James 2:1–10
My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
8You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 9But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
Mark 7:24–30
24From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 28But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
A few weeks ago I stood here before you and I said, "Jesus wasn't nice." Today, it seems, we have proof. When I said that, I was contrasting niceness with kindness. (The word nice isn't even in the Bible.) Today's Gospel could be an example of how Jesus wasn't nice. But, unfortunately, it's also an example of how, in this instance, he wasn't very kind, either. Not to begin with, anyway. In fact, he seems downright rude.
So what's up with this text? In the first half of this chapter in Mark, Jesus says that you can't judge a book by its cover; things are not always as they seem. You have to look beyond external factors, factors people are powerless to change, like nationality or religious heritage or social position. You have to look beyond appearances to get the real story on someone's faith. Then in Mark's Gospel, the rubber hits the road, so to speak. The theory is put to the test. Jesus travels out of his way, to Tyre, into the heart of pagan territory. It's as if everyone is waiting with baited breath -- to see if he walks the talk. What's he going to do when he encounters non-Jewish people?
Well this first encounter is not even on his agenda. He enters a house because he doesn't want anyone to know he's there. And he's interrupted—by a Gentile woman. Does that excuse his shameful rudeness? He blows her off. He calls her a dog, for heaven's sake. Why would Jesus treat anyone this way? If we were the first ones ever to hear this story, that question would be a no brainer. As a non-Jew, this woman was unclean, unwelcome, not to be touched. As a woman, she was not even to come near him. If we were the ones for whom Mark first wrote this account, the first to hear this story, we would be humming along, thinking, "Yeah, yeah, yeah". OK, of course he's not going to give this woman the time of day. He came for the Jews – the children he's talking about. She's not Jewish. She's not one of the children. And even worse, she's Syro-phonecian, which means she has more money. There are ill feelings between these groups. He has no obligation whatsoever to help her. Of course he's not about to give her the time of day. Besides that, she interrupted him. So who is more rude?
You see, this bold, "in your face" outsider mother of a disturbed girl was one of the "dogs." "Dog" was a derogatory term popular at that time to describe all gentiles. She had no business being there. The social gap here looks something like the Grand Canyon. Imagine Ellen DeGeneres and Mike Huckabee. (Or Oprah Winfrey and Rush Limbaugh)
But this bold, "in your face," outsider-mother-of-a-disturbed-girl chooses humility, and even humiliation, in order to get what Jesus has to give. She knows that, according to Jewish social custom at the time, she doesn't deserve any help from a Jewish teacher and healer. And she's not going to argue about that with Jesus. She's too desperate to argue about that. There's no time for pride here. "Fine," she says. "We're on the same page, Jesus. I'm going to bow down at your feet so you can see what I think about you. And I'm going to give you the opportunity to do the right thing. I know I'm not entitled to anything here. But how about a scrap of hope, the crumbs, the leftovers? After all, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
Mark Alan Powell, a New Testament professor at Trinity Seminary, asks whether or not Jesus may have just been baiting her, to tease out a confession of humble faith. Or, he wonders, maybe Jesus himself is still discovering the extent of God's mercy. The Jesus we meet in Mark is fully human, after all. Maybe he does not yet envision his mission as being to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. He's been avoiding Gentiles up to this point, teaching and healing only among Jews. Maybe this woman was sent by God to teach Jesus – to confront Jesus head on with the full implications of all he had been doing and saying since his ministry began. Maybe she was there to give Jesus the opportunity to learn, and then to do the right thing.
What? Jesus -- learn? The concept of Jesus learning might be foreign to most Christians today, but it is biblical. I can give you the proof texts: Luke 2:52 says Jesus "increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor." Hebrews 5:8 says "Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered–" And the point would not be that Jesus was wrong. No, as the divine Son, he is tenderhearted – he is not stubborn. His heart remains open, and he remains always willing to do God's will. But since he is a human being, he does not always immediately know what God's will is. I've heard of that, as a human being myself. And I have a hunch you have too. No matter how well intentioned we may be, we don't always immediately know what God's will is. That's why I so often pray that God show me just the next right step.
In any case, Jesus does change his mind. And the Gospel goes to the dogs, so to speak. The woman's daughter is healed. The demon leaves her. And from this moment on, we encounter a huge turning point in the whole gospel story: Jesus opens his whole ministry up to Gentiles. That would be, my friends, you and me. Let's not forget that. The things we cannot change about ourselves will not exclude us from the reign of God manifested through Jesus' embrace. No one is excluded. Our second lesson from James reinforces the theme: favoritism goes against godly living. Being partial toward the privileged is a sin. It's not simply for the sake of self-preservation that Christians are not to practice favoritism. It's simply because favoritism is against God's intention.
These days the whole church may very well be on the road to Tyre with Jesus – we are venturing into what has been regarded as "Pagan territory" up until now. Our ELCA church-wide assembly voted last month to give individual congregations the option to fully include professed Christians who are in committed, long term, publicly accountable, same gender relationships. Separately, our council is calling a special congregational meeting for October 11 so we can vote on whether to extend a two year option to purchase agreement with Lutheran Social Services of Michigan for the purpose of building subsidized senior housing on our property. Maybe, like that Gentile woman who interrupts Jesus today, these things feel to us like interruptions. Like Jesus at the beginning of our Gospel today, maybe we prefer that people not notice we are here. And, like the Gentile woman who interrupts Jesus today, maybe these opportunities have been sent to us by God to teach us – to confront us with the full implications of this very gospel that goes to the dogs today. Maybe these challenges are here to give us the opportunity to do the right thing. Maybe the church is still discovering the extent of God's mercy.
Whatever decisions we make on these matters (and they are very different issues), one thing is absolutely clear to me. No matter how well intentioned we may be, no matter how sincerely committed we are to our mission, to be God's people doing God's work, we don't always immediately know what God's will is. If Jesus couldn't know, how could we? And so I hope you will pray fervently with me that God will show us just the next right step. May our hearts, like the heart of Jesus, remain open. May we, like Jesus, increase in wisdom. May we, like Jesus, learn obedience through what we suffer.
God loves you as though you are the only person in the world. And God loves everyone the way God loves you. That's the gospel that goes to the dogs today. I'll see you under the table. AMEN
Pastor Dana Runestad
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Livonia MI
6 September 2009 B09L23Pr18
Sources:
Heidi Husted, "When the gospel goes to the dogs," Christian Century, August 16, 2000 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_23_117/ai_65014576/
Mark Allen Powell, "Whose side is God on?" commenting on Year B Proper 18/Ordinary Time 23 in Emphasis Online at http://store.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=788030632
Haruko Nawata Ward commenting on James 2:1-10 (11-13), 14-17, Proper 18, in Feasting on the Word, Year B, Volume 4 Season after Pentecost 2, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, pp. 38, 40, 42.