Description
How do we honour each other? The Scriptures are full of stories of people seeking honour, like the disciples asking Jesus if they could sit beside him when he comes to power, or Solomon seeking and enjoying the honour of being the King of Israel. Usually, this honour comes at the expense of others. People grasp for honour by dishonouring others.
The theme for this week will be how humanity is to serve God through serving each other and the whole creation. We read Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 where the writer reminds us that to serve God is greater than riches, and that honour comes from God alone.
In James 2:1-17 we are reminded to honour everyone, not just those who are rich or can offer power and wealth to us. And we have the famous saying from James ‘Faith without works is dead’.
The stories from Mark 7:24-37 emphasise this focus on those at the edges of society. The Syrophoenician woman requests support from the Jewish Rabbi. At first, he questions her, but then sees her faith and heals her daughter. And then in the Greek Decapolis area Jesus heals a deaf man with problems with his speech, saying ‘Epthatha’. The ‘epthatha’ is what we use when we baptise people – when we touch their ears and their mouth saying ‘May God open your ears to hear God’s voice, and your mouth to proclaim God’s praise’.
