Year B, Pentecost 16 Mark 7:24-37
As most of you know, the readings we have on
Sundays rotate on a three year cycle. Every three years at about this time, we
get this Gospel reading. There is another version of this story in The Gospel
of Matthew, which means this story of the mother seeking healing for her
daughter has popped up 12 times during
my ordained ministry. There have
been one or two times when I have preached a different text because I was weary
of tackling this story, and then someone always asks me why I didn’t preach
about Jesus calling a desperate mother a dog. I have realized if this text is read,
it has to be preached upon because it is such an abrasive text.
I
would like to tell you that in my many years of preaching this, I have been
able to hone my message and come up with the perfect take on this complicated
text. But I think it’s actually gotten harder.
Over the years I have read commentaries that provide an explanation that
made just enough sense. One was that
Jesus was testing this woman. He wanted to see her fiery response and she
passed that test with flying colors. The
other popular take is that this is a beautiful example of Jesus learning from a
human. It displays his humility and vulnerability. I still like that
explanation…but none of the explanations I have read adequately explain why
Jesus insulted someone by using a slur.
We learn early on that Jesus was in Tyre,
which was Gentile territory. Jesus was a
Jew and just the fact that he was there was unusual. Yet we have come to expect that from Jesus—
have we not? We stress (especially in
the Episcopal Church) that Jesus was someone who broke down the barriers that
divided people. He loved everyone and
showed no partiality.
If that is true, then why would he say, “Let
the children be fed first, for it’s not fair to take the children’s food and
throw it to the dogs.” The children represented the Jewish people. Up until
now, Jesus had spent most of his time with other Jews. He was a devout Jew, as were his chosen
disciples. The Gentiles were the dogs.
That’s what many Jews called them. Jesus was simply repeating what he heard so
many other say.
He wasn’t saying that the Gentiles were
completely undeserving. He was saying
that the Jews were the priority. That’s
not so bad, right? Well I guess it’s not so bad if you are a Gentile who is
healthy and not asking for healing for your possessed daughter. But this woman was desperate. She had already broken some serious rules
when she went into a stranger’s house and addressed a man who she didn’t know. Forget the Gentile/Jew divide for a
minute. Women were not meant to speak to
men who were not related to them, especially if they were alone. She was taking a huge risk in approaching
Jesus when he was alone in a house. So yes, being told in that moment that her
sick daughter was not a priority because she was not the right ethnicity was
more than just an insult or a slap in the face.
It was cruel.
I don’t know the mind of Jesus and I am not
going to try to explain that insult away.
Instead, let’s try to put it to the side for a moment and focus on what
comes next. This woman, who was already
in an incredibly perilous position, argued with a rabbi and a miracle
worker. She used an interesting
technique. She didn’t tell him that it wasn’t
fair and that he was biased. She didn’t try to prove that she or her daughter
were worthy of his power. She didn’t beg
him for compassion or mercy, which is the route I would have taken.
No, she pointed out that his power was so
abundant, that even a small morsel would be enough for her and her daughter.
She reminded him that that there was more than enough of his love and mercy to
share. Remember what happened in the
previous chapter—Jesus fed a crowd of 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish and there
were leftovers…12 baskets of leftovers.
When it comes to Jesus’ love—there is always more than enough. What is
amazing is that this woman knew that.
She knew that better than most of us.
Jesus was planning to share his message and
love with the Gentiles. That is why he was in Gentile territory. In going to Tyre, he was off the beaten path.
There was no good reason to be there, unless he was planning to expand his
mission. Only a few verses earlier he
had told the Pharisees that there was no food that was clean or unclean, which
was a huge point of contention between the Jews and Gentiles. He had already begun laying the ground
work. What she did was accelerated his
ministry to the Gentiles. He told her “not yet” and she responded, “we need you
now.” Some things can’t wait.[1]
The Gospel of Matthew tells a similar story,
except in Matthew the woman is commended for her faith and then told her that her
daughter was healed. In the Gospel of
Mark, Jesus says, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” In Mark, she is commended for her grit and
her determination, but also her insight into who he was. She saw what even his disciples could not
always see, that his power and his love were limitless. It did not have to be focused on a certain
group, it could be shared with the world.
I believe that is an important message for us
today as well. We live with such a scarcity mindset, not just when we talk
about money and resources, but when we talk about who God’s message can
reach. I do it as well. I think, well
that person or group would not possibly be responsive to the Gospel message. I
tell myself, “It’s not that I don’t want to share with those people, it’s that
they would not be responsive. It would be a waste.”
When we put a limit on who we think our faith
can reach, we impose that restraint on God. We limit the reach of God, when that
reach should be and can be limitless.
It’s time that we stop restraining the reach of God. It’s time for us to stop worrying about how
others will judge us and instead focus on how we can share the abundance of
what God has given us. Because there is always enough. God doesn’t limit us. We
limit God. It’s time to stop with the
limits and open ourselves and others to the relentless and boundless love and
mercy of God.
[1] A
lot of these ideas came from Dr. Matt Skinner from a working preacher
podcast. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQqStpruhw