The reading from Isaiah 35 for today begins with these words: “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, do not fear!’” And maybe you’re thinking, “But, I’m not afraid, so this doesn’t apply to me.” But Anathea Portier-Young, professor of Old Testament at Duke University Divinity School, says a more accurate translation of the phrase “those who are of a fearful heart” is nimharê lēb, “ones whose hearts are racing.” Maybe it’s just me because I’m standing up here in the hot seat, but I wonder if a few of us have come to this place with racing hearts. 

Maybe our hearts are racing because it’s a new educational year, and we are excited for new opportunities. In our little corner of the world, we’re beginning Children’s Church and Youth Fellowship, Chancel Choir and Handbell Choir. And, let’s be honest, we’re excited for a potluck and the second-to-none cooking of the people of First Pres. 

In our community and across the country, schools have started back up, and with it the flashy back-to-school gear, new folders, and pencils that haven’t been sharpened all the way down to the nubbins yet. The new year may have our hearts racing as we come up with better strategies for studying or preparing lessons, for our athletic practices and games, or how to make new friends. 

Or maybe our hearts are racing because with the beginning of school, we’ve had our hearts broken once again by a senseless act of violence – a teenager taking the lives of other students and his teachers— and we wonder how much more of this we will have to endure. We wonder if we will ever be able to breathe all the way again. 

Perhaps our racing hearts have nothing to do with this new educational year, and have everything to do with needing some good news. Maybe we’re in the midst of a new diagnosis, or are walking with a friend or family member down a difficult path. Maybe we feel dry and weary inside, and we’ve come to this place with racing and expectant hearts hoping to be filled up to overflowing with the water of life–or at the very least receive a cool drink that can last us until we gather here again next week.

If any of these “racing heart” situations apply to us, we are in good company. The people of Judah have been in exile. They have suffered long and hard, and they’ve suffered for so long, they’ve started to wonder if the suffering will ever end. It is to these hurting people that the prophet Isaiah is told to preach. He is told to preach to a people who, as Michael J. Chan puts it, have “‘weak hands’ (verse 3), ‘feeble knees’ (verse 3), a ‘fearful heart’ (verse 4), obscured vision (verse 5), hindered hearing (verse 5), broken bodies (verse 6), and silent tongues (verse 6).” To these people, Isaiah proclaims, “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then 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” (Isaiah 35:5-6).

They won’t be exiled forever. They won’t suffer forever. They won’t feel separated from God forever. In fact, says Isaiah in a verse just after our reading, that there will be a highway called the Holy Way where only what’s good will be allowed. Along this Holy highway where God’s people walk, there will be singing, shouts of joy, and hearts at peace.

 As I read this passage, I imagined all of those exit signs you see along the interstate. Each of the signs has a town name or a mile marker or a monument along with numbers and letters that let you know if this is the right place for you to exit or not. When you’re traveling on the interstate, you’re moving so quickly that there isn’t a lot of time for hesitation. If you wonder for too long, “Should I exit here?” without deciding to exit, you’ll have missed your chance. At that point you either have to do something else entirely, or you have to drive until you can find a place to turn around.

In both Isaiah 35 and in these two stories of healing from Mark 7, we are presented with the question of who is clean and who is unclean. Isaiah tells us that on the highway called the Holy Way, the unclean will not be allowed to travel. In Mark 7, Jesus encounters the Syrophoenician woman, and suddenly we are faced with this question: If the good news is for God’s people, who exactly are those people? Who are the unclean people who can’t travel on the Holy Way highway? Are the Syrophoenician people–the people who aren’t like us, who are outsiders, who we’ve always thought didn’t belong–invited to receive the good news and grace of Christ? Throughout history, human beings have not always answered these questions well. Some cultures and countries have had caste systems where people are labeled as unclean or untouchable because of the color of their skin or who their parents were. During certain periods of history, women were seen as unable to learn and unable to contribute to the functioning of society. In so many places around the world, and even close to home, we’ve had both formal laws and informal practices designed to keep the people we see as “clean” and those we see as “unclean” away from each other.

We bring all of that human history with us as we read the passage from Isaiah 35 about the Holy Highway, but we must remember that Isaiah is sharing this message to a people who have been exiled for generations because they did not follow God’s laws. Even though they were God’s chosen people, they were also unclean. They were beloved by God, but they had also walked away from God.

Is it possible that what was not allowed on the Holy Way highway were all the unclean things within them? When they saw the exit for the Holy Way, they had the opportunity to choose to leave behind their worship of idols, their rejection of God’s ways, their unclean hearts. But too often, we are tempted to look at this passage as a “only us good people are allowed” kind of passage. We are tempted to use it as a way to judge who is in and who is out, rather than to take it as an invitation to examine ourselves and our hearts. What within each of us should be left behind as we take the exit at Holy Way? What parts of ourselves don’t belong? What parts of us need refining? 

 Before the two stories of healing Mark 7 that we read for this morning, the religious leaders come to Jesus and look down their noses at him. You see, the religious leaders observed all of the ritual customs of washing. They washed their hands a certain way. They washed their dishes a certain way. If they bought something at the marketplace, they brought it home and washed it a certain way. Mind you, this was not done for hygienic reasons, but for religious reasons, as a way to make something unclean, clean again. Jesus’s disciples did not observe all of these rituals, and the leaders thought they could prove that Jesus and his followers were behaving in unclean ways. Jesus responds to them by saying, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

It’s not the outside stuff that makes us unclean, it’s the inside stuff. We need to remember this when we come to the next story in Mark–our text for today. A woman who was all kinds of an outcast approached Jesus. This person was a woman–so, someone who would have been thought to have less learning, a Gentile–so, not a part of the Jewish faith, a Syrophoenician–so not part of Israel, and a parent to a child with an unclean spirit. I think that last one speaks for itself. And Jesus’s response to her was exactly what the religious leadership would have been thinking: “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” I’ve read all kinds of reasons for why Jesus said this: he knew she had faith and so he used this as an example to teach the disciples, Jesus was acting out of his human nature, to name a few. 

To be honest, none of those reasons really satisfy me. The hard truth is that this story is tough. I don’t understand why Jesus responds at first the way he does, but what follows amazes me. The woman is undeterred. Maybe it is because she goes into Mama Bear mode and does what she has to do for her child. Maybe it is because she knows God’s grace is a whole lot bigger than people around her seem to realize. Maybe it is because she was used to being viewed as an unclean outsider, and being called a dog didn’t even phase her. Whatever the reason, she responds with such cleverness and faith when she says, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Even a crumb of grace is enough. I’m not asking for everything. I’m not asking for a full share. I’m just asking for the crumbs, and I know the crumbs are enough. This is the only healing story in the Bible where Jesus doesn’t just heal the person right away when he is asked. It is also the only healing story that I can remember where Jesus heals someone because of what someone said. Jesus responded, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.”

Friends, may this word be a message that penetrates your beating hearts: the exit at Holy Way is for us. It is for the people around us. It is for what is good, what is beautiful, what is precious in God’s sight. And what is good and beautiful and precious may be unexpected to us. I want to leave you with three challenges, and my hope is that these challenges will help all of us take the exit we need so that we can continue on the path that leads to life.

First, what’s unclean isn’t what’s out there. Quite often, it’s what’s in us. The exit for the Holy Way is an opportunity for us to look inside and decide what things we aren’t going to bring with us. As we take the exit, let’s dig deep and choose not to bring our judgments of others, our gossip or bitterness, our self-centeredness or our “my-way-or-the-highway-itis.” This week, let’s take stock of what’s not bearing fruit, and let’s prune it, so that the rest of what’s in us can grow.

Second, God gets to decide who is in and who is out. This is amazing news. We get to take ourselves off the hook. We get to step out of the judgment seat, and we get to love people, because every person is made in God’s image, and God wants every person to find their way to the Holy Way. Our job isn’t to figure out who doesn’t get to make the journey. Our job is to see people as God sees them.

And third, even if you missed the exit, there’s still time to turn around. Maybe you made a harmful snap judgment of someone. It’s not too late to turn around, apologize, and make your way back to Holy Way. Maybe you argued with your kids all the way here this morning. It’s not too late to own up to your mistake and ask for forgiveness. Maybe you weren’t particularly kind to your parents, or your siblings, or to a frustrating person. It’s not too late to turn around and try again. May God help us in this work. To God be the glory!