God is going to change your mind.
In fact, the life of faith is a life of constant mind changing, and you are not exempt. It may even happen today, and that is just fine…at least it should be, as long as you do not resist.
I remember back to when I lived in southern Minnesota in the 1980s. In southern Minnesota the topsoil is as black as the potting soil that you buy in the store. That black soil has a slight blue gleam to it…so much so that there is a small city in the area named “Blue Earth.”
In the 1980s a revolution was taking place in farming, and it was all due to a crisis. That beautiful, rich, black topsoil of Southern Minnesota with the blue gleam was disappearing slowly, year after year. You might remember that farmers used to plow their fields after harvest so that they would be ready for planting first thing in the spring. It was a mark of pride for farmers to have pristine, clean looking fields at the end of the year and throughout the winter. And, the few farmers who did not plow in the fall were simply considered lazy…and maybe they were.
But, those beautiful, stubble free fields were losing soil from the harsh winter winds, creating what we called, “snurt.” That is when snow and dirt mix together from the winter winds; “snurt.”
When the snow melted and during the spring rains the streams and rivers in the spring would carry that soil away from the region down to the Mississippi delta. The region quickly went from 12 inches of that great soil to 8 inches.
It was a crisis.
The solution was quite simple though: just wait to plow until the spring. It is so commonplace now that we do not even think twice, but at the time the idea was earth-rattling to those farmers who had farmed the same way for decades.
Some farmers refused to change their ways while others managed to change their minds. Some refused to disrupt the regular rhythm of their farming year and refused to be “lazy.” They did not want those stubbly fields in the winter. Their yields decreased over the years as they lost soil, while those who appeared lazy profited from their neighbors drifting soil.
Change can hurt, but refusal to change can hurt more.
God is no stranger to change. In fact, change is built right into the seasons of the year. Further, change is caused when you move from anger to mercy by granting someone forgiveness.
Change is a part of having faith. You will be changed, and so will I, and that is a good thing.
The goodness of change is so clear that we actually have a story concerning Jesus that deals with the subject of change.
Before we delve into the story, a story that is quite shocking at first glance because Jesus does not act the way we expect him to act, you have to understand one thing that is very important: in the gospel of Mark, Jesus does not know everything.
It is in the gospel of John where we get our more typical picture of Jesus who knows all and knows the mind of God the Father. He knows he will die. He knows who will betray. He knows the effect that his miracles will have on others. He knows he will rise again. In John, Jesus is most certainly God on earth…in the flesh…and he knows everything.
But, in Mark’s description of the Lord, Jesus does not know everything. He is described as an angry sort of fellow who is on a mission, but he does not necessarily know everything about that mission.
This is important to keep in mind as we enter this story and see Jesus seeking rest in the land of the gentiles. He hopes to get away from the Jewish people who know his miracles quite well now, despite his warnings not to tell anyone. He wanders into gentile territory for a little peace and quiet.
His peace does not come though, for his fame has spread into the gentile regions also. A woman, of Syrophoenician origin comes and begging him to cast a demon out of her daughter.
Shockingly, Jesus refuses. He likens the woman to a yappy house dog and states that his mission is not to people who are the likes of her. He was sent to serve the children of Israel.
This rudeness sets us moderns back a little in our tracks, because we know the end of Jesus’ story. We know how he dies in order to save the entire world, Jew and Gentile alike. We know that his mission is to all people, not just a chosen few.
We know the end of Jesus’ story, but his followers do not, and in Mark, neither does Jesus.
Jesus’ followers would not have been shocked by his rebuke of this Syrophoenician woman. She was a gentile. She was from a hated culture. She was a woman. She was a woman who addressed a man without permission. Plus, her daughter had a demon. What kind of woman was she to have a possessed daughter? Good Jews to not associate with people like this woman.
But, God has a way of opening our eyes to something new. Rather than slink away, defeated, the woman stands up for the sake of her child and responds to Jesus’ characterization of her “dogness” and says, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
That, right there, is where God is at work.
That statement right there is where the true vision of God breaks through the clouds and descends onto the Son of Man. That statement right there is where Jesus changes his mind.
It is not a sin to not know everything. It is not a sin to learn something new. It is not a sin to learn that you might need to do things in a new way. It is a sin, however, to need to be right.
Jesus could have responded, “Woman, are you God’s Son? Did you see a dove descend from the heavens upon you? You think you have the right to question me?”
Jesus could have said all of those things, and more. But, he did not.
Jesus does not feel the need to defend himself in order to prove that he is “right.” Instead, Jesus takes this woman’s words as a sign of something new from God and responds, "For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter." The woman went home and found the child lying on the bed; the demon had gone.
It is not a sin to need to change. It is not a sin to learn something new and do things is a different way. It is not a sin to recognize that maybe you were once deaf to something important.
It is no mistake that the following story is the healing of a deaf and mute man. It is no mistake that Jesus allows the man to finally hear and then finally speak, because, sometimes God needs us to finally hear and speak something new.
Sometimes, God needs us to change. It is not a sin to need to change.
It is a sin, however, to demand that you are “right” and thus refuse to change despite all the signals from heaven that say otherwise.
In Mark, Jesus is OK with learning and changing.
He is OK with changing the ways of the past in order to embrace something new that is even fuller of love and acceptance of others than it was in the past.
Jesus is OK with learning the ways of God’s mercy and goodness.
I think that Jesus wanted his disciples to see that. I think that Jesus wants us to see that. I think that Jesus wants us to open our ears, listen to God, and open our minds to the possibility of change.
I think that Jesus wants us to grow more and more into God’s people of love and grace.
I think it is OK to not be right.
“Snurt,” that dirty snow, is ugly anyway. Who needs it? It is OK to change your mind.
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