9 September 2012 Mark 7:24-37

9 September 2012 -- Mark 7:24-37    Just Listening

One of my mother’s ongoing exhortations to us when we became over-confident and all-knowing adolescents was “everyone in this world has something of value to say if you have the courage to listen.”  I have been thinking about that a great deal lately as it appears that listening is on its way to extinction in the face of the absolute certainty I hear on a daily basis. The Syrophoenician woman pushed for compassion and mercy in the face of Jesus’ certainty about what was right, he ended up listening, and was changed by what he heard.
How can we remind ourselves that God is love – a love that sacrifices to protect the value and worth of every human being?  How can we stand up for compassion and mercy toward everyone, even those we perceive to be unworthy because of the circumstances of their life or their own demonstrated ability to be merciless?  How can we remember that we have promised to protect the dignity of every human being and make ourselves heard?  How can we learn to temporarily put aside our own certainty in order to value others’ thoughts – even those with whom we disagree?  How can we make room to listen in a way that allows us to be changed by what we hear?