Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

Donna G. Joy

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37

The God we worship has no favourites. We are called to believe that the God we worship loves each and every one of us equally, and longs for us to be whole.

Our first reading, taken from the Book of Proverbs emphasizes this very point. ("A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favour is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor have this in common: The Lord is the maker of them all.") Indeed, God is the maker of all humanity and the diversity that exists within the human race – and in the midst of this – knows no partiality; in the midst of this – loves each and every one of us deeply, unconditionally, and with an astonishing degree of perfection.

In our epistle this morning the author is emphatically challenging a community that is in the process of showing favouritism; favouring the rich over the poor. The author therefore is making the point that for any of Jesus' followers to express any kind of favouritism is to defy the very way of Jesus, because God shows no favouritism toward us. ("...do you [in other words, how can you] with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?") God creates and loves all people equally, this love is made manifest in Jesus, and we – Jesus' followers – are called to receive this love and share it with the same degree of equality and fairness.

So, our first two readings offer an effective reminder of this primary Judaeo/Christian teaching, but then something very surprising occurs in this morning's Gospel, where a woman – a Gentile woman – approaches Jesus, requesting that he heal her daughter, and he – basically – denies her this request; or, at first glance, so it seems. And not only that, but at first glance anyway, he denies her this request in a seemingly cruel and harsh sort of a way.

The question for me, here, is "why?" Why would Jesus rebuff a woman who's in such desperate need?

Well, in order to ponder this question we need first to explore the story. We are told here that Jesus has moved a significant distance away from Galilee. It is important to note that in this place where the story takes place his Jewish followers are very much out of their comfort zone. With Jesus, they are now in a town that is highly populated with Gentiles; highly populated with the enemy - with those who are not to receive the gift of salvation and mercy.

Apparently Jesus did not want anyone to know that he was there, but most likely because of all the attention his ministry and healings have been receiving, word gets out that he is there.  

And sure enough, before long, a woman who has a daughter with an unclean spirit, (a woman considered an outsider to the Jews) finds him, throws herself at his feet and asks him to heal her daughter.

Now, here is where Jesus' response contradicts everything we believe about God - made known through Jesus - having no favourites, as he says, "The children have to eat first. It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."What does he mean when he refers to the children who have to eat first? Well, he is referring here to the children of Israel. The Jewish people. The insiders. What does he mean when he refers to the dogs? Well, he is referring here to the Gentiles, who were often referred to as dogs. It was and is a very derogatory term.

So at first glance this is nothing short of cruel; cruel in a way that we trust is impossible for Jesus. It seems he is saying that she, as a dog, is not worthy of the food that the children – the known family of the God of Israel – the insiders - are eating. But - surprisingly - she is not deterred, as she responds, "Well master, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs that the children drop." And Jesus responds, "Well said!" "Off you go; the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, and sure enough, her child had been healed.

At the end of the day, things seem to turn out O.K. (the child, after all is healed), but the question remains: why? Why does Jesus treat this woman in such a seemingly despicable manner? Some have suggested that the woman got Jesus on a bad day; that he was tired. But this explanation simply doesn't resonate with the Jesus of selfless love. Others (mainly those with a feminist leaning) have suggested that the woman was able to actually chastise him into changing his mind. That too, seems to fall short of a reasonable explanation. No, I suggest that this exchange is conveys a much bigger theological statement in terms of what Jesus is up to.

In terms of what appears as Jesus' cruelty toward the woman, New Testament scholars see the exchange between them as banter: it was done in a spirit of teasing. So when he inadvertently refers to her daughter as a 'dog' – he's naming an atrocious, appalling, cultural truth that the coming of his kingdom is about to change. A number of years ago, while planning a trip to Vancouver I suggested to a good friend who lives there that I might want her to climb the Grouse Grind with me. She and I grew up together and have remained the dearest of friends throughout our lives, and she has always expressed her affection toward me through light hearted teasing. When I suggested that we climb the Grouse Grind, she said, something like, "I doubt that's possible. You are – after all - almost a year older than me, and having lived on the Prairies for as long as you have you've no doubt forgotten how steep such a climb would be."  To which I responded, "Ah, but I know only too well the experience of cycling against a strong, prairie head wind. And, furthermore, my advancing years have simply increased my strength." And her response to that was something similar to that of Jesus in this story. Something like, "Well said! Let's do it!"

Now, to someone observing this exchange, it could have appeared that she was behaving in a fashion that was somewhat cruel. She was – in a sense - naming a truth: I am older than her (just by a bit) and have lived on the prairies for a long time.  But I trumped her naming of that truth. And indeed, we climbed the Grouse Grind.

So here, Jesus and this woman are bantering back and forth in a kind of playful manner.

No doubt, Jesus in this exchange is naming a cruel and horrible truth. Yes, the Gentiles were identified as dogs, but Jesus is not condoning it; he's not supporting it. He's simply naming it. And we know that in time, through him, this horrible truth is reversed.

And, in effect, the healing of that child is yet another taste of what is yet to come.

So, in a gentle kind of a tease, Jesus names a truth that both he and the woman understand, and yet quickly moves beyond the tease and heals her little girl.

But the question still remains, why is this exchange necessary at all?

Well, it has to do with Jesus' own personal, earthly mission. Bottom line here: Jesus is making the point that his personal vocation was not to spread the gospel to the Gentile world. The world wide spreading of his message is to come through his followers.

Jesus' mission was to tell the Jewish people themselves that in Him they are reconciled with God. He believed that Israel must be reconciled with God first, then those who follow will carry this gift into the Gentile world and beyond. He believed that those who were called to follow him needed to be immersed in his transformative love, empowered by it, and then catapulted into the world beyond the Jewish community to share that gift with others. Indeed, his immediate followers must know that gift first.

So Jesus is simply trying to remain focused on his primary task at hand. And furthermore, he's running out of time. The more he risks drawing attention to himself through these miraculous healings, the sooner the authorities will apprehend him, and the inevitable end to his earthly life and ministry will happen prematurely – that is, before his followers are ready to faithfully carry on the work of reconciling humanity with God.

So, this story introduces its readers to a truth that Jesus' followers must always remember; that is, they/we must first experience and be transformed by the gift of his transformative love – then share that gift with the rest of the world.

Anthony Robinson who currently teaches congregational leadership at Emmanuel College in Toronto follows this kind of logic in referring to our understanding of evangelism at this moment in history, particularly in North America. He suggests that the model of evangelism we have known over the past few centuries is that of Christians perceiving the need to go out into the world and bring people to Christ; bring people to the church. He suggests that this focus for evangelism is infinitely wrong. Evangelism is not, as Jesus reminds us in this story, first and foremost about others or those who are perceived as outsiders or the 'unchurched.'

The first people to be evangelized – that is, touched and transformed by the good news of God through Jesus – are us, the existing congregations, the church, the insiders. I know this is challenging, but the point that Robinson is making is that each and every one of us is called to begin with the experience of being touched and transformed by God through Christ and to be steeped in Scripture and the teachings of the faith. Jesus is – in effect – saying to this woman – my followers must first get to know me intimately, then the time will be right for them to branch out to the rest of the world. And today, Jesus says the same to us.

Anthony Robinson says, "There may be a danger implicit in my contention that "evangelism begins at home": saying that might lead to a focus only on ourselves and our own faith. This is not my intention, and it would be a mistake, because a choice or polarity between "for us" and "for others" is a false choice. A living, life-changing faith will always be expressed in concern and love for others. My point is a simple one: ... evangelism in its true sense of hearing and receiving the Good News of the gospel, with its resulting deepening of our relationship with God and with the community of faith, needs to begin with our own congregations or we will have nothing to share with others."

Indeed, the God we worship has no favourites; the unconditional, transforming love of God made known in Jesus is to be shared with everyone. It begins here – in worship – with the crucified, risen Jesus in our midst. It begins as our relationship with Jesus grows deeper and deeper.  And as this grows it naturally flows from here and is shared beyond the walls of this place, as we become channels through which this love is made known to others.

Among the resources used for the preparation of this sermon: N.T. Wright; William Willimon; Anthony B. Robinson.