The kingdom of God is justice and joy – and that kingdom comes close today.Come into this space, Holy God, as I worship and learn, read and reflect.Come and show me something of your creativity, and your invitation to be a part of the change I want to see in the world.
Bible Reading: Mark 7:24-37
Turn to today’s passage from Mark’s Gospel. Who do you relate to in this story? As the story begins, Jesus is weary and worn down, looking for rest and solitude. Is that where you are today? Or perhaps, like the woman who appears later, you are desperate and a bit frantic, worried about her family. Or you are more like the man struggling with the failings of his own body, isolated from society. Or are you in the crowd, watching?
Who do you relate to? Who resonates with you?
Just like Jesus in this scripture today, we can find ourselves weary in the face of the climate crisis. The work we are called to do to campaign and take action for the environment can seem like a hopeless task. The work of God is seldom convenient for us. Tackling the climate crisis is not a 9 to 5 endeavour. Perhaps we relate to Jesus in today’s reading – just about ready for a rest when there is one more thing he needs to do to put the world to rights.
In this passage, Jesus appears to despair, for a moment. To lose his temper. To turn away from the woman in need. This is hard for us to read in a modern context. How could Jesus say such a thing? Or perhaps this story is here for all of us who have ever felt too tired to do the thing we know we must, too exhausted to act for justice and peace. We too might find ourselves despairing when we turn on the news, when we hear about rainforests decimated, wildfires burning, droughts and famines already affecting the poorest in the world. What is it that causes you despair?
And yet – and yet – though the work of environmentalism may feel hopeless, we are never without hope. The Syrophoenician woman knows this. She is in the presence of God – she will not lose hope. The story – happily for her and her daughter - does not end in the middle of this passage.
We could get caught up trying to unpick how it is that Jesus has said such a thing, but that would be to take one verse out of context. We need to read to the end of the story. The daughter receives the gift of healing – a gift offered to each and every one of us, regardless of our ethnicity, nationality, or background. It is here, with salvation, where the story ends.
When we look at our melting world, how easy it is to feel the despair of the mother in the middle of the story. How easy it is to feel the story has ended right in the middle – with no hope of healing, and no sign of a future. How easy it is to feel that God has turned away from us and refused our planet the healing it so desperately needs. And yet – and yet – our story is not ended. God does not abandon us. What’s the end of our story?
We have learned a salvation story that is so narrow. God’s salvation story encompasses the whole cosmos. We need to expand our understanding of the gospel to include all that we too easily disregard and dismiss and exclude. In the scripture today, Jesus astounds everyone by stepping outside of the expectations they had of him. If we too are astounded, then we need to expand our understanding of the reach of God’s salvation. If we too struggle to believe that God loves this blue planet we call home, then we need to expand our understanding of the reach of God’s salvation. We need to have a little faith, like the Syrophoenician woman, that healing is within reach.
And now we are called to be a living embodiment of that healing – to come alongside our hurting neighbour, and our hurting planet, and help. Inconvenient, exhausting, and seemingly hopeless though the work often is. How might God be inviting us to join in with the work of healing and salvation for the planet?
love and prayers Revd Sara
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