Sermon Title: What about the scraps?

Sermon Text: Mark 7:24-30

Sermon Date: March 19, 2006

Mark 7:24-30

24Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre.^[a] He tried to keep it secret that he was there, but he couldn't. As usual, the news of his arrival spread fast. 25Right away a woman came to him whose little girl was possessed by an evil spirit. She had heard about Jesus, and now she came and fell at his feet. 26She begged him to release her child from the demon's control.

   Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, 27Jesus told her, "First I should help my own family, the Jews.^[b] It isn't right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs."

28She replied, "That's true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are given some scraps from the children's plates."

29"Good answer!" he said. "And because you have answered so well, I have healed your daughter." 30And when she arrived home, her little girl was lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.

MESSAGE

We have this idea of Jesus. Knows everything. Understands everything. Nothing surprises him. After all, he is God, right. Fully human, fully divine.

For some of us we have trouble wrapping our heads around the notion that Jesus was fully divine. And many of us have trouble wrapping our heads around the idea that Jesus was fully human, for to be fully human means that Jesus was like….well, you and me. Except Jesus didn’t make the mistakes we make.

As a boy in the temple he proved that he understood things men years older didn’t understand. Now he is in his early 30s, his ministry is taking hold and growing. People are paying attention to him. I mean, after all, didn’t the Roman centurion believe so much that he simply asked Jewish leaders to have Jesus heal his servant? The centurion didn’t feel worthy of being in Jesus’ presence and Jesus was stunned, amazed, marveled at the idea that a Gentile believed so much in his ability to heal that he asked someone who knew someone who knew Jesus. Jesus, Messiah, son of God, God incarnate, was amazed.

And now today we learn about a similar story, but this time it is worse. It is a woman, and she is Syrophoenician by birth. A pagan.

In Ched Myers’ “Binding the Strong Man: a political reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus,” he says: “Her solicitation of him is an affront to the honor status of Jesus; no woman, and especially a gentile, unknown and unrelated to this Jew, would have dared invade his privacy at home to seek a favor. A rebuff by Jesus thus is not only understandable but expected.”

This is a woman who is unclean, much like the hemorrhaging woman who reached out and touched his robe as he walked through the streets. A woman, bleeding because of the problems only women face, would not have been acceptable either. Both were unclean. (“Binding the Strong Man,” by Ched Myers, p. 203-204)

But never the less, Jesus debated with the woman, a Gentile woman. A Syrophoenician woman at that -and then like the story of the hemorrhaging woman, he rewarded her for her audacity - for her unspeakable rudeness, by granting what she asks. 

The “unclean” category continues on today.

Think about the story this way: The date is September 19, 2001. The country is still reeling from the tragedies from a week before. Thousands of people are missing, presumed dead because of four plane crashes in New York City, Washington, D.C. and a field in Pennsylvania.

Billy Graham has a crusade scheduled in Virginia and decides to hold a service of healing for those who desperately need to hear about hope from God. On his way into the stadium, an obviously Muslim woman races toward him and falls at his feet. Those with him run to protect him from her; after all, she could be a terrorist too. She could have a bomb strapped to her chest, trying to stop him from delivering this particular message. They grab her and hold her away from him, ready to call the police and have her arrested. But Dr. Graham stops them. 

      People around him are nervous. Some appalled but they won’t admit that. Their insides are quivering for fear and blocking their ability to reason.

“Dr. Graham, my daughter has a demon in her. She admires the terrorists who have done such a terrible thing to our country. You must pray for her. You must ask God to take this demon away from her. Please, help us.”

This wasn’t what any of them expected to hear. How could she expect them to want to help her? The pain was too raw. The images of the Twin Towers collapsing were still in their heads. The idea that a group of passengers prevented another plane from hitting the White House was too overwhelming. Knowing that the Pentagon had been hit, all too near them…well, it was too much. Now this woman, perhaps one of them, wants Dr. Graham, the nation’s pastor, to help her. Unthinkable. Absolutely unthinkable.

The idea of Jesus helping a Syrophoenician woman was just as appalling to the people of Jesus’ time. After all, hadn’t Jesus told them that he came only for the Jews, the lost people of Israel? Why was this woman approaching Jesus to ask him to help her?

 
 Mark shows us a Jesus who is not a boundary guarding figure, but a boundary crossing figure. The story of the Syrophoenician woman is the culmination in Mark of a series of episodes emphasizing how Jesus crosses social boundaries designed by those in authority to avoid those considered to be unclean. So, when Jesus touches a leper, drives out unclean spirits, goes to Gentile territory and visits at a grave site with pigs present, is touched by a woman with a flow of blood, and lays hands on the corpse of a child, he is crossing social and religious boundaries that marginalize and exclude those who actually need help the most. The kingdom of God that Jesus proclaims in his actions reverses the usual flow of things. In the religious culture of Jesus' day people withdrew from uncleanness to avoid defilement; by contrast, Jesus crosses boundaries to spread holiness, to spread "wholeness", by the power of the Spirit of God.

Now Jesus looked into the face of this woman. Some wonder if the look on Jesus’ face was harsh. Others wonder if he is just testing her. And when she said to him, “but even the dogs get to eat the scraps that fall off the table and onto the floor,” well, he knew she got it. Just like the Roman centurion. She understood. She believed. And the fully human and fully divine Jesus was, I think, once again pleased beyond measure. Another person, even a pagan Gentile, was convinced. Understood the good news that God offers grace and mercy. Believe and be healed. And her daughter was healed. Her demons were gone. The woman regained her daughter.

“Jesus allowed himself to be shamed in order to include this pagan woman in the new community of the kingdom.” (Myers, p. 204)

And Jesus confounded his disciples. Jesus confounded the religious of his day. Jesus turned things inside out as it were by his attitudes. That the unrighteous are loved by God- that the poor and those who mourn are blessed, and those who dwell in darkness - are elected by God to come to his light and live in his eternal kingdom. And he reached outward in his ministry-outward to those who did not "deserve" his favor or the favor of any man or woman of faith. He reached out to sinners - to tax collectors - to traitors – to adulterous persons- he reached out to the unclean and to the unholy - to lepers and to gentiles- he reached out and he touched them - and embraced them, just as warmly as he touched the holy scrolls of scripture in the synagogue each Sabbath, just as lovingly as he embraced those who followed him. And this is truly the good news of today and of every day. Jesus cares for those who are forgotten, for those who are marginalized, for those who are truly are sinful - as we are sinful.

We learn here that regardless of why he said he came, he turned no one away. Jew or Gentile. Slave or free. Male or female. Jesus didn’t turn anyone away. The kingdom he was proclaiming was above all a kingdom of grace, open to everyone.

Even those who were content to live on table scraps.

Would you be willing to live on the scraps left over from someone else’s beliefs?

I don’t know how to answer that either. Because we have never had to. We have only had to read about Jesus coming for someone other than us. In our lifetimes, we have heard about the Jesus who offers love and redemption to everyone. And yet we have watched as others were tossed scraps.

Those with darker skin. Women. The poor. The illiterate. Gays and lesbians. Divorced. Those with AIDS. Children born out of wedlock. Those in and out of prison. Those with mental illnesses. The homeless. The list goes on forever…..Over time and history we Christians have been guilty of tossing table scraps to others, because they didn’t measure up to our own understanding of those whom Jesus loved.

Jesus didn’t make anyone live off the table scraps. He didn’t make the centurion get down on his knees and beg for the life of his servant, nor did he turn the woman away whose daughter was demon-possessed, whatever the demons were.

Nor does Jesus want us to toss table scraps to others.

 Jesus in fact declares by his actions - as well as by his words -- that those whom we think to be outside of God's kingdom are in--- and those whom we think to be inside - are out, unless they have a change of heart about who they think is worthy of their love and who is not. 

Before she ever met Jesus, the Syrophoenician woman knew her worth. Call it by the grace of God, call it by whatever you want, at least what she knew was a reality for her.

But what about those who don’t know they have worth? What about those who don’t know that there are more than table scraps available to them?

Did you know that there is someone out there who needs YOU, AND ONLY YOU, to tell them? To tell them that they are worth loving. To tell them that not only does Jesus love them, but you do too. Did you know that?

How will you show the world that you are a Christian? Just attending church probably won’t do it. Wearing a cross around your neck probably won’t do it. And it is not that you shouldn’t attend church or wear crosses. Those are worthy and admirable ways to live out your faith and lives, but there are those out there waiting to see if our words match our action. If we are consistent in what we say we believe and how we live life. Some say they stay away from church because of all the hypocrites in churches. Let’s be honest. None of us is perfect.

I love the prayer many of you have heard:

“Lord, I am doing okay right now without your help. I haven’t offended anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings today. I have been a good example of living a Christian lifestyle, but pretty soon I am going to get out of bed and I’ll need your help then so that I don’t shame you today.”

It is just who we are because it is really hard to be totally consistent in word, action and deed. And it is hard to talk about the transformative power of Jesus Christ in our lives if we can’t admit that. We have to be able to admit that even a desire to follow Jesus doesn’t make us better than others.

Jesus’ coming meant that no one should have to wait under the table for scraps to fall in order to have something to eat.

No one should have to wait until the scraps of our faith fall off the table for others to accidentally hear our stories. Our faith stories should be shared like prime rib with all the fixings so that others will know that our Jesus can change their lives like he changed the life of a Gentile woman or the Roman centurion. And more importantly, how Jesus changed our lives.

This Syrophoenician woman could be our role model…a woman of simple faith, for how we as a church and we as individuals can reach others for Christ. She tells us about a need to seek the healing power that preserves life, enriches it and casts out evil in our midst, so that more hear about the love of God that never gives up.