2024 09 08 Proper 18B Pentecost 16
Today’s readings are a classic example of the saying
that if you take a text out of context what you are left with is a CON. If we read the words of Jesus and the way
that he spoke to the Syrophoenician woman, we could be forgiven for thinking
that God was against those who were not Jews, as we see Jesus respond to a
request from this outsider with the statement, “it is not fair to take the
children's food and throw it to the dogs."
Spoiler alert; Jesus was not being derogatory. There is more going on here and it can get
lost in the translation.
Have you ever
been in the position where you were with a young child and you pretended that
you didn’t know something so that you could prompt them to come up with the
solution themselves? I believe that this
is what Jesus was doing with the Syrophoenician woman, and there are a few
clues to this that we find when we look into the original language.
We’ve all been brought up with a world view. It isn’t something we think about, but
through our beliefs and experiences and the beliefs of those around us, we
develop an assumption about how the world works and this becomes our world
view. Until we come to a point of
contention, we generally assume that those around us hold the same world
view. Our first reading is from proverbs
and this is something that the young Israelites would have been taught from the
time they were tiny. They shared a world
view that God created the world and God especially cares for the poor. They also knew that God chose them as his
precious people. As a nation, they had
been the poor. They had been enslaved
and mistreated and dispossessed from their land. God cared for them and chose them. And from those ancient scriptures they also
knew that God chose them as His precious people so that they would reveal to
the nations, the goodness of God and a way of living that brings abundant life.
Through His people God revealed things such as; that a
good character is more important than riches and that they would be blessed for
sharing with those less fortunate. In
this He also taught them that God is on the side of the poor and afflicted. This is the world view that all the
Israelites were taught, but human nature is naturally inclined to be somewhat
selfish and though these things about sharing and caring were taught, other
ideas sprung. Other ideas such as, “We
are God’s people and we are the only ones He loves”. I’m sure it was never said this way, and
their scriptures refuted it, but it was very common that outsiders were
referred to as the “Wild Dogs”. Not so
much meaning it the way it sounds to us today, but certainly stating that
others were outsiders.
Into this society enters Jesus. We know, from the many stories that we have
about Jesus, that he was no respecter of peoples, but he was renowned for
mixing with the types of people with whom the “Nice” people did not mix. Jesus
did not show partiality – usually.
Jesus was in the region of Tyre and he was in a house,
trying to lay low. Perhaps because he
knew that he had just offended the Pharisees.
The Syrophoenician woman knew what Jews thought of outsiders, however, she
was desperate for healing for her little girl.
It was common among the people of Jesus to refer to
outsiders as “wild dogs”. The Jewish and
Israelite people knew it, and so did the outsiders. I suspect that Jesus’ statement was to test
both the Israelite listeners and the Syrophoenician woman. It was the Israelite world view that they
would receive salvation from God before it came to the nations, but sometimes
they misunderstood that latter part, that they were to be a blessing to the
nations.
It appeared that Jesus did show partiality. And here is where I think Jesus was
deliberately drawing out a response from all.
Those who were following Jesus, knew that he didn’t show partiality and
they knew the scriptures that said that God cares for the poor, yet in their
hearts they harboured an attitude that was common in the area… so common that
this outsider woman didn’t object… she knew what was thought of outsiders – in
fact the outsiders had their own opinions about the Israelites…. Equally as
derogatory.
Our readings cause us to reflect on our own biases and
behaviour. How would it have tuned out
if the Syrophoenician woman had taken offense at Jesus’ statement? And what lessons and blessings might we be
missing by taking offense in our own real-life situations? And in what ways are we failing to be a
blessing by operating within our own biases?
Here before Jesus was a desperate woman, pleading for
her little daughter. The actual words
that ANY Israelite would have said would have been, “It isn’t right to take the
children’s food and give it to the dogs”.
But this is not actually what Jesus said. That which is lost in translation, is that
Jesus used a different word for dog… a word that implied a pet or pup. In my mind, the gathering before Jesus is in
a house, and I presume they were sitting around the table. I presume they were eating something, and I
presume that there were pet dogs and I presume that there were children. I presume those dogs were hovering under the
table, because they knew, that was where they would be given the best food.
Children don’t think of dogs as rubbish
creatures. Children adore and sometimes prefer
dogs to people. Those crumbs can be ones
dropped by small children, or they can be choice morsels that the children
offer the dogs. Either way, I imagine
that this is the scene taking place when Jesus utters his statement and deliberately
infers beloved pets. This breaks through
the hardness of the listeners, showing them a picture of love and acceptance,
where they previously held rejection, and most importantly gives the woman a
picture to hang on to, from which she responds to Jesus, “Even the dogs under
the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
The Syrophoenician woman was both a woman and an
outsider – If Jesus accepted her and granted her request, then it was clear
that God’s blessings were for all. In
the next scene the people bring a man to Jesus who is deaf and has a speech
impediment. He is most likely an outsider
too. The acceptance of the
Syrophoenician woman opened the door to those who felt that they couldn’t ask
for healing. Where are we in this
picture? Are we feeling like an
outsider, or someone who can’t ask God for healing? Or are we those who treat outsiders with
partiality?
Even if we have been in the church for all of our
lives, there are times we feel like an outsider, who doesn’t deserve God’s
blessings. We pray… because it is what
we do… but do we expect God to be involved in our lives and answer our
prayers? So often, we feel that those
kinds of interactions are for other people, not us, but how would it impact us
if someone, just like us, was to have God answer their prayers? Would it inspire us to come more boldly to
God?
This is what God wants. God doesn’t want us to keep a respectful
distance… he wants to be involved in our lives and he wants us to talk to him
about absolutely everything. After all,
He sent Jesus… He came to us as God the Son…
to be one of us and to be among us.
My mum has a beautiful friend, Mrs. Miller, who came
to my sister’s wedding. All mum’s
grandchildren were there also. At
different times through the evening Mrs. Miller whispered to each of the
grandchildren, “Gran told me that you are her favourite”. In the
same way, God, actually does have partiality, he is partial to you and you are
His favourite. Let me tell you, “Shh… YOU
are actually God’s favourite!” At the
same time, so am I… that is God’s kind of partiality and the only kind that we
can emulate – one where everyone feels that they are God’s favourite. And when we are the favourite of the God of
the universe, what impact will that have on our life? For those who have grasped this reality it
changes the entire trajectory of their lives. You are
God’s favourite – you can have access to God… not from afar, but as His
favourite. You are invited to respond
now to this reality as I leave you with a moment to be in the presence of God.
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