First Lutheran Church
September 5, 2021
The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost B
James 2:14–17
14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Mark 7:24–30
24From there Jesus 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.
“Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman”
Last Sunday the epistle from James proclaimed, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James urged us to listen to those who had no voice, those who were neglected, those on the margins of life, and to respond not with empty and useless words but instead with loving kindness. In this week’s lesson from James he adds to it ,“the golden rule,” "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And then plain and simple, and right to the point, “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?”
In this week’s Gospel Jesus comes across a Gentile woman of Syrophoenician origin. As a woman two thousand years ago, she was marginalized because women at that time were seen as an expendable commodity. Because she speaks up for herself, we can assume she probably had no husband, no one to represent her in public, and thus no access to the system, and thus she most likely lived in a state of poverty. And she was a foreigner, connected to the Canaanites, an ancient enemy of the Israelites, defined by the religious authorities as “unclean.” And her problem has to do with her daughter who is possessed by a demon, which means the whole cycle of violence just begins again. That’s just the way it was in those days. Nobody listens to a Syrophoenician woman who wants to talk about her daughter.
And much to our dismay - this seems to include Jesus. He responds to her begging for help, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." Jesus calls this woman a “derogatory” dog. He proclaims that she is less than human, unclean, and unworthy. In truth, nobody in this moment cares about this woman, - not even Jesus!
Humans have always been very good at building walls between themselves and others. It comes naturally to people who live out of fear, who live in the context of “us” verses “them.” Building barriers that separate and make distinction makes sense in a world in which we are taught to judge and demean others in order to secure our own sense of identity, our own sense of goodness, and even our own salvation. I know that I am good - because you and your kind are bad! Today’s Gospel reading is a familiar, all too familiar, human story. I suppose the shocking thing about this story is not that society seeks to build a wall between this woman and themselves, but that Jesus is there too, at work putting up a wall between himself and the Syrophoenician woman and her daughter.
This picture of Jesus is disturbing, confusing, and even scary. It certainly does not live up to the words of James. Yet, ironically, in this Jesus we can also find incredible comfort and hope. As the word of God challenges us this morning, challenges the fear that lies behind our fence building and the fallen assumptions that stand behind our walls, it is in this Jesus, fully God and all too fully human, we discover that we are not alone in the human condition. In this very human Jesus, we can be comforted in the knowledge that God really does understand the situation and the deep fears that we face, because God has literally been there! And there is hope because Jesus overcame the boundaries set by fear and tears down the walls! In and with this Jesus we too can begin to find the faith and courage to do the same, brick by brick until the walls are gone.
The unlikely heroine in today’s gospel is the Syrophoenician woman. Even though she is rebuked by Jesus, she does not give up, she doesn’t walk away. Instead, she essentially challenges him to a debate. She replies to Jesus hard words for her, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." And suddenly she becomes the only person in any of the four gospels to get the best of Jesus in a debate. With great faith and hope she appeals to the vision of a new kingdom, a kingdom of grace and mercy, a kingdom of unconditional love, a kingdom in which everyone is included. And this seems to awaken the Christ, as Jesus exclaims, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." And as the walls suddenly and unexpectedly come tumbling down, the power of God, the power of the kingdom of God, is manifest and the story ends, “So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.”
This morning it is my hope and prayer that this story about a woman on the margins of life and her vision of the kingdom of God might awaken us, the Body of Christ present here and now. Awaken us to reach out in love to those around us in need, awaken us to tear down the walls that separate one from another and especially even the other, awaken us to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
May it be so, Amen!