Episode 76: P. +10A (Aug. 17) or All You Can Eat Bacon, Shrimp and Snails!
For Sunday, August 17, 2014
Episode 76
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jSRZeatGo3I/TbRXZmf6CVI/AAAAAAAAA1s/4JifLOJhYvI/s1600/unclean.jpg
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, where two local pastors discuss the lectionary reading for the week.
This is episode 76 for Sunday August 17, Proper 15A/Ordinary 20A/10 Sundays after Pentecost.
- Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 - The Origin on the Unclean
- Genesis 45:1-15 - Joseph and his Brothers Part 2
Today's podcast is brought to you by audible.com - get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/pulpitfiction. Over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. Three books that we recommend are:
- The Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
- Evolving in Monkey Town by Rachel Held Evans
- Pastrix by Nadia Bolz-Weber.
Introduction and Check-in
- Children’s Sermons
-
- Article from Reluctant Xtian (Pastor Timothy Brown)
Primary Scripture - Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28 - The Origin on the Unclean
Initial Thoughts
- Whole passage? Personal choice
-
- lectionary option
- vs 10-20 can inform 21-28 or could be a sermon on their own
- lectionary option
- 10-20 - What is unclean
-
- Jesus rejects the traditional notions of what it means to be faithful/clean
- Sets up the following passage - Even Jesus should not be bound/guided by tradition but by love
- Gary Charles - “The argument between Jesus and the religious authorities is no obscure theological fight over how many angels can dance on the head of a needle. For Jesus, religious purity and faithful discipleship are not measured ultimately by how many perfect attendance badges one earns for Sunday school or worship, how often one has read the Bible from cover to cover, or how much money one contributes to the church treasury. Purity and faithfulness are shown ultimately by how the church speaks and lives out the radical hospitality and love of Christ.”
- Jesus rejects the traditional notions of what it means to be faithful/clean
- 21-28 - the Canaanite woman
-
- Setting-defiled & unclean
- Disturbing- commenters and Christian have never been sure what to do with this
- The woman
-
- Daughter being tormented by a demon
- Persistence
-
- “Lord have mercy” Kyrie Eleison
-
- The woman is undeterred by his indifference and disciples rejection
- The woman is undeterred by his indifference and disciples rejection
- Jesus is only for Jews
-
- Again undeterred repeats her plea - “Lord have mercy”
- Again undeterred repeats her plea - “Lord have mercy”
- Not fair for Jesus to help out non-Jews - the food/ grace is only for the children of Israel
-
- Third time is undeterred and demands mercy
- Third time is undeterred and demands mercy
- “Lord have mercy” Kyrie Eleison
- Daughter being tormented by a demon
- Jesus
-
- Testing
-
- Unacceptable to me (Eric)
- still racist- why does he demand more from the Canaanite woman?
- The ignoring indifference is worse than the spoken rejection
- Unacceptable to me (Eric)
- Incompassionate (Iwan Russell-Jones)
-
- Jesus falls victim to his major critique of the Pharisees- mercy over sacrifice
-
- cf. Matthew 9:13 and 12:7
- cf. Matthew 9:13 and 12:7
- Jesus is “caught with his compassion down”
-
- Dog- general racist term commonly used for Gentile Pagans
- Ignores her
- Dog- general racist term commonly used for Gentile Pagans
- Role reversal - the teacher is taught by the most unlikely of students (a foreign, idol-worshiping woman)
-
- Much more consistent w the Gospel themes of role reversal, faith in the unexpected places
- You can almost hear, “The Kingdom of God is a foreign woman teaching the Son of God about mercy”
- Much more consistent w the Gospel themes of role reversal, faith in the unexpected places
- Jesus falls victim to his major critique of the Pharisees- mercy over sacrifice
- Testing
- Setting-defiled & unclean
- Election and God’s favor
-
- Determined by location and genealogy - Sadducees/ temple worship/ Jews
- Determined by cleanliness/ “right living” - Pharisees
- Determined by love and mercy - Jesus (but not in this story)
- mercy and compassion are most important
- Determined by location and genealogy - Sadducees/ temple worship/ Jews
- Great conversation about the sacraments in the comments of Ep 74. Does our liturgy and practice of the sacraments communicate the unlimited (and unconditional) mercy and compassion of God or the limits of our own theology?
-
- If someone comes to the communion table simply because they are hungry - what is our response?
- If someone comes to our community just because they are lonely but are unwilling to be baptized- what is our response?
- If someone comes to the communion table simply because they are hungry - what is our response?
- What does it mean to have a flawed savior? Can Jesus be a reformed racist? If so- then can’t we too be reformed? If Jesus can go from being unclean (the words of his mouth being hurtful) to clean (being an agent of blessing) then we too are invited into such transformation
- Are we opening our eyes to have our theology and lives informed and transformed by the most unlikely of people? Who aren’t we listening to/dismissing?
Subscribe! Get Pulpit Fiction delivered automatically to your iPhone, iPod, android or listening device by searching for Pulpit Fiction Podcast in iTunes or Stitcher radio, simply go to our website and hit the subscribe buttons!, or clicking on the links in the show notes.
Secondary scripture - Genesis 45:1-15 - Joseph and his Brothers Part 2
Initial Thoughts
- Way to skip to the end of the story, lectionary.
- Cannot assume people know the story. If you left Joseph off in the pit, it makes no sense to have him in a powerful position in Egypt now. What can you do?
-
- Movie clips
- Drama teams
- Puppets
- Movie clips
- John Wesley sees this story as analogous to a sinner coming to Christ. Joseph is put into God’s place, joyful for the reunion despite the misdeeds of the brothers.
-
- “These were tears of tenderness and strong affection, and with these he threw off that austerity, with which he had hitherto carried himself towards his brethren; for he could bear it no longer. This represents the Divine compassion towards returning penitents, as much as that of the father of the prodigal” (Wesley’s Notes on the Bible)
- “Now Joseph having forgiven them all, lays this obligation upon them, not to upbraid one another. This charge our Lord Jesus has given to us, that we love one another, that we live in peace, that whatever occurs, or whatever former occurrences are remembered, we fall not out. For,
- “These were tears of tenderness and strong affection, and with these he threw off that austerity, with which he had hitherto carried himself towards his brethren; for he could bear it no longer. This represents the Divine compassion towards returning penitents, as much as that of the father of the prodigal” (Wesley’s Notes on the Bible)
2. We are his brethren; and we shame, our relation to him, who is our peace, if we fall out.
3. We are all guilty, verily guilty, and instead of quarreling with one another, have a great deal of reason to fall out with ourselves.
4. We are forgiven of God, whom we have all offended, and therefore should be ready to forgive one another.
5. We are by the way, a way that lies through the land of Egypt, where we have many eyes upon us, that seek occasion and advantage against us; a way that leads to Canaan, where we hope to be forever in perfect peace.” (Wesley’s Notes on the Bible)
-
- We are to follow the lead of Joseph, and forgive others because we were first forgiven.
- We are to follow the lead of Joseph, and forgive others because we were first forgiven.
- Story of forgiveness is powerful, but might gloss over a troubling aspect of the story, that is - Human trafficking was used by God as a means to justify an end.
-
- God’s use of slavery in the story has been used to justify real slave trafficking in history - and still.
- “The claim of verse 8, ‘it was not you who sent me here but God’ should perhaps be understood in this story as Joseph's perception of his circumstances and not as a broader religious sanction of slavery, human trafficking or any other social ill over which an individual triumphs. Joseph does what so many people do, which is try to make sense out of what he has experienced by drawing on his own limited understanding of God.” (Wil Gafney, Working Preacher).
- It would be very troubling, indeed, to claim that God wills the trafficking of humanity for some kind of universal good.
- It is Joseph who comes to an understanding of what has befallen him, not God telling Joseph that it was God’s will for Joseph to be in slavery.
- The story is good news for Joseph and his brothers, but not particularly good news for those still trapped in the horrifying institution of slavery, nor for the other prisoners who were summarily executed at the whim of the Pharaoh.
- In fact, Pharaoh is portrayed somewhat favorably, despite being a despot, because there is a happy ending.
- God’s use of slavery in the story has been used to justify real slave trafficking in history - and still.
- The Suffering of God, by Terrence Freitheim
-
- “The grief of God is as constant as the people’s sin. This divine grief manifests itself in a variety of ways in the life of the people, as God in many and various ways seeks to bring the wayward sons and daughters back home again.” (p. 111).
- God suffers through human frailty, but still works through the frailty. God is not omnipotent - controlling and willing all action. God’s love is omnipresent - working, yearning, compelling people to orient themselves toward God, toward love.
- “The grief of God is as constant as the people’s sin. This divine grief manifests itself in a variety of ways in the life of the people, as God in many and various ways seeks to bring the wayward sons and daughters back home again.” (p. 111).
- Don’t skip ahead to the happy ending. There are troubling things that are happening here. Simply skipping ahead to the merry reunion seems to do a disservice to reality.
- God’s will. What is the difference between God working through sinful people and sinful events, and God using sinful events to achieve a good? Is it too subtle of a difference? Is there anything redeemable about a God that will allow slavery so that a family can have a happy ending? What about a God that can work even through something as awful as slavery to bring about forgiveness, reconciliation, and grace.
TY listeners
Shout outs:
David - Hey guys!
The fencing of the table is a FASCINATING thing. I'm a Presbyterian pastor, and I don't fence the table ever. Technically, my church wishes it fenced, but I just don't. I heard a very powerful testimony from a close friend who became a Christian because of receiving the Eucharist in a United Methodist church. She was told, both explicitly and (more importantly, perhaps) IMplicitly, that she was good enough, and that Jesus (and by extension the church) loved her enough to share with her, even though she had done nothing for them. When I heard that, it became impossible for me to ever fence the table again.
By the same token, I agree with Suz above about the inextricable linked-ness of the Sacraments. I see a beauty in entering into a community through Baptism, and to be reminded of that familial relation through a shared meal. So it is a difficult issue, but I err on the side of giving to all, and letting Christ work as he chooses.
Thanks for another great show, guys!!!
Marianne - I am also Presbyterian and what I do is emphasize that we have an open table at the invitation because communion is a gift from God not our elders or deacons. And I say that all who desire to know more of the grace of God are welcome.
In practice one of my churches includes a number of children who come from Catholic families without their parents. The Catholic church moved out of that little town to a central location about 20 miles away. So the parents will take their children to the Catholic church for instruction and then they come back to us. Many of the kids take first communion at the Catholic church and after that they leave their Sunday School class in time to take communion with the rest of the church. So I am faced with all these kids who take communion at my church because the Catholic Priest told them that they could!!!!
From Twitter:
@TimReeder I’ve applied for a pastoral position. I haven’t been to seminary, but I’ve listened to every Pulpit Fiction Podcast. Should be good enough.
@unvirtuousabbey replied “I’ve always wanted to be on that show.”
@ChrisStrickla “Thanks for the shout out, now @randyjoestrickl thinks I’m famous. BTW the sermon did go well and I love your show.
Featured Musician - Forgiveness Waltz (originally recorded by Jonathan Rundman on his album Sound Theology) covered by Richard and Trish Bruxvoort Colligan from their album Seven Year Kiss. More of their music at riversvoice.com. Follow Richard @pomopsalmist
Our theme music is Misirlou by Dick Dale and the Del Tones and our closing music is “Oh No” by Paul & Storm.
Feedback:
- Show notes, links to articles and books we mentioned, older episodes, and other resources can be found at Pulpitfiction.us
- Find us on Facebook, share episodes, get links, updates, and leave comments at facebook.com/pulpitfiction
- Tweet us @pulpitfpodcast
- Find us on iTunes, subscribe and please leave us a review!!
- Find us on Stitcher
- Or you can always e-mail us: [email protected].