15PentecostBProper18, Sullivan Park Care Center, September 9, 2012, by Annette Fricke

            This past week, I was saddened by the news of the death of an actor I had enjoyed seeing in his role in the movie titled, “The Green Mile.”  The actor was not the lead actor in this movie, but played a very important role in the movie as one that made a big impact as a healer.  The actor was Michael Clarke Duncan.  In this movie, Tom Hanks is a supervisor for a state penitentiary in the state of Louisiana in a place that houses only males on death row.  This is not to be confused with the more recent movie, “Dead Man Walking” with Sr. Prejean, the nun who is adamantly against the death penalty.  The theology portrayed is not against the death penalty, but rather it is seen as justice in which the crimes of murder committed are paid for by the taking of the perpetrator’s life.  It is the simple theology we find espoused in the Old Testament and which Jesus refutes in the gospel according to Matthew.  It is this: an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.  In this case, it is a life for a life or lives.  The role that Tom Hanks plays as Mr. Edgecomb is complicated.  He is the leader and inspiration not only of his staff at the prison, but even his own boss looks to him for spiritual support.  He takes risks that he shouldn’t take in such a situation in order to be more human to the inmates and he is especially friendly with and attracted to one inmate in particular.  The inmate’s name is John Coffey and as John Coffey himself admits, he doesn’t know much of anything but does know that his name is the name of the drink, but is spelled differently.  He is uneducated and he is black in a very prejudiced part of the country in a very prejudiced time in the history of this country.  Mr. Edgecomb is a saint.  He is in relationship with everybody, but even he has his limitations and his nemesis. He suspects that John Coffey, gentle as he is, cannot have possibly committed the crime of which he is accused.  He even goes to the defense lawyer for John Coffey, who sadly, believes otherwise.  Above everything else, Mr. Edgecomb is a seeker of justice.  He goes out on a limb throughout the three hour movie seeking justice for himself, but mostly for those with whom he works and their families.  And that justice is linked to the very powerful healing that lies at the heart and emotions of John Coffey.  You see, John has the power of healing.  In the movie, he brings a mouse back to life and heals Mr. Edgecomb’s bladder infection.  But someone else could use that healing and he convinces his staff to go with his idea.  They take John Coffey outside the prison to Mr. Edgecomb’s bosses’ house in the middle of the night.  Mr. Edgecomb is on a mission and he will not be deterred.  John Coffey is on the same mission and seems to know that he has been summoned to help a lady.  He gets out the truck, past the boss who has a gun pointed at him, up to the upstairs bedroom and heals.  He heals the wife of the boss who has been diagnosed with a tumor the size of a lemon in her brain.  It is inoperable and there is nothing the doctors can do.  But John Coffey succeeds in taking away the tumor and the wife comes back to life, erasing all the memory of the x-ray and the findings.  Not only is she grateful, but expresses that she had a dream where the two of them met. But before John Coffey dies in the electric chair, he completes one more task.  He gives a part of his gift to Mr. Edgecomb.

            You might dismiss this as not being real since it is just a movie that is based on a book.  But think of it this way: if we truly believe that the Bible points us to God, our lives and the way we live them are based on what we see in the Bible.  In the gospel lesson for today, if we look at it really close, we will see that Jesus is really also quite prejudiced.  He actually called the Syro-Phoenician woman a dog.  That is a derogatory name, much the same as a white person being called a Spick by a Mexican or a white person calling a black person a nigger or calling people who live in trailers trailer trash. When we really see this for what it is, we are quite shocked.  Who is this Jesus who puts down others?  In that society, she was unclean.  She was a Gentile.  Her daughter was also unclean. Perhaps, as has been suggested, Jesus also had his moments of spiritual growth.  Perhaps some of his would be followers stretched him spiritually to be more inclusive with his teaching and healing ministries.  And just perhaps, that is the main message of both the “Green Mile” movie as well as this text from the Gospel of Mark.  Are we, in fact, open to getting outside of ourselves and our own conceptualizations of the world to see things differently?  The Jewish people have their set of problems, even today; but so do the Gentiles, the rest of us.  Poor people have problems, but so do the rich.  But the biggest problem we have is when we shut ourselves off from people that we don’t understand, whose cultures are different from ours.  It is difficult and challenging to work with people who have a heavy accent because we don’t know if they understand English and sometimes we find it difficult to understand their English.  Language, cultures, and subcultures are all potential barriers to relationships but it is in relationships that healing takes place.  Jesus calls the woman, who was desperate for a miracle for her child, a dog, a dehumanizing ethnic slur common at the time. No matter what sort of literary tap dance we might create to avoid this uncomfortable truth, eventually, we have to face this stark truth. Jesus uttered a racial slur. When confronted with the Gentile pagan in this story, he explains that his message and ministry are for Israelites only, a comment of ethnic exclusion and prejudice that calls to mind a similar refrain – whites only – that reverberated throughout the South not too long ago. In the South; just like in the movie, “The Green Mile.”  I would be lying to you if I told you that I no longer see that kind of prejudice today.  One of the women I took care of for almost two years, with every new nursing assistant, would ask, “What color is your skin?”  She didn’t want to sound prejudiced, so she never asked, “Are you black?” although we all knew that’s what she meant.  And we also knew she didn’t want a black person working with her. Similarly, there’s the comment, “I don’t want her sitting at my table.”  After which I explain that there is no assigned seating.  But I am a realist and I realize that there are certain some ones who will probably always raise specific negative feelings in us.  However, I think we can all work on trying to live as best we can with those around us and we can do our best to try to get to know people that we even consider to be particularly vile. How we respond, when confronted with the narratives of the oppressed, reveal who we truly are. Do we continue to ignore or deny these realities of oppression? Mock them? Continue to brush them aside as dogs? Or do we, like Jesus, do the miraculous and listen to them, be changed by the power of the truth they are speaking? We are not so different.  We are people who like to be identified with certain groups and exclusiveness.  We like to be comfortable and like to belong to groups that are consisting of people who are just like us.  It’s just not the same when we are with people who have different values.  One resident complained to me one night when “other people” sat at his table because they didn’t talk.  He was frustrated and angry because he was looking forward to having a conversation and it just didn’t happen.  It was not something to which he was accustomed.  It made him feel insecure.

            Going outside our comfort zone is sometimes what makes a difference in people who feel isolated and not a part of the group norm.  Initiating conversation with someone we normally don’t associate with or trying to see things from another perspective, risking being rejected by those we reach out to and those who are our friends.  That’s what sharing the gospel is all about.  We are called to be healers to those outside our group, not because they are outside, but because we are all God’s children, all heirs of God’s eternal kingdom.  It is something we can all celebrate together. All need God’s healing touch through us.