8th September 2024
Reflection – readings follow on after
The writer of the Letter of James calls the command to ‘love our neighbour’ a royal law! And it is a law that must be applied equally to all our neighbours, whatever their status or position in society. To keep this law, we must be different from the newspaper and media world. In those worlds it is the rich and famous who make the headlines. Owners of rich yachts who drown are newsworthy; migrants who drown by the dozen every week, are not newsworthy. They don’t even have names.
To love our neighbour, the writer expands, has to be more than just praying for their well being. It has to be about meeting their actual physical needs. When we pray for the hungry or the homeless, our prayer needs to be backed with a donation to a relevant charity, or by volunteering, or even by contacting our MP and asking for government action. It is clear from the words of both Isaiah and the Psalmist that the salvation God desires for the world is one in which the sick find healing, the disabled find inclusion, the bereaved, the orphaned and the alien are welcomed, and where the fertility of the land – and therefore food production – is replenished.
The passage from Mark’s gospel is fascinating. The Syrophoenician woman understood that people like her were considered by Jews to be less than honourable or worthy, not equal as fellow humans – in fact of little more value than a dog. Initially Jesus seems to behave in the expected way, but the woman sees through this. She realises that Jesus is different, and is sure Jesus will not ignore her need. And indeed Jesus does respond positively affirming her worth and healing her daughter.
The season of creation-tide invites us to understand anew our relationship with creation and with God the creator. There has been debate recently about the definition of the word ‘nature’. Nature obviously describes the flora and fauna of the world, as well as inanimate things such as rivers and mountains. In the past we happily described nature as being everything that is non-human. But now we are questioning that. Surely humans are as much part of nature as any other living thing? We may have some skills that other living things do not have, but at root we share much more in common with other living things. More importantly we cannot live without the rest of nature; we cannot live lives independent of nature. Rather than seeing ourselves as separate and superior to nature, we need to see all of nature – including ourselves – as equally important.
Does this challenge us to think more widely about the command that we love our neighbour not just in word but in deed? When we pray for the wellbeing of the earth, for wellbeing of bees and hedgehogs, for the safeguarding of seas and rivers, our words need to be followed up with deeds. Will we plant more wild flowers, use less insecticides and make gaps in our fences? Will we plant more trees and use less plastic? Will we demand higher standards of care from manufacturers and businesses – and be willing to pay higher prices?
Loving our neighbour is not an easy law but we have God on our side. Therefore let us be strong and not fearful of heart.
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
He will come and save you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
Psalm 146
1 Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul! *
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
2 Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, *
for there is no help in them.
3 When they breathe their last, they return to earth, *
and in that day their thoughts perish.
4 Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
5 Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
who keeps his promise for ever;
6 Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *
and food to those who hunger.
7 The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; *
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
8 The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord cares for the stranger; *
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.
9 The Lord shall reign for ever, *
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!
James 2:1-10, 14-17
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Mark 7:24-37
Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
The Green Tau 