Join yourself to the Lord.
Some things really don’t change. 2,000 years ago, the Pharisees criticized Jesus’ disciples because they didn’t wash their hands before they ate. We have a lot of discussion going on about hygiene, about washing our hands, making sure our hand sanitizers are not toxic to us, wearing masks, what kind of masks, and disinfecting things as best we can. Parents and teachers are trying to figure out the best ways to have school. Researchers around the world are exploring treatments and developing vaccines. The science on all this often seems and often is conflicted as it rolls out to the rest of us. So we all have our opinions, we all have our feelings about what we should do, and especially about what “they” should do.
Further, we are deeply into a hotly debated political season with the elections, primaries on Tuesday, and the other issues swirling around race and police and riots and violence.
And I expect that were we to talk openly about those COVID and political issues we would find many areas of broad consensus on goals and the means to achieve them, and sharp disagreement on others. And we have a Word to share from God that goes something like, “Come to me. all of you. Join yourselves to me and in me all divisions end.”
It reminds me of an epiphany I had many years ago regarding my marriage. “Being right is overrated.” I am by nature a very argumentative person and I’m pretty good at it. Ask Meg. Ask my mother, my siblings. But I realized that Meg’s long term happiness was far more critical to my long term happiness, to our long term happiness and the health of our children and our capacity to do something worthwhile in life, so I had to let that go – or at least shape it into mutually supportive discussion.
Our Old Testament reading this morning (Isaiah 56:1, 6-8) speaks to a critical time in Israel. Babylon had conquered them. Babylon’s method of pacifying the region was to move the people out and move other people in. Israel had been exiled to Babylon for a couple of generations, or roughly 50 years, when the Persians conquered Babylon.
Persia had a very different policy. They liked people to stay in place, to have their local customs and traditions, and be as comfortable as they could be under the protection and taxation of the Persian Empire. Their Emperor Cyrus is returning Israel to the Promised land and plans to rebuild the temple. This is great news, and it comes with a great word from God.
What I just described to you of the exile and return is a very broad-stroke summary, but we know that just as in our lives nothing is that simple. They didn’t take absolutely everyone. Those left behind included what would become the Samaritans and others, and some enmity had grown between those who stayed and those exiled. Further, there were other non-Jewish peoples in the land. Some of those go way back.
And we skipped a few verses where God includes eunuchs in this proclamation, which extends it to people who were ritually unclean, some of them permanently. And what does God say to the returning exiles, the ones who were not exiled, the other peoples in the land and even those who are ritually unclean?
All who join themselves to The Lord are accepted. They are invited to his holy mountain and into his house of prayer. Their offerings are accepted. God will gather the outcasts of Israel - and others. The invitation is open to any and all who will join themselves to The Lord.” We see the currency of God’s people is as it has always been, faith.
This whole scene is very reminiscent of Israel’s initial conquest of the Promised Land. Remember that during the Exodus the descendant of Jacob had a fairly small set of family history stories to bind them together. Their identity wasn’t all that well established. And, all manner of people caught the Moses express out of slavery, so they were a mixed bag as well. As they took the Promised Land, the peoples they conquered were there, too. You may recall that famous scene when Joshua gathers everyone and tells them to “Choose this day whom you will serve…. But as for me and my house, we will serve The Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
But this has been God’s call all the way back to the beginning – all the way back to Abraham, all the way back to Noah, all the way back to Adam and Eve.
This is key to understanding Jesus’ encounters with these particular Pharisees and the Canaanite woman.
His encounter with the Pharisees ties to the issue of ritual uncleanness. Jesus isn’t saying that we shouldn’t wash our hands. Of course we should! Your mother says so. A study by Michigan State University a few years ago said that only 5% of us wash our hands properly, which means 95% of us don’t, or didn’t back then, which is very ewww. Maybe we are better now that COVID-19 is everywhere.
But the issue of one’s ritual cleanliness, which is something we do on the outside, is irrelevant as compared with what is coming out of us. In other words, if we are really great at following all the dietary and sanitation rules – being very religious – but there is no real impact on our hearts, on our spirits that is reflected in our behavior, then it’s no good. What is going on in our hearts shows whether or not, and the extent to which, we are joining ourselves to The Lord.
With regard to the Canaanite woman, the plot thickens, Jesus has gone to the region of Tyre and Sidon, which is in modern day Lebanon. While there were Jewish villages there, it was not in Israel, but more of a border region. She is a Canaanite. You may recall that before Israel took it under Joshua, Israel was called “the land of Canaan.” There is ancient enmity between their peoples. Further, she is a woman addressing a man and she is being aggressive, both of which are cultural taboos in their time, and frankly are today in many Middle Eastern countries.
His disciples are trying to shield Jesus from her. Jesus himself challenges her. Still she persists, and in doing so out of desperation for her daughter’s life, the desperation of love for her daughter, this foreigner has joined herself to The Lord and Jesus grants her desire. Like the centurion whose faith enabled his servant to be healed, Jesus demonstrates that foreigners who come to Him are coming to The Lord. We are all, every one of us, heirs of this blessed welcome.
And so it is with Christ. In him all divisions end. Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
This is how we can lead in a culture that is entirely bent on winning and scrambling to decide who gets to slice the pie. Make your decisions, make your points in debate. But watch your heart. Take care of your soul. Do not let anger or frustration tempt you into saying or doing things that would dishonor Christ. Never let anyone doubt that you are first and foremost joining yourself to The Lord. Christ is always right and He is never overrated.
AMEN