August 14, 2005

Mindekirken, August 14, 2005

Pastor Jens Arne Dale

Matt 15.21-28

This week TV and newspapers tell the story of Cindy Sheehan of Vacaville, CA, who is camping on the roadside outside of president Bush’s ranch in Texas. Her son, Army Specialist Casey Meehan, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004. The mother vows to remain at her makeshift campsite until she gets to meet with the president. She will ask the president to explain the reasons for the US to occupy Iraq. It’s an understatement that in her view the war in Iraq is meaningless.

The president does not have any plans to meet with her. Or more correctly, meet with her again; she and some other relatives to fallen soldiers met with the president last year. This time it’s more an anti war demonstration from her side. But regardless of the controversial political message, this is a desperate, grieving mother who feels the loss of her son meaningless. She cries for an answer, but doesn’t feel she gets it.

Cindy Sheehan came to my mind when I read today’s text. We meet a mother who was desperate because her daughter was seriously tormented. She had fallen victim to evil forces. The mother turns to Jesus. She cried to him, wouldn’t stop until unless he answered. But Jesus didn’t seem to bother.

Many of us are parents, and we know quite a bit of how vulnerable we are when it comes to our children. To lose a child is one of the most painful things a human can experience. For some, the dark shadow of sorrow follows one all the way through life. When our kids get ill, we’ll do whatever we can so that they may get well again. I’m not sure to what we may compare the tormented girl in the text. She may have had a handicap, or more likely a serious mental illness. It was a situation where she was forced by powers out of her control.

It doesn’t matter what she suffered from. But we may relate to the desperate mother. We don’t know what kind of help she had sought before, but now her life could be described in one word: prayer. She prayed to Jesus for help. She cried out to him, begged for help. She knelt before him, fought him. Finally she defeated Jesus and got what she asked for. The girl got well.

For us who have read the stories about Jesus’ generosity when he encountered the sick and possessed, Jesus’ lack of interest to help this woman seems strange. Even the disciples got embarrased and said to Jesus: Take care of her. The sentence may also be translated: Send her away. What did Jesus answer? I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I don’t think we can read this as racism. But through out the Bible we find the concept of selection.

Abraham was chosen to become father of a great people. In the old covenant Israel was the people of God. When Jesus came, his mission was at first limited to this people. Paul states that the gospel is for Jews first. But it doesn’t stop there. All Gentiles would receive Abraham’s blessing through Christ.

The gospel is God’s power for salvation for Jews first, and also to the Greek. Greek here means all non Jews. This is about a new people of God, Gentiles will no longer be kept outside, but become God’s family. We are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world., Paul says in Ephes 1.3. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, Ephes 2.19.

Some from our congregation have been fortunate to have audiences at the royal palace in Oslo. It’s a matter of solemnity to talk with the king. One behaves with dignity and respect. Admission to the king is a privilege. But I doubt that the same rules of etiquette apply to the internal life of the royal family.

I can’t envision the crown prince at the breakfast table saying: Would your royal highness be so kind to send me the butter. The children in the royal family don’t need to apply for audiences to speak with the king. They have admission because they are children of course. Because it’s a family relationship, they have another kind of closeness and confidence.

In Judaism the respect for God was so high that they couldn’t pronounce the name of God, but had to use another word, for instance my Lord. Jesus broke radically with that. He taught us to pray with the words Our Father. By that he showed us that our relationship to God need not be distant.

It’s not necessary to use special words or serious forms when we address God. He is our heavenly Father. We have admission because we are children and may be confidential with him. By baptism and faith we have become children of God. Paul says we have received the spirit of adoption who makes us cry: Abba! Father! Rom 8. 15. It means papa. The language reminds us of children crawling onto their father’s lap.

Jesus underlined for his disciples that they didn’t need to heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, in order for their prayers to be heard. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him, Matt 6.8. When God knows what we need and still wants us to pray, it’s because he longs to have us coming to him, have fellowship with him.

Prayer is a matter of trust and faith. When Jesus taught them about prayer, he gave them the prayer that covers everything, the glory of God and the benefit of man. Our Father is in itself a school of prayer. We may also say that the church teaches us to pray. The liturgy of the service is a school of prayer; there are all kinds of prayers: confession of sins, kyrie which is a cry of distress, gloria which is praise, prayer of the day which is a meditation on a biblical theme, prayer for land and people, thanks, not to mention all the wonderful communion prayers.

For one generation the ELCA has used the liturgies of the LBW. This week the ELCA Worldwide Assembly in Florida will approve a new hymnal with new liturgies. Hardly ever before has a new liturgy been discussed more thoroughly. That’s important because the liturgy is a corner stone in our faith and our theology.

Every generation has to pray in the way it finds appropriate. In 1905 the church prayer in Norway was changed because the Union was dissolved and we got our own royal house. That was a simple adjustment. Our prayers today mirror the issues of our time. For instance there may be other sins we should confess, like environmental sins. Often the liturgy would mirror that we learn from other churches, the liturgy might display that we emphasize new sides of our Christian faith. That may be an enrichment for us who know only in part, as Paul says. But when the liturgy is changed, it’s also time to be on the watch so we don’t deceive our tradition and theology. That’s why the deliberations on the new hymnal are so important.

The mother who prayed in such a dramatic way in today’s text had no book of liturgy. She teaches us that prayer can be aggressive and enduring. Pray without ceasing, Paul says in 1 Tess 5.17. When Jesus first rejected her and then heard her prayer, it gives us a foretaste of the free right to pray that would be given to the Gentiles by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

We have full and free admission to our heavenly father. We may come to him with confidence and pray about whatever is on our heart. Sometimes answers to our prayers are more in line with what God sees we need than what we want ourselves. Some of our prayers will not be fulfilled before we come to heaven. Therefore we pray with anticipation: Let you kingdom come and your will be done. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716