In the American media it's always about what we're doing. Lots of adjectives are used....like "great, fantastic, amazing, inspiring....or even, 'I'm at a loss for words'" As an American of course I understand it. It's simply enthusiasm. So when Lebron James began the game yesterday with Spain by making a cloud out of the powdered rosin, I understand it. But the oriental judge sitting and observing just passively stared....and in that moment the meeting of two cultures.
The coverage from the BBC in 1996 was typically British. Straight-forward, subdued, full of understatement - lacking all those adjectives that we use which would just seem over the top for the British. It was simply sport...and there you have it, as they say. And certainly you got a view of the British athletes who were successful, but there's no way they could fill prime time with British medal winners. So it remained even as it could be.
We learned the phrase the British use to describe our international relationship: two nations divided by a common language. But it was more than the language that divided us. The culture, the attitudes are different as well. And it's in the differences that we learn about ourselves. It's in the differences that we learn about ourselves.
One way of dealing with our differences is by setting clear boundaries. There's a lot of speculation about what Jesus was trying to do in this story, trying to send the woman away. Could be he was just trying to set a clear boundary.
For there she was, a Canaanite, while Jesus and his disciples are Hebrew by birth and continuing in that tradition. There might as well have been a Great Wall of China between them. But across that wall set in stone by centuries of practice she makes her plea. She shouts. She makes noise. She won't be still.
And the bouncer-disciples don't know what to do with her. They've tried to keep the boundary, but like a burr under the saddle, like a sibling that knows just how to push your buttons, like an annoying pest that just won't go away she keeps up her shouting.
And obviously it's working. It's getting to the disciples. Irritant that she is, she has their attention. And incompetent as they are, they don't know what to do with her, this boundary breaker They appeal to Jesus. They almost sound whinny when they appeal to Jesus, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us."
But Jesus' response, the suggestion that he is not there for her, only encourages her, confirms to her that she is getting through. A further rebuff from Jesus and she only pushes against it again. She believes and Jesus sees her faith. She crossed the boundary and Jesus makes room for her. She challenges Jesus to be who he is, and Jesus fulfills his mission.
Across the differences, they meet. And it appears that even Jesus has to be reminded of his own parable... you know, the one about who is a neighbor? I know that it's too radical to some, the suggestion that Jesus changes his mind. But on the other hand I don't know how you can believe in a God or a Jesus that doesn't bend. For truly this does show a Jesus who is open in the relationship, who is willing to be changed rather than one who is set in his ways and will not be moved.
And isn't that the choice that often we're confronted with? Either we hang on to our differences or we change. Now we all know how difficult change can be...to let ourselves be open, to let ourselves be touched and moved. Usually the first instinct is to rigidly defend that we are right.
Red Green is a back-woods Wisconsin TV show. It pokes fun at men and lots of things northern. At the end of the show each week down at the possum lodge they recite the men's prayer, "I'm a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess." No, change doesn't come easily for most of us.
But that's one of the reasons I'm thankful for this story...thankful that even Jesus was open to being changed through relationship. And it teaches me that maybe I can bend too. Because it's in the differences that there is much to learn.
So, given this model that we have in Jesus it's fair to ask how well we do as Christians in listening to each other when we disagree with one another? How well do we listen to members of our family when we have a dispute with them? How well do we listen to our neighbors, or our friends, or how well do we listen to our enemies?
Listening deeply to those who have tough, unpleasant things, or new and different things to say to us can be a strange but good exercise and a giant leap of faith for those willing to try it. Winston Churchill, once said that "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." A Cuban proverb states that "Listening looks easy, but it's not simple. Every word is a world." (From Dr. Jan Love, Day1 web site)
Well the Gospel story is full of change. That's kind of the theme. People are being changed by their encounter with Jesus. They're healed, they're forgiven, they give away all their possessions, they eat with tax collectors and sinners, the low are brought up to sit in places of honor. And even Jesus is changed by the resolve of a woman who will not go unheard.
It's the end of this story that is joyful...joyful for the woman, of course, but joyful for Jesus too, and all of us looking on.
What if our differences can actually be a source of joy?
Video to illustrate....
http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/?fbid=BP-Zio
See Dancing 2008.
Let us pray,
God of peace, teach us your ways, that we may enjoy the fullness of life, and the fullness of fellowship you intend. And learning, and practicing and growing, draw us forward until our practice becomes habit and our effort effortless, and we know the blessing of being peacemakers. Amen.
Children's time: Dr. Seuss' Sneetches