Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Readings – Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James 2: 1-17; Mark 7: 24-37
Last Sunday we learned of Jesus breaking down barriers between the multistep ritual of hand washing before eating and the everyday necessity of common life. Jesus spoke about how it was not what enters the month but how we engage our sisters and brothers. Continuing in the Gospel according to St. Mark, this morning we learn of one of the most radical encounters of Jesus’ mission, the encounter of the Syrophoenician woman of Tyre.
Jesus needed a break; he traveled to Tyre, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This was the ancient port city of the Phoenicians, the first seafarers to circumnavigate the Mediterranean; the first to explore the British Isles, and perhaps the first to sail around the continent of Africa. It seemed at the time like a good place for Jesus to blend in, hide, and retreat, among the locals.
Yet, Jesus was discovered by an unnamed woman of Tyre. The encounter was remarkable. She broke all kinds of barriers, motivated by her love for her ill daughter.
She was a woman addressing directly a man she had never met
which was not culturally acceptable throughout the eastern
Mediterranean.
She was not a Jew; we don’t know of her faith background, if any.
She bowed to Jesus and begged for her daughter’s health
who was not even present.
She was audacious, out of her love for her daughter.
And the response of Jesus was also audacious.
He engaged her. It would have been much more appropriate for him to
sweep her aside, pass her by, and ignore her.
He engaged her directly— “Let the children be fed first, for it is
not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”.
Jesus was referring to the children of Israel, they were to be fed. It was to the people of Israel that he was sent. But then he added the word “first”, opening the door to the possibility of a second feeding. Remember that there were two stories of the feeding of the 5,000, one of the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee, and one on the Gentile side. The Jews routinely referred to the Gentiles, like the Syrophoenician woman, as “dogs”. Scholars try to soften the language by hoping the Jesus smiled when engaging her in this conversation, inviting her to continue to engage rather than pushing her away with his words And respond she did. Please note that without spoons or forks it was the custom of the well to do to eat with their fingers, and then during the meal, to cleanse their hands as they ate with portions of bread that were thrown under the table for the dogs. The woman of Tyre’s audacious retort was “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”. To receive the discarded bread was well worth the effort according to her if her daughter would be healed. The left-over scraps from the table (discarded by the Jews), would be enough for her daughter (a Gentile dog).
The audacious foreign woman broke through the barriers of gender, religion and ethnic origin out our love for her daughter.
The audacious Jesus broke through the barriers of gender, religion and ethnic origin to share his love with her and with her ill daughter.
There still remain many barriers to this day.
Male, female
straight, gay
Muslim, Jew, Christian, Agnostic
citizen, immigrant
wealthy, middle-class, struggling
Yet, audacious love can push through.
Proverbs reminds us that the Lord is God of all, the maker of us all.
St. James reminds us that “Mercy triumphs over judgement”.
One last comment – this encounter reminds us of the importance of dialogue, of conversation, to engaging each other. We never know when we encounter another how life transforming it may be. We, too, need to be audaciously open to encounters with strangers we may never have the opportunity to meet again. In engaging them we may encounter the love of God. Friends, be alert. God is about us always. Audaciously step through those barriers. Engage. God is about.
Amen
