What If We Re-think Church?
Mark 7:24-37 (September 6, 2009. 102nd Anniversary)

After Jesus had worked so hard in Galilee, he planed to take a break. When he took a break, he told no one where he was going. He went to find a room at a small motel in Tyre, a foreign country. But not too long after he got into the room, he heard someone looking for him. The person outside didn’t stop knocking on the door. Even though he told no one where he was going, someone already figured it out. There was no place for him to hide, not even in a foreign country.

Jesus couldn’t stay on the bed for the visitor kept knocking on the door, so he opened the door for the visitor. Immediately after the door was open, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit knelt before him, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. As he looked at her, he instantly realized she was not a Jew but a gentile, a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. So Jesus told her, “Woman, please go away! First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

It is quite a shocking remark for Jesus to spell out. It is so obvious that he regarded the woman as a dog. How could Jesus who had a loving heart make such a bad remark to the mother? Without a doubt, it is clear that his statement was extremely exclusive and offensive to her.

The gentile woman, however, didn’t get upset. She kept kneeling before his feet despite his discriminative and offensive comment against her and her daughter. She stayed at the same spot and continued begging, “Yes, Lord but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” She showed no intention to leave the place even though she was regarded as a dog. All that mattered to her at that very moment was her daughter to be free from the demon.

After having heard the woman’s constant begging, Jesus gave her a final word, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” He was marveled with her love for the daughter and her unstoppable petition to him and granted her request. After that, the woman went home and found her child lying peacefully on the bed, and the demon completely gone.
By the way, today’s story is one of the most difficult texts to comprehend in the New Testament. Especially the exclusive and offensive remark Jesus threw to the woman is the most problematic in the entire Bible. However, if we try to understand it in a positive and constructive way, we can find very useful lessons out of it as well. Therefore, I will deal with it in this perspective.

“First let the children eat all they want, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” This particular statement clearly presents how the Jewish people looked and treated the gentiles in those days. Simply put, they had no respect for the gentiles. Even though they were colonized by the Romans and greatly suffered from them, still they were full of pride. It is what they said among themselves: “In spite of all current hardships, we are still chosen by God who is the one and only God.”

To have pride is a great way to live. Of course, I want all of us to live with pride until we die. Once again, I will repeat: It is good for anyone to live with pride. However, the pride shouldn’t make him be exclusive and offensive to others. Regretfully, however, the pride that the Jews had became the basis of their exclusivism and self-righteousness against others. They considered all other nations except themselves were condemned by God. And this wrong perspective drove them to treat the gentiles the same as animals.

As we all know, Jesus was a Jew. So he was well aware of how the other Jews thought about the gentiles and treated them. In today’s story, therefore, he delivered to the gentile woman what the Jews in general had thought about the gentiles. The reason for him to speak to her the common perspective of the Jews was that he wanted to ask her to leave him alone and let him rest. It tells me that Jesus was truly tired and exhausted on that day. He desperately needed to rest.

As a matter of fact, we cannot simply condemn the Jews of their exclusive and offensive attitude toward the gentiles because we, Christians, could share the same attitudes toward those who don’t belong to us. Actually not a little but a lot. For example, we may have thoughts of:

* We are saved but they are not.
* We are chosen but they are condemned.
* We are spiritual but they are flesh.
* Our knowledge is true but theirs is in vain.
* We are wise but they are foolish.
* We are pious but they are sinful.

So we have a tendency to look them down, disregard them and push them away from us.

In my understanding, the Jews didn’t disregard or offend the gentiles from the beginning. Actually, when they were enslaved by the Egyptians, as a way of survival, they had to hold on to the faith that “Jehovah is the one and only God” and that “We are chosen by him.” Their belief that Jehovah is the one and only God and that they were chosen by him developed great pride in their hearts, and eventually that pride helped them to be able to endure all hardships during their slavery in Egypt and during their 40-year-wilderness-journey and strengthened them to conquer the fortified cities in Canaan.

By the way, this is what I want to point out to you: The Israelites were not discriminative and offensive toward the gentiles from the beginning. They had to protect themselves from the hostile neighboring nations by creating such a strong faith in God and an identity as God’s chosen people.

In my view, their faith in the-one-and-only-God and their national identity as God’s chosen people are fundamentally good and great. As a matter of fact, I can say that they were God’s blessings for them. However, they were not willing to share those blessings with other nations but wanted to keep them for themselves. And as a result, they became the worst exclusive, discriminative and offensive nation in the world. I don’t mean God’s blessings made them be the worst. They made themselves the worst by misunderstanding God’s blessings. If they had true faith in God, who is the one and only divine being, they should have tried to learn what God wanted from them. If they truly believed they were chosen by him, they should have known for what God chose them. However, the Jews didn’t do so.

In fact, from the American history, we can find a similar mistake as well. When the Puritans put their feet on the new land, they put their faith in the-one-and-only-God and they believed that the land was given to them by their God. And years later, when the Europeans started colonizing this nutritious continent, they shared those common views. They insisted that God was for them and he chose them to take over the land. So they showed no respect to the natives in the new land. They regarded the natives as low as worms and animals and enslaved them. To make things worse, they tried to ruin all the cultures and beliefs of the natives.

Then how about us as a church now? How do we look at the people outside? How do we treat them? Of course, I want none of us to disrespect them or mistreat them. We shouldn’t do that.

“Church” is ekklesia in Greek which means “being called out.” We are called out by God through Jesus Christ. We are a called or chosen people in Jesus Christ. We are called to gather together to pray, praise, learn the Word of God and do what is good. Church is not a thing but a gathering of God’s people who try to live according to God’s will. In other words, the building, located at 108 California Ave, Wahiawa, HI, is not a church. Olive United Methodist Church is a group of people who come together to pray, praise, listen to the Word of God, share fellowship and do their best to do what is good inside and outside of the building. That’s a church. “Church is not a noun but a verb.”

Without a doubt, it is a great blessing for us to be part of this particular faith community with a long history. In our neighboring communities, not many churches have a history like ours. That’s why I am proud of being part of this church. However, on the other hand, somehow I am worrying about a slight chance that could mislead us to become like the Jews who fell into a wrong track in the past. We could forget and neglect our call when we are too proud of the long history and its legacy. Of course, the history and legacy are very important for us to remember and preserve. However, a church is not a history museum but an acting people to live according to their call. “Church is not a noun but a verb.”

Acts 2:42-47 presents the typical description of a church that we should pay attention to:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Today we are here to celebrate our 102nd Anniversary. I want all of us to wholeheartedly celebrate our long history this morning, and in addition, I want all of us to raise the following questions among ourselves:

* Are we a church?
* Are we acting as a church?
* Are we doing our best to fulfill our duty as a church?
* Is our gathering for ourselves or for all including for those who still don’t join us yet?
* If our gathering is for all including outsiders, then what are we doing for them?

Jesus, the head of the church, has given us the following commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20a) People of Olive, are we faithful to our commission? Are we? Of course, I want us to be able to say “Yes” because we are doing what we supposed to do as a church.