23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 18), Year B

​​The rich and the poor have this in common:
the Lord is the maker of them all.
 
Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of anger will fail.
Those who are generous are blessed,
for they share their bread with the poor.
~Proverbs 22:2, 8-9
 
The headlines this week speak of yet another school shooting (yet again!) and of numbness and a “new normal.” According to the K-12 School Shooting Database there have been 218 shootings in 2024 and a precipitous rise since 2017. How do we respond meaningfully to such frequent human violence, sickness, and profanity? How do we not become unmoored as a society, assuming we are not already?
 
You might argue that Jesus’ own societal realities are unmoored, and perhaps Jesus himself, in his engagement with this woman desperate for her own child’s well-being. His initial response is deeply troubling. But something happens in the exchange. A re-centering, a learning, and with it, renewed vigor and energy for the work he has to do. Is there anything here for us as we wonder what gets us off the couch and engaged in the mending of the world?
 
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head,” said Nelson Mandela. “If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Ephphatha is Jesus’ own original, Aramaic language.
 
Ephphatha, be open.
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings:1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43 † Psalm 84 or Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 † Psalm 34:15-22 † Ephesians 6:10-20 † John 6:56-69
 
About the Art: Michael Cook. Crumbs of Love, from hallowed-art.co.uk [retrieved August 20, 2024]. Original source: http://www.hallowed-art.co.uk/gmedia/12_mysteries_crumbsoflove-jpg/.
 
First shown at the 2009 Melbourne Festival in the Parish Church of St Michael with St Mary, Derbyshire, Twelve Mysteries consists of a series of nine paintings and three drawings depicting nameless, marginal or fleeting characters from the four gospels, with poetic responses by Rosalind O’Melia.

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