Listen to Readings and Sermon Listen… didn’t God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kindom promised to those who love God?… You’re acting rightly, however, if you fulfill the venerable law of the scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Audio readings [...]
Listen to Readings and Sermon
Listen… didn’t God choose those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kindom promised to those who love God?… You’re acting rightly, however, if you fulfill the venerable law of the scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Audio readings and sermon (http://sunshinecathedral.org/sermons/audio/20090906_6.mp3)
Listen to Readings and Sermon View Readings and Sermon The Good News Written Isaiah 35.4-7a (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality) 4Say to all those of faint heart, “Take courage! Do not be afraid! Look, [the Eternal] is coming, vindication is coming… God is coming to save to you!” 5Then the eyes of the blind [...]
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The Good News Written
Isaiah 35.4-7a (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
4Say to all those of faint heart, “Take courage! Do not be afraid! Look, [the Eternal] is coming, vindication is coming… God is coming to save to you!” 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unsealed. 6Then those who cannot walk will leap like deer and the tongues of those who cannot speak will sing for joy. Waters will break forth in the wilderness, and there will be streams in the desert. 7The scorched earth will become a lake; the parched land, springs of water.
Mark 7.32-35 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
32Some people brought [to Jesus] an individual who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and begged Jesus to lay hands on that person. 33Jesus took the afflicted one aside, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the deaf ears and, spitting, touched the mute tongue with his saliva. 34Then Jesus looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh, said… “Be opened!” 35At once the deaf ears were opened and the impediment cured; the one who had been healed began to speak plainly.
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 6, 2009.
Mark chapter 7 is actually divided into three sections. In the first section, those who are concerned with protecting the fundamentals of their religion complain to Jesus that his disciples aren’t keeping all the rules. In fact, they are ignoring biblical mandates and Jesus isn’t all that worked up about it.
Then, in the second section, a woman from Phoenicia approaches Jesus asking for help for her daughter who is either physically or mentally ill. In any case, the exact cause of the illness is not known, so it is attributed to malevolent forces. She says, “My daughter has a demon.” Now, Phoenicia is part of the Canaanite culture, and in the book of Deuteronomy, Canaanites are labeled as enemies who are to be utterly destroyed. So, with this bit of biblically justified ethnic prejudice in mind, Jesus basically calls the woman and her people dogs and suggests he doesn’t really have a lot of time for dogs. But the woman challenges him and says, “If I were a dog, you’d treat me better than this.” And Jesus repents, that is, he has a change of heart, and says, “The demon has left your daughter.”
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