Crumbs in the Realm of God

First Congregational Church of Evanston, IL; September 10, 2006, 14^thSunday after Pentecost

Mark 7:24-37 – Rev. Dr James E. Roghair

A Mother’s Predicament

“A frazzled young mother locked her sick toddler in the car while she ran into the pharmacy to pick up an emergency prescription. You can guess what happened: She left the keys in the ignition. It was late at night, she didn’t have a cell phone, and the pharmacy had locked its doors and pulled down its metal shutters by the time she realized what she’d done. She could see her daughter through the windows, and could hear the a

sound of her crying. It drove her nearly frantic, and she tearfully prayed for help.

“A few moments later, a young man walked past and turned to look at her in curiosity. ‘Can you help me?’ she begged him desperately. ‘I’ve locked my keys in the car and my daughter is in there!’ He nodded, and looked around the empty parking lot until he found an old coat hanger that he straightened.

“She had never seen anything like it – it was simply amazing how easily he got into her car. A quick look at the door and window, a couple of twists of the coat hanger and bam! Just like that the door was open.

“When she saw the door open she threw her arms around him. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘the Lord sent you! You’re such a good boy. You must be a Christian!’

“He stepped back and said, ‘No ma’am, I’m not a Christian, and I’m not a good boy. I just got out of prison yesterday.’

“She jumped at him and she hugged him again – fiercely. ‘Bless the Lord!’ she cried. ‘God sent me a professional!’ (Quoted from Homiletics, Sept. 2006)”

Desperate Woman in the Biblical Story

Can you identify with that mother, and her joy at the answered prayer? Perhaps we can. also, identify with the Gentile woman in the story from Mark. She, too, was absolutely desperate for her daughter. What would become of them? She was Greek-speaking, and living outside the territory of Palestine, but word had reached her that the Jewish Rabbi, who was healing people in Galilee, had come across the border into her country. She would get his help if at all possible.

It wasn’t that hard to recognize that she had three strikes against her. First of all, she was a Gentile. Jews didn’t have that much to do with the Gentiles – if they could help it. Why would this rabbi be any different? Then, she was a woman. And Jewish men certainly didn’t have anything to do with Gentile women. And finally, her daughter was possessed by a demon. There wasn’t much tolerance for the affliction of mental illness in her day. People were more afraid than sympathetic. But the woman was desperate enough to demand the rabbi’s attention – regardless of her three strikes.

Perhaps you remember the movie Exorcist and the torment of the demon possessed girl – how she unleashed evil at all those who loved her and tried to help her? This is the picture of the Syrophoenician daughter. And her mother was desperately trying to get help wherever she could.

Thus, as a desperate outsider, the Syrophonecian woman approached Jesus much as the mother approached the priest in the movie, or as the mother approached the ex-con when she locked her kid in the car. She absolutely needed help. She recognized Jesus as the source of that help! Nothing – not ridicule, nor social conventions, nor ethic identifications, nor religious differences– would deter from her quest. She was a mother on a special mission!

Jesus on Vacation

But think about the incident from Jesus’s point of view. He had surely gone across the border from Galilee to the coastal resort city of Tyre. Perhaps he knew of a nice, Jewish family, there – with a pleasant house – within an easy stroll of the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea. Surely we must assume that it was a Jewish home where Jesus was vacationing in this unquestionably non-Jewish area. Jesus and his disciples were trying to get a little rest from the crowds. And this family was kind enough to offer him the respite.

But whatever Jesus’ intention, it did not take long to "blow his cover." Characteristically, the gospel of Mark tells us that "immediately" the mother of this demon-possessed girl came asking for his assistance. But she was Greek – she spoke the Greek language. Ethnically she was a Syrophoenician.

Just as the mother in the Exorcist approached the priest for help, this mother approached Jesus. Like the priest in the movie, Jesus at first refused the mother's pleas for help. The priest had his hands full with a whole parish full of people with real problem. Jesus refused, too. Perhaps, this picture of Jesus refusing to help is totally alien to our conception of Jesus, which is filtered through the lense of our therapeutic culture. The image of Jesus as the great healer is shattered in this text.

Not my Job and other Excuses

But, Jesus seems to hide behind the excuse that this isn’t his job to be taking care of non-Jewish children. He had been sent to the "lost sheep" of the "children" of Israel. "Let the children eat first," Jesus said. He might have added that in due time, his disciples would take his ministry to the Gentiles, but this young girl was simply the victim of poor timing. It was as if Jesus had told her, "I'm busy now, but come back and see my apprentices in a few years and they will be able to help you." Or maybe it was just, "Look, I'm on vacation now at the home of these great Jewish people. I'll only be at the beach a few days. Catch me when I'm leaving town."

Such brush-offs would have been bad enough if Jesus had only left it there, but it seems to get worse. "Let the children be fed first,” he said, “ for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Every time we hear these words, our minds do a double take. Did Jesus really call that woman and her demon-tormented daughter "dogs"? And every time we re-read it, it comes back just the same: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

We can try to sugarcoat it, but the fact is that in that culture not even pet dogs were anything like our cherished puppies. It was at best an endearing insult, though she more likely heard the diminutive word he used, “doggie,” as a patronizing insult. Junkyard dog or house pet, the fact is that "dog" was the most offensive epithet that Jews hurled at non-Jews.

Jesus’ rebuke was surely as harsh as it sounds. Is saying "darky" less offensive than "nigger"? It all comes out about the same. It is hard for us to squirm out of the discomfort. Some have suggested that Jesus spoke these words tongue in cheek – with a clear "wink and a nod," with irony – and that with the same good-natured ribbing, she bought into the joke – the woman needled Jesus right back. "Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs," she said.

Laughs all around, and the joy of a good joke ends in the joy of the daughter's deliverance. It is a clever solution to our problem, but, alas, only an illusory one. Nothing in the scripture hints that anyone is laughing.

Testing her Faith?

Or, we could try this: Perhaps Jesus was "just testing her faith," trying to see if she really believed he could heal her daughter. But the story says that Jesus’ objection was the limits of his mission, not the limits of her faith. Uncomfortable and inescapable as it is, Jesus must have been participating in the prejudice and bigotry of his culture. She seeks his help for her tormented daughter, and he puts her "in her place."

But she cannot afford to take offense. Her daughter will not be forced to pay the price for her pride. So she "eats humble pie," accepts Jesus' bigoted description of her as a "dog" and asks only for the crumbs that her daughter must have to be saved from her afflictioin. (this section largely follows a section in Emphasis archives.). She is a desperate woman, not a mad woman. And so, her response to Jesus utilizes honesty, humility and faith that only a desperate mother can muster on behalf of a needy child (Pulpit Resource).

We might wonder if, though, if this mother knew something about the rabbinic story in which the Gentiles are spoken of as dogs at the eschatological banquet. They would be allowed to eat, but not as well as the children of the household. If we assume she knew something of this tradition, we might say that the woman outwitted Jesus. Although Jesus insulted her, she turned it arouind and placed herself at God’s great banquet table. Perhaps that is an appropriate interpretation (Homeletics, Sept. 2006).

Jesus’ Teacher

But whatever the interpretation, it seems clear that this woman became Jesus’ teacher. She helped Jesus see that his ministry would be beyond Israel. Perhaps the writer of Mark sees it this way, for the next healing miracle in Mark takes place in the Gentile area, also, but without any word of objection from Jesus. Why else would this story which seems to us to put Jesus in a bad light, be preserved as it is, unless it is really significant?

Of course, there may have been other reasons why the story was preserved as it is – like the friction between Jewish Christians and Greek speaking Christians of this area in the first century. This story would have helped oppressed Jewish Christians cope with problems with Gentile Christians.

Jesus Reached Beyond

But I guess the most important thing for us is what we take from this story for ourselves and our lives. Regardless of Jesus’ initial response, this is a story about Jesus reaching beyond his racial and ethnic boundaries to care for a needy person. Geographically it was in the area of Tyre. But Jesus healed there just as he was always doing among the Jews. Jesus is in his more characteristic pose caring for a child – one of the least of these.

For in the Bible, God takes the sides of the poor and needy. Again and again, God is on the side of the poor. Someone said it this way: “I have two sons, one older, larger, and stronger than the other. If I look out the window and see this older boy beating up on his little brother, I dash outside immediately and ... I take sides! It's not because I love the little one more. It's not even because I think the younger boy is ‘right’ and the older one ‘wrong’ ... I don't take time to find out ... I intervene. I take sides immediately, because in our house, big kids aren't allowed to beat up on little ones. Ever, for any reason. I side with the little kid because he's little. Period ( Emphasis, archives).” And this is the view we might bring away from the story of Jesus healing the poor Syrophonecian girl. Jesus comes to her aid because she needs it.

For Us – Praying Fervently

On this Rally Day, I hope we might think of the children we serve as all being little ones even like the little Syrophonecian girl whom Jesus healed. I hope we will, also remember the desperate mother as any of the mothers we know – anxious for their children to get what they need for life.

Let me close with a story out of Jewish lore that may remind us of the parent’s fervent prayer for her daughter. It goes like this: There were “...two rabbis who lived about 70 A.D. One, Rabbi Hamina Ben Dosa, went to study the Torah with the second, Rabbi Johanan Ben Zaccai. When Rabbi Ben Zaccai's son fell sick he asked Rabbi Ben Dosa to pray for his recovery.

“The Rabbi laid his head between his knees (the position of earnest prayer) and prayed for mercy for the boy, and the boy lived. Rabbi Ben Zaccai later said to his wife, ‘If I had prayed like that all day, nothing would have happened.’

“‘Is Hamina Ben Dosa greater than you?’ asked his wife. ‘No,’ replied Ben Zaccai, ‘but he prays like a servant before the king, I pray like a prince before the king’(Emphasis, archives).”

The Syrophonecian woman went further even than Hamina Ben Dosa, she came as a little dog. That is not easy to do especially when we are filled with an exaggerated sense of our own virtue

How do we bring our children to Jesus? Amen.