My brother lives in Tucson, AZ with his wife. They moved down
there from Minnesota because he is a student to become a research psychologist,
in other words a college professor. His interest is in bias, stereotypes, and
prejudices and how they impact people’s decision making processes and life in
general. For example, a few of his friends and him submitted a study to ESPN
about the correlation of personal fouls committed by NBA players who entered
the league right after high school compared to those who played at least one
year of college basketball. Pretty interesting stuff right? Well it is for a
sports nerd like me.
But I mention my brother because he also is an assistant
football coach at one of the local high schools where he has the privilege to
mentor and coach kids who are the product of such bias and injustice. If you
are not familiar with the geographical location of Tucson, it is located about
70 miles north of the border shared with Mexico. Now the reality is that there
are many illegal immigrants who live in this city, and no matter your political
persuasion, the fear of being deported is real. One of my brother’s players is
15 years old, he works 30 hours per week at McDonald’s, lives in an efficiency
apartment by himself, plays football, and is a full time high school student.
Why doesn’t he go to social services and get placed in a foster care facility?
He is an economic refugee that is seeking a better life and so he does what he
has to do in order to survive in the U.S.
Stories like his are all over this country and the world.
People who are subject to such harsh injustice because of their social and
political standing are leery sticking out of the crowd for numerous reasons.
But the gravest ill is that they are silenced, their voices are muted, or even
worse not heard or willfully ignored. For this young man his silence could be
because he doesn’t speak the English language very well or maybe because he is
too tired to raise his hand in class from long practices and shifts, or maybe
it is because he is scared of being singled out. But it seems to me that he has
a lot to teach all of us about life, about faith in the midst of struggle, about
loving the neighbor.
Our text from Sunday morning in the Gospel of Mark confronts us
with something we do not like to do very much, telling the truth. And the truth
is according to Mark, and my brother’s research, is that we are biased
creatures that often fear going outside what is comfortable because we fear
change, we fear being wrong, we fear other people’s insights, and we fear a
whole lot more according to our own personal histories and stories.
But what happens when the truth gets told? Theologian
Karoline Lewis says that it is in truth telling our lives are changed from the
lies we tell ourselves to maintain the status quo, to that of an entirely
changed world.[1] Such
a changed world is that of the Kingdom of God. Let’s look back at the text.
A woman who was a Gentile, meaning she was culturally not
Jewish, begs on her hands and knees before Jesus to heal her daughter from a
demon. And his response…rejection and insult. Yet she did not deem that this
was going to be the end of this encounter and possibly the end of her daughter’s
life. It is as if she said, “No Jesus, not good enough to simply dismiss me and
insult me.You are so much more...” Why would she do this? This woman knew that God’s love, mercy,
justice, and redemption is not to be kept for a particular people, it is meant
for the entire world whether they are the friends or complete strangers.
It is out of such truth telling of our bias and God’s
comprehensive inclusion that comes an awesome opportunity, the chance to live
into the gospel, to live into the good news. I think that if there is any good
news from this difficult passage, it is that we are called outside of our
self-prescribed lies that keep us in an induced stupor of “normalcy.” And
instead we are shocked to life by hearing God’s grace through the insight,
wisdom, and faith of our neighbors that we call the other.
What does this mean for you and your context at church, at work, or at home? It seems to me that we need to stop pretending that we
care about people’s opinions out of striving to be politically correct. We need
to care about what others have to say and what they think out of a gospel
oriented life. In doing so we need to sit with people we don’t usually sit next
to. It means we need to talk to people we don’t usually talk to. It means we
need to step outside of the lines we have drawn to box the world away from
ourselves. We need to be humbled by the edgy, controversial grace that God
gives to the entire world. We need to be opened up.
So who are we overlooking in this community? Who are our
biases prohibiting us from listening and seeing? Is it our sisters and brothers
on reservations? Is it those whom we deem immoral? Is it those
with tattoos and piercings? Is it anyone who is different? The cost of such an
attitude is the good news. That’s right, the gospel. Because when we say “no”
to being with our neighbors out there in the world, we are saying no to the
radical grace of God that seeks out everyone. That is the power of sin that we
must fight every day as children of God.
That young man who is working 30 hours a week at McDonald’s,
a full time high school student, a football player, who lives alone in an
efficiency apartment, and who is seeking a better life…what stories might he
have to share with us about his faith in God? My guess is if he told his truth,
his life and ours might be changed. But are you willing to listen because he is
different or are you going to pretend he doesn’t exist?
We must get out of ourselves and our cozy corners of
familiarity. Why? Because God is pushing us into the gospel, the good news,
that is spreading all over the world because God’s grace is for all.
-Tom
[1]
Karoline Lewis, “God Said Yes to Me,” Dear
Working Preacher, www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3679.
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