"Man Plans, God Laughs"
A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, September 6, 2009
James 2:1-10, 14-17; Mark 7:24-37
“Man plans, God laughs.”
- Yiddish Proverb

“Listen, dear friends.  Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently?”
James 2:5

When last we spoke, at the end of July, I was leaving you for six weeks of sabbatical rest.  And as I left, I shared with you my fantasies about what I might accomplish in those six weeks.  Some of you have been asking me whether I was able to get everything done on my ‘to-do’ list, so I thought a progress report was in order.

As many of you know, I spent part of my six weeks at a rustic cabin in the Poconos which I had filled with books I had been meaning to read.  As it turned out, I ended up reading four books I had been planning to read, one book I never intended to read, and the pile of books I was supposed to read now have a fine layer of dust settling upon them.

I also reported to you that I intended to bring my computer just in case the urge to write the next great American novel should strike me.   It didn’t.  I did bring my computer but I never unpacked it.

I told you I was thinking about bringing my fabric so I could finish the two quilts that are currently under construction in my sewing room and maybe even start a new one for Pastor Amelie’s baby.  I neither sewed or even cut one quilt square.

I had big plans to eat right, exercise every day, and lose 50 lbs – which I thought was a reasonable goal for six weeks.  I did, in fact, eat right -- mostly.  I joined a gym and began exercising a lot more than before.  And I gained 3 lbs.

There’s a pithy little proverb that is shared by people of many cultures and it goes something like this: “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

In addition to all that I intended, I planned to be in daily conversation with the Lord and come back renewed, refreshed and way wiser than when I left.  And the truth is the Lord and I had a lot to say to each other.  If I’m any wiser, it’s because I did more listening than talking.  In any case, I am rested and grateful to you all for it, and ready to return to what has evidently been a very productive summer from the looks of our parking lot!

“If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”  That could be my sabbatical theme song.  But it could also be our theme for this morning.  Because we’ve got two very different texts that are given to us to study today – one from The Letter of James, the other from the Gospel of Mark.  Let’s begin with The Letter of James.

The epistle (or letter) of James is a very edgy text: 59 out of 108 verses are commands, warnings, or instructions.  There are a whole lot of “shoulds” in James; he doesn’t fool around.  He’s not worried about whether you like him or not.  His is a serious concern: he wants to make sure that the early Christian communities do not adopt, or fall back into, the values or the behavior of the surrounding population.  He wants them to maintain their distinct identity as Christians.  So he challenges them to not only talk the talk of Christianity but to walk the walk as well.  He’s not interested in people who say they believe in Jesus.  He’s interested in people whose lives demonstrate that they believe in Jesus.  He is unafraid of speaking the truth in love because what he intends to do is improve believers by his criticism.  (He sounds a little bit like my mother-in-law.)

In this morning’s reading from the letter, we find warnings against favoritism, especially the kind of favoritism which honors the rich and ignores the needs and rights of the poor.  James challenges us today just as he challenged his own community back in the first century to examine how truly welcoming we really are in the church.

Let’s take a look at this text together again.

Read the text from James (a translation by Eugene Peterson called The Message.)

James is a no-nonsense letter and this is just a portion of it.  But this week, what really strikes me is the strong critique that James gives to people who have one set of expectations about their church and their spiritual lives, and James comes along and says to them: “Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently?” (James 2:5).

It was perfectly understandable for Christians living in the Roman Empire to believe that those who possessed wealth should also possess a greater degree of influence and a greater degree of value in the Christian community.  That’s how it was in every other place, why should it be any different in the church?  But James cuts right to the heart of those assumptions when he says:

“Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently?  He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges.  This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God.”

In other words, in God’s realm the expectations of the world are turned upside down.  God’s world ain’t like this world, and God’s church ain’t like this world either.  James wants the Church to be the Church.  He wants it to be a place of genuine welcome to all who enter.  He wants it to be a place where those who are in need will be met with more than a pat on the back and a “Good luck with that” attitude but will instead find refuge and assistance and practical support.

To the people of the first century, James is kind of saying, “If you want to hear God laugh; tell him your plans, because God is in the habit of disrupting our plans.  God is in the habit of turning our expectations upside down especially when our plans and our expectations are out of synch with God’s designs for us and our world.”

Now I want to turn your attention to the other text for this morning -- the one from Mark’s gospel.  Our reading contains two different healing stories back to back.  The first is the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman, the second is the story of a man who can neither hear nor speak.  Both of these healing stories occur in geographical regions which are well beyond the borders of Jesus’ ordinary stomping grounds.  The Syro-Phoenician woman lives in Tyre, which is a coastal city well north of the region of Galilee.  The deaf man comes from the region known as the Decapolis.  “Decapolis” means “ten cities” and the Decapolis was a large band of land situated in what is both modern day Jordan and Syria.  Both of these areas are borderland regions, dwelling at the margin of two cultures.  What is most-important for us is that these two regions are definitely non-Jewish territory. 

Let’s listen again to this passage from Mark’s gospel.

Read Mark 7:24-37

In the first story, Jesus travels to Tyre and enters a house because he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s there.  But Mark tells us that a Gentile woman hears about Jesus and seeks him out and begs him to heal her daughter who is possessed by a demon.  Jesus’ first response to this woman is not what we’ve come to expect from the Lord of Life.  He says: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  Which is to say: I am here to serve the children of Israel not you and your kind which are considered dogs to us. 

Up to this point, Jesus ministry has been firmly rooted in the Jewish community.  He was sent to serve and to save the children of Israel (the Jews).  But this feisty Gentile woman isn’t willing to take no for an answer.  Her daughter needs healing and if she has to fight to get her the help she needs, so be it.  So her response to Jesus is this:  “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Now Mark, being Mark, gives us precious few details.  But you have got to hear the stunned silence in this story when this Gentile woman has the chutzpah to argue theology with Jesus.  And what does she get for her effort?  Well, Jesus says, “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.”

You can read this story a lot of different ways.  You can see it as a test of faith – maybe Jesus was just trying to make sure that this woman really believed before he healed her daughter.  You can see it as a remarkable moment when Jesus, himself, stands corrected by this most unlikely character, and he was opened to something new about his ministry.  You can see it as a moment when the expectations of the disciples are overturned and those who follow Jesus are being taught to minister to those whom they once viewed as unworthy.  However you want to read this story, it is a profoundly important moment in the life of the Christian faith, because from this moment on, Jesus’ ministry extends beyond those who are Jewish – beyond the borders of Jewish territory.  After his encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman, Jesus leaves the region of Tyre and then goes on to minister in another Gentile region where he encounters the man who cannot hear or speak.  Interestingly, as Jesus is healing the man, he uses the Aramaic word, “Ephphatha,” meaning, “Be opened” as his healing command.

The Syro-Phoenician woman is the first Gentile (read “pagan”) person to receive healing from the Lord and it is because of her and her willingness to fight for her daughter, that all who come after her from non-Jewish backgrounds are brought into relationship with Jesus.  This is a huge departure from what was expected.

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans -- especially if your plans do not include ministry with all God’s people.  Because God’s plans for God’s people are far bigger than anything we can ask or imagine.  And even here in this story from Mark’s gospel, we see what it means to have the expected overturned and the circle of grace expanded farther than previously imagined.

“Listen, dear friends.  Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently?”

Returning from sabbatical to a parking lot that is most definitely under construction reminds me that we, too, are moving into unfamiliar territory these days.  The progress made outside gives us a glimpse of a future we cannot yet see in its entirety.  But as we make our way forward together, the witness of scripture texts like this morning’s challenge us to be ready for God to keep overturning our expectations.  God will expect us to grow – grow in our ability to deal with change and uncertainty; grow in our ability to be innovative and flexible; grow in our creativity and in the strength of our welcome to others and our ministry in the world.  God will expect us to change.  God will expect us to learn new ways of being the Body of Christ.  God will expect us to reach out and minister in real and practical ways. 

But if we listen with our whole hearts to the God who is ultimately in charge of all our plans, I am confident we will most certainly find our way through to the new reality that God is even now preparing for us.

May it be so.  Amen.