WORD, REVIEW, SERMONS, & BULLETINS

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 8TH, 2024

16TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

INTRODUCTION

James tells us to stop showing favoritism in the assembly, treating the rich visitor
     with more honor than the poor one. Jesus himself seems to show partiality in his
     first response to the Syrophoenician woman in today’s gospel. Was he testing her
     faith in saying Gentiles don’t deserve the goods meant for God’s children? Or
     was he speaking out of his human worldview, but transcended those limits when
     she took him by surprise with her reply? Either way, the story tells us that God
     shows no partiality. Everyone who brings a need to Jesus is received with equal
     honor as a child and heir.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Gracious God, throughout the ages you transform sickness into health and death
into life. Open us to the power of your presence, and make us a people ready to proclaim

your promises to the whole world, through Jesus Christ, our healer and Lord. Amen.

FIRST READING

ISAIAH 35:4-7a
These verses are a word of hope to the exiles in Babylon. Isaiah 34 portrays
     God’s vengeance on Edom, Israel’s age-old enemy, which makes the path from
     Babylon to Zion safe for the exiles’ return. The desert itself will flow with water to
     give drink to the returning exiles.

4Say 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.”

5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6then 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;
7athe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water.

PSALM

PSALM 146
(Response) I will praise the Lord as long as I live. (Ps. 146:2)

1Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3Put not your trust in rulers,
in mortals in whom there is no help.
4When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.
(Response) I will praise the Lord as long as I live. (Ps. 146:2)

5Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help,
whose hope is in the Lord their God;
6who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps promises forever;
7who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger.
The Lord sets the captive free.
8The Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
(Response) I will praise the Lord as long as I live. (Ps. 146:2)

9The Lord cares for the stranger;
the Lord sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
10The Lord shall reign forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!
(Response) I will praise the Lord as long as I live. (Ps. 146:2)

SECOND READING

JAMES 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17
Faithful Christians do not show partiality to the rich and powerful of the world,
     especially at the expense of the poor and weak. Likewise, faith does not pay
     mere lip service to God’s will. Instead, a living Christian faith expresses itself in
     acts of compassion and mercy for those in need.

1My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our
     glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes
     comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
     3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat
     here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my
     feet,” 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges
     with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God
     chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that
     he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it
     not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not
     they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

     8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall
     love your neighbor as yourself.” 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and
     are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law
     but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. [11For the one who
     said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if
     you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of
     the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of
     liberty. 13For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no
     mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.]

     14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not
     have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily
     food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,”
     and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith
     by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Alleluia. (Phil. 4:4)

GOSPEL READING
MARK 7:24-37

In Mark’s gospel, encounters with women usually signify turning points in Jesus’
     ministry. Here, a conversation with a Syrophoenician woman marks the beginning
     of his mission to the Gentiles.

24[Jesus] 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,25but
     a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about
     him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a
     Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her
     daughter. 27He 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.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even
     the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For
     saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went
     home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

     31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards
     the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf
     man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand
     on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers
     into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven,
     he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately
     his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then
     Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more
     zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying,
     “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

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