils, looks up, makes a weird groaning noise, and then babbles some words in another language.
It’s just so foreign to what we might expect. And, why spit? I don’t care how many ways you slice it; today, spitting on someone is always an insult. And it was in Jesus’ day, too. Anyone under the law who was spit upon was considered unclean. Leviticus 15:8 says, “If the man spits on you, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and yet you will remain unclean until the evening.” Other scriptures deal with the insult of being spit upon as well. Numbers 12:14 says that if your father spits in your face as punishment, you must live outside the community for seven days. Even Jesus was spit upon as a great insult before He was crucified (Matthew 27:30). So the question must be asked: why would Jesus use spit if it was considered insulting?
Some say that Jesus may have done this to show the crowd around that being deaf doesn’t make someone “unclean,” and so he touched him. But the truth is Jesus takes the man aside, away from the crowd. Plus, that doesn’t explain away the insult of using spit.
But notice where the spit lands. Depending on how the verse is translated, the spit touches only the man’s tongue or the insides of his ears and tongue. It’s almost like Jesus is using the spit specifically because it is insulting, not because it’s insulting to the man, but because it’s insulting to the disease itself. It’s like he’s spitting on the illness.
In any case, “His ears,” literally, his “hearings” (ἀκοαί; cf. τὰ ὡτα, 7:33) were “opened” (ἡνοίγησαν) and “he began speaking properly.” (ἐλάλειὀρθῶς ).
He’s healed. And that’s the point of the story. Jesus is the of God, so he can do extraordinary things. That’s what this story is about… Right? Mark tells this story as we heard it today. But Matthew tells the same story.
Well, maybe. When Matthew tells this story, he proclaims Christ the Messiah of the Jews. He says, “Wow, this is proof!” This Joshua guy (YeShuAh or Iousus/Jesus in Greek) does everything we expected, just differently. BUT Mark doesn’t do that. In fact, Mark isn’t explaining how Jesus fits any particular picture, Hebrew or otherwise. Still, why does Mark even need to explain what Eph-pha-tha means anyway? The text reads with a deep sigh [Jesus] said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”) And this isn’t something the translators did for us. This is something Mark did for Mark’s first-century audience. Why???
Why does Mark refuse to translate certain words?
… It’s simple.
Mark has to translate this word because Mark’s readers don’t understand the Aramaic language Jesus was speaking. Because – Mark’s readers aren’t Jewish, and so, like 90% of the known world at the time, they also won’t understand. But there is something to this word that doesn’t quite fit right in Greek.
See, in Mark, there are all these stories about Jesus’ healing people. He gives sight to blind people and makes people who are deaf (or, more likely, as this is the case, hard of hearing) hear over and over again. And for four chapters, Jesus keeps doing these types of miracles (sight to the bind, people who are deaf, hear). Finally, the story of the fish and loaves and the disciples still don’t understand who Jesus is. – Just after Jesus has given eyes that see and ears that hear to outsider after stranger after stranger after non-Jew after marginalized person… Jesus says this to his followers, the people who have been with him day in and day out… “18 YOU have eyes but fail to see, and you have ears but fail to hear?” (Mark 8:18). They’ve been around the blind and deaf every day and now Jesus says, “You are the real blind people”. Ouch. It isn’t very kind. It’s ironic. And it’s intentionally so.
A little boy was taken by his father to an evening church service where the film Martyrs of the Faith was showing. It was a graphic presentation of Christian persecution where Christians were being thrown to the lions. At the same time, the gleeful Romans cheered, and the helpless believers were torn apart one after the other. What made this scene particularly moving was that, instead of fighting off the lions or running from them, the Christians knelt in prayer and lifted their hands to heaven as they submitted to the terrible deaths.
The little boy, seated next to his father, began to cry uncontrollably. The father was very moved by this, believing in the willingness of the Christians Martyrs to suffer just as Christ. “Why are you crying? The father asked in anticipation of the boy’s faithful response. “Because,” said the boy, “that little baby lion didn’t get anything to eat!” (Stories That Feed the Soul pg. 197)
Sometimes, it’s easy to miss the point. Now, I don’t want anyone to assume that you need some exceptional degree to understand the Bible; that’s simply not true. And you are not likely to hear very much from me, that you couldn’t eventually discover from the liner notes and a few old dusty commentaries. For 95% of the bible, I say, “If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.” Don’t overcomplicate it unless something is very odd!
That said, certain things often confuse modern readers. They are not on every page, but yes, they exist.
At the beginning of this message, I said that this whole story is predicated on Mark’s odd geography lesson. This entire section of scripture in Mark, all the way up until the feeding of the 5000, is based on the idea that Jesus is heading for Decapolis.
Although this is one of those things that are lost in translation, the locations Mark lists in the first verse are wild. The route is crazy. He goes on a huge detour. He starts in Tyre, then goes north through Sidon, then south down to the Decapolis, and then East over to the Sea of Galilee. He goes north, then South so that he can get East.
It’s a little like Mark is saying, “Then Jesus left Saskatoon on his way to Edmonton, so he went over to Winnipeg and down to Regina, and to Slave Lake to get there.”
It’s nuts. Who was organizing Jesus’ travel plans – West Jet?
Let’s not forget, he’s walking… walking nearly 60 kilometers… out of his way. This first sentence tells us all we need to know about the point Mark is making when he tells us this miracle story. Mark makes a huge point of Jesus walking through specifically gentile (non-Jewish) lands. All over the place… healing the blind and healing the deaf… and then at the end, Jesus looks at the Jews (his people, and not just any Jews – his 12 chosen Jews and says, “You have eyes but can’t see, and you have ears but don’t hear.”
Why does he say that? – Because of you… non-Jews. Mark wrote this book just for you. When Matthew tells this story to his Jewish audience, they find the whole idea insulting. They owned Jesus! Jesus was the Jewish Messiah who came to the Jews. But when Mark tells it… Jesus is just the Messiah. And that’s it. He came as Savoir for Jews and non-Jews alike. He came travelling through foreign lands of gentile people, crowds followed him, and he couldn’t escape them. Their faith was everywhere. For Mark, the whole point of this miracle story is that everything about it is odd and foreign. And he pounds that point home.
The shopkeeper had just purchased a three-foot concrete statue of Jesus at the Candy shop. The next day, to his surprise, the man discovered his four-year-old granddaughter Genevieve pulling with all of her might, trying unsuccessfully to carry the statue out the front door. “What are you doing, honey?” he said. “I want a Mr. Jesus in my brother’s room, too,” the litter girl said. Happy to have solved the mystery, the shopkeeper sat little Genevieve down for an important lesson. “Honey,” he said, “you took my Jesus?”. “Yes, papa,” she said as if it were nothing at all. “Honey, I bought that. You stole Jesus from me. Do you know what stealing means? See, I own that Jesus and”. Just then, the tiny girl interrupted with perhaps the wisest words ever spoken… “Papa, you’re silly,” she said, “Nobody owns Jesus.”
Mark uses this miracle because he wants us to know that Jesus came for us (the people who expected him) and for us, the people out there who didn’t and have no idea who he is. That no matter how much we want him to, God doesn’t fit into our boxes. For Mark, Jesus isn’t just the Jewish Messiah or the Christian Christ, but the savior of the world. He travels where he wants to travel, and he blesses whoever he wants to bless. He goes to where the infidels and enemies live. He comes to you.
When Mark writes that Jesus “left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and then into the region of the Decapolis,” What he means is that nobody owns Jesus.
May we know the healing touch of eyes that see and ears that hear.
May we carry countless unnamed and unknown people to Christ for healing.
May we know Christ, the savior of the world.
May we know that God does not fit into the boxes we try to place him in?
And so may we share the Love of Christ with all we meet, knowing that Nobody owns Jesus. -Amen
Song: Blest are they (624: vss 1-4)
We respond to serve God: Our time of giving
Reflection on giving: Dayspring is empowered to carry out our mission of worship, service, and care by generously given volunteer time, talent, and treasure. Many thanks to all who give so generously!
Prayer of gratitude and for others and ourselves
O God in whom we live and move and have our being:
We come to you in prayer as the summer season draws nearer to its close:
We give you thanks for the occasions we have enjoyed to catch up with family and friends; to travel for recreation and restoration and let our worries go.
We are grateful for each moment to savour the beauty of creation.
Refresh us for the season ahead we pray, and renew our commitment to serve you.
O God, Jesus faced many demands wherever he went, and pressure from critics, whatever he did.
We pray for all those who have not found rest this summer: for those whose work is stressful, exhausting or unappreciated; and for those whose livelihoods remain uncertain because of circumstances beyond their control.
We pray for those with hard choices to make, about work or school or what comes next, about relationships and priorities, or about social policy and community leadership.
Silence for 20 seconds.
May each one know your strength and guidance day by day.
Today we remember those for whom this summer has been touched by suffering:
We pray for those who have lost loved ones, and those facing an uncertain future or a difficult diagnosis.
We pray for those who have lost their homes, for whatever reason, and for those who despair about the climate crisis and what can be done to repair the suffering earth.
Silence for 20 seconds
We pray for all those who join efforts to relieve suffering of any kind.
May each one find courage to face tomorrow in your company.
O God, we need the embrace of your presence, each in our own way.
As we prepare to leave this service, walk with us, and show us how to live each day as those who follow Jesus. Amen.
Song: When the poor ones (762)
Sending out with God’s blessing
The Book of James challenges God’s beloved: “You do well if you really fulfil God’s royal law: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ For faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
Go with these words on your hearts,
And may the God of wisdom guide you;
The Christ of mercy walk beside you;
And the Spirit of hope inspire you each and every day, now and always. Amen.
Response: Benediction (as you go)
Music postlude
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Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.