Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘labor of love’? Did you know that it is a biblical phrase? From 1Thessalonians 1:3, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” And Hebrews 6:10, “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” A Labor of Love, that which you do because of your heart, not because of a paycheck or a reward. We often call children a labor of love as well as the work of churches. What are your labors of love?
In our gospel lesson, we find Jesus laboring to heal people. First, he negotiates with a woman from Syrophoencia. The woman initially asks for healing as many do when they come to Jesus. And most commonly, we hear Jesus offer healing and teach those gathered. This circumstance seems to be different. Here, Jesus calls the woman a dog. This is not like a cute, snuggly, puppy dog. At this time in the historical context, dogs were not yet widely domesticated and instead, dogs were primarily scavengers. Dogs were not highly thought of as companions, protectors, and pets as they are today. So, this reference was intended as cultural insult. The woman is from a region of Syrophoencia when Israelites never went. Much the way we might find ourselves using words that do not describe the best of people.
Some have suggested that Jesus was testing the faith of the woman, and perhaps he was. But the Jesus that I have come to know through the rich stories of the Gospels seems to have had a bad day and needed the persistence and commitment of someone else to keep him on the straight and narrow. The passage begins with Jesus desiring to be in Tyre, in a house, hoping no one will know his whereabouts. Jesus is not his best self. And the woman calls him on it. And, Jesus repents of the cultural context that initially lead him to respond so poorly to the woman. Jesus does not defend the status quo saying there should be room for those understandings. He repents, offers healing, and moves on.
Have you ever experienced that? Is there someone in your life who knows your stories, your loves, your values so intimately that they call you back to your our love, commitment and values? Sometimes this might be a spouse or a friend. Whoever it is for you, maybe you have that role for someone else. It is a labor of love when we call out our friends to remind them they have wanted to generous people, but have primarily modeled fear and scarcity. It is a labor of love when we remind our siblings that they wanted to stop using those words in conversation. It is a labor of love when we hear someone say I am a Christian and then spout unchristian love and ask them the question of how would Jesus respond to that? It is not easy, but it a labor of love.
It was a labor of love when Jesus moved from the healing of the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter to walking into the region of the Decopolis. It was there when Jesus was not able to rest, but was brought a man who was deaf and had an impediment of speech. Jesus does not turn them away. Instead, he does the physical work of healing. He puts his fingers in ears, spits, and touches the tongue of a man who has been deaf.
Jesus heals not one, but two people in this passage. There is something that the gospel writer wants us to understand about the vocation of following Jesus. The first healing story includes a woman who has been beaten down by the culture around her, speaks up for what she needs, and Jesus responds to her. The second story has no voice for the deaf and mute man. His friends bring him to Jesus. Jesus does the physical work of bringing forth his hearing and his voice. The vocation of following Jesus is physical and emotional; it is unpredictable and absolutely essential.
Any of us with Roman Catholic touches to our religious experience, hear the word vocation and immediately imagine celibacy. Vocation has traditionally meant sisters, brothers, and priests in the Roman Catholic tradition. Even in Mainline Protestant tradition, we have often used the word vocation exclusively for our set-apart clergy. However, in limiting our understanding to clergy, we have missed something. The root of the word, vocation is the Latin word, vocare. Vocare means to be called. There are many roles to which you can be called. Perhaps, you are called to work that cares for you and your family. There are certainly those among us who are called to be teachers and preachers, nurses and scientists, administrators and police officers.
But our jobs are not always vocations. And our jobs are not all that we are. Sometimes our job is merely a way to provide housing, food, clothing, and needs for our families. On the other hand, we all know someone who has bought into the cultural concept that one’s job is their identity and their meaning. We have listened to them go on at family picnics and worried for them as they filled their hours with work during holidays. Sometimes we act as though our jobs are all that we are. How many of us when asked in a social situation, “What do you do?” and respond with the employment that occupies our time.
Yesterday, in the memorial service for Mabel Romanowski, I shared this poem that came from a book that Helen Carlin had given me:
“This be my day –
Some honest work, a bit of play –
To laugh and love, and live and pray
With God beside me all the way –
This be my day”
By Helen Lowrie Marshall
In God, we find the origin of satisfaction and delight with work. God was pleased with God’s labor each day of creation and with the creation of humanity. It is valuable to remember on this Labor Day weekend. Labor Day itself was the result of the result of persons valuing the individual above the product they were producing. This is an idea of God’s way in which we are not merely valuable, because of what we do, but because we are God’s children. Labor Day was established in 1894 after the horrific Pullman strike. President Cleveland signed it into law only 6 days after the strike had ended. In the earliest days, there was even a Labor Sunday as recognition of the spiritual and educational aspects of a movement that recognizes fairness and justice for all.
Labor Day reminds us that we labor together. We cannot achieve it completely independent of others. In fact, it is God’s way that we need each other. Each product, service, and person requires the interaction of a village. You and I determine how it is that we labor and what we will do with our labor. That from which we earn our bread for the table and that which feds our souls. For both, we labor. Those of us who provide security and teach children, manufacture products and fly airplanes, balance budgets and collect taxes, tend fields and prepare foods, each of us labors. Regardless of how else, God invites us into the fields with many others to labor for the gospel.
Laboring for the gospel is being a co-worker with God. If God’s ultimate goal is have the Reign and Kingdom of God known on earth, then our God has invited each of us to be a part of seeing that goal come to fruition as we pray “on earth as it is in heaven.” Laboring for the gospel is a reminder that this vocation is not always comfortable, but it is always vital. Our vocation is love and labor is how we live it out. We labor for the gospel when we decide to take seriously our God is a God of all people and care for all as God’s children. We labor for the gospel when we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, and care for the poor. So as you enjoy a burger on the grill, go shopping, cut the lawn, or however you traditionally enjoy this Labor Day weekend, find a few moments to pause and reflect on how you labor for the Gospel. God invites each of us as co-workers in the vineyard.
This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, Thanks be to God, Amen.
Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 35:4-7a
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
Gospel Lesson: Mark 7:24-37
The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “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.
Jesus Cures a Deaf Man
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
Meditations For Your Week
Sunday, September 6 ~ Saturday, September 12
Sunday: “But a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.” Mark 7:25. Jesus has the power to heal all. Come and lay yourself at his feet.
Monday: “But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Mark 7:28. The woman would not be turned away. She was persistent. Bring your needs before the Lord.
Tuesday: “And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.” Mark 7:35. Where in your life do you need to ask God to open your eyes and release your tongue?
Wednesday: “They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’” Mark 7:37. When we share the miracles of Jesus, they astound everyone! Share what God has done in your life.
Thursday: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.’” Isaiah 35:4. Prayerfully consider to whom you can offer a word of encouragement this day.
Friday: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;” Isaiah 35:5. God’s way is one of healing and wholeness. Pray for God’s kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven.
Saturday: “Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” Isaiah 35:6. Where is God offering you a stream in the midst of the desert of life?