Week 3 of Lent: Tyre - Gentile Country
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March 15, 2020 Genesis 18:20-33
Deborah Laforet Mark 7: 24-30
“Tyre - Gentile Country”
Let us pray. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O God, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) Amen.
The world is a bit crazy right now, isn’t it? The news changes everyday, even every hour: how many are ill, new travel restrictions, cancelled events, school closures, economic fears and incentives, and repeated safety precautions The world is reacting with caution and with fear to a virus that is spreading quickly and worldwide.
Even the least anxious person is feeling the worry and the stress of this situation. People are worried about their own health, about the health of their loved ones who are of a certain age and/or have a compromised immune system. People are worried about their jobs. Some are worried about being isolated and unable to meet their own physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.
And then there are the new questions we ask ourselves. Do I go out today? Where is it safe? Can I safely touch that? Does my sniffle mean I’ve caught something? Will the grocery store have what I need when I go there?
I heard a podcast this week about trees, and specifically about a community of trees. We only see trees from the ground up, but underneath the ground, there is this connection, a root connection. If a tree needs certain minerals, it can send out a message with its roots and other trees can send that mineral through the soil. It’s fascinating actually and amazing how individual trees are more connected than we think. And so are we. We are all individuals from different countries from around the world, separated by borders and oceans, culture and tradition, but in so many ways, we are connected. We feel it when we see starving children across the world. We long to help when hundreds or thousands are affected by a natural disaster. When Princess Diana died, the whole world grieved together.
Now, there are those who push against this. They want to protect themselves and their family, their community and maybe even their country. They put up defences, fear the stranger, and even become hostile towards anyone that looks or acts different from the usual. We’re going to talk about a story where Jesus was put in this position. Most of us know though, and actually, I think most of us feel that hurting the ‘other’ damages a part of ourselves. As trees get sick or as they die, all trees connected through the root system feel it. I think the same must be true for us.
Throughout the season of Lent, we’re traveling with Jesus in the gospel of Mark. Last week, we met Jesus in Nazareth where he was practically run out of town. Two weeks ago, Jesus was in Capernaum, which seemed to be a kind of hub for him during his ministry in Galilee. If you want to hear or read those sermons, they are on our website. This week, we move out of Galilee into the land of the Gentiles, out of familiar territory and into a foreign one.
Let’s look at the map again. (Show map)
Tyre, Lebanon is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Today Tyre is the fifth largest city in Lebanon. It’s in Tyre where Jesus is pushed out of his comfort zone by a mother with a sick child.
Now Jesus may have been on his own during this part of his journey. I always imagined the disciples trailing behind Jesus everywhere he went, but it was pointed out that the text reads, “From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.” It doesn’t read “they;” it reads “he.” Then we read, “He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.” So maybe he left Galilee to take a break, to find some time alone to rest and renew.
Unfortunately for him though, someone found out. The person who discovered Jesus in his hiding spot was a desperate women who needed healing for her daughter. As soon as she had a chance, she knelt at Jesus’ feet and begged for that healing. The text makes it clear that she was a Gentile, a Syro-Phoenician woman.
This is where the text becomes shocking. Up to this point, anyone who came to Jesus needing to be healed was healed: a leper, a paralytic lowered through a roof, a man with a withered hand who hadn’t even asked for healing, a young girl thought to be dead, and a woman only had to touch his cloak. Yet, this woman kneels at his feet and begs for healing for her daughter and Jesus says no. More accurately, he says, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
What!? The children to be fed was a reference to the children of Israel and the dogs….well, most believe Jesus was referring to Gentiles, all those who were not children of Israel or all those who were not Jewish, who were not of his own faith. Now, it would have been very insulting to call them all dogs. Dogs were not beloved household pets at the time. They roamed the streets looking for scraps of food; they were dirty and unkempt, and probably a nuisance. We need to be careful of the interpretation used here. The word here is not actually dogs; it’s “little doggies”, probably meaning puppies or small miniature-like dogs that were used as pets by the wealthy. So it wasn’t meant as an insult but Jesus was telling this woman that the children at the table need to be fed first; the little doggies are secondary.
This woman though, in her desperation and with courage, stands up to Jesus and says, “Sir, even the dogs” or the little doggies, “under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” In today’s vernacular, that would be a mic drop. Boom.
Jesus was divine, but he was also human and this is one of the most human stories we have of Jesus. Jesus got away from Galilee for a break, to get away from all the crowds and the pressure to perform. Did he not think he might encounter others outside of Galilee who needed him, who needed his healing touch and his wisdom? Did he plan on putting his mission on hold, his mission to proclaim the good news that the kingdom was near? Did the mission and the good news only apply to the Israelites? This woman caused him to think twice. This is a story in our gospel of a time when it wasn’t Jesus sharing his wisdom and making people uncomfortable, but a foreign woman who sharing her wisdom with Jesus, making him uncomfortable.
We even have a story in the Hebrew Scriptures of someone changing the mind of God. We heard it this morning. This is the beginning of the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. God had judged these cities and found them filled with evil and had told Abraham, the person God has chosen to be the father of God’s chosen people, that there was a plan to destroy both cities. This story is a great example of Jewish bargaining and the playfulness of the biblical script. God tells Abraham of this plan and Abraham very boldly says to God, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Bold words to a god, but this god listens and this god relents. The cities, God says, will not be destroyed if there are 50 righteous people.
But Abraham doesn’t stop there. He asks about 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, and then finally 10. What if there are only ten righteous people? Abraham wheedles the number down and begs God to reconsider the lives of these righteous people amongst the wicked, even if there are only ten. At that point, God leaves, hurriedly I imagine, before Abraham went any lower.
God and Jesus are portrayed in very human ways in these stories, and I think we can learn from that. We know that Jesus was full of wisdom. We know that he was a miracle worker. We know that he transformed the lives of those who followed him. This story helps us see that Jesus was also open to hearing wisdom and to being changed. He wasn’t so arrogant as to think that he had nothing to learn, especially from those who were strangers and those who lived outside his comfortable circle of family and friends. In fact. these are the people from whom we learn most.
What can we learn from this? Our world is in the midst of crisis. In response to that crisis, doors are closing. Borders are becoming more tangible and harder to cross. People are self isolating to keep themselves and others safe. At this time, we need to be very careful of not just feeding the children at the table and saving nothing for the little doggies. We do need to care for ourselves and our families, but we also need to be aware of others around us who may be in need. This may be an opportunity to check in with our neighbour, with families or with seniors you know. You could call your local outreach centre and see what they need.
Let this time of change, change you. Open your minds, open our hearts to what the world is teaching, even when that teaching comes from stranger or foe. We could be a changed world by the time the crisis over, if we are open to being taught.
You’ve heard the bad news; I’ve talked about the crisis we face. Now, I want to share the good news. In the past couple of days, I have experienced an outpouring of compassion, a willingness to serve, and some creative problem-solving. People are willing to make phone calls, some are willing to be drivers to run errands for those who can’t leave their home, some are checking in with our local outreach centres to ask about their needs.
There is a quote that was shared with me this week by American Presbyterian minister and TV host, Fred Rodgers: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world.”
There are so many caring people in this world and I see a lot of those people in this community. Yes, our doors are closed, our hearts are open.
Before I finish, I want to make one more point. Jesus, in the midst of his ministry, in the midst of a people who were oppressed, marginalized, hungry, and sick, took a break. He was greatly needed wherever he went, crowds were always following him. In the story we heard today, he made time to rest. He made time to leave the busyness of his life.
In the midst of cancellations of schools and events, of community centres, places of worship, and people sent home from work, we might see an opportunity. I’m not saying that our lives are not richer by the various activities in our lives, but we have been forced to make a change for a little while. I am usually at the gym on Saturday mornings, but yesterday I was outside walking. I read a book. I spent some time with friends and I’m investigating some recipes. These are all things I sometimes put on hold because my life is been so busy. Might we see this time as an opportunity to see what is valuable that we put on hold? What might we learn about ourselves during this time?
My encouragement to everybody is to stay safe. Keep up to date with health advisories. Don’t put yourself or others at risk. Please call if you are in need. Carolyn and I will make a point of putting our cell phones on our voice mail if you need to reach us. We will get through this together.
Grace and peace be with you, my friends, and remember, our doors may be closed. but our hearts are open. Thanks be to God. Amen.