Proper 18 -- Proverbs 22:1–2, 8–9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James
2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37
A homily by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at St. John's Church, Centralia, Illinois, on Sunday, September 9, 2012.
“YES, NO, OR NOT NOW”
Is it alright to tussle with the
Lord when we are asking Him for something?
Perhaps the idea of struggling with
the Lord, praying intensely or even passionately, isn’t one that many of us are
comfortable with.
But the account of Syrophoenician
woman’s sparring with Jesus, the text from Mark which is before us today, might
cause us to rethink the possibility of passionate struggle with God in our
prayer life.
Before we consider some of the
possibilities of this text, we ought to set the stage for the encounter which
Mark lays before us today.
Jesus has been ministering in the
region of the Galilee, and now leaves that area, traveling north and west to
the coastal area of what is now modern day Lebanon, to the region of the cities
of Tyre and Sidon (which are about 20 miles apart). Apparently, the reason Jesus has gone away is
to escape the crowds, which have been growing as word of His ministry spread.
But even in this Gentile region, a
Greek-speaking area, Jesus’ reputation is known. The woman who comes before Him today has
heard of His ministry, and makes her request to Him. She asks Jesus to rescue her daughter from
the power of an evil spirit.
Jesus’ response seems terse and even
insulting. He says of her request, “Let
the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and
throw it to the dogs.”
We need to explain this remark: Jesus is saying that the blessings of God
belong to the chosen people of God, that is, the Jews, and it is they who
should receive those blessings first.
Moreover, in the ancient near eastern culture, dogs were considered by
many to be unclean animals; Jews, for example, thought they were totally
unclean.
So Jesus’ retort comes off as an
insult.
But the woman apparently understands
Jesus’ remark completely. She responds,
“Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
It is a masterful response, which
takes Jesus’ words and turns them to her advantage.
This unnamed woman is gutsy!
But let’s linger with Jesus’
statement, and with the woman’s response just a moment longer, for there are
details in both statements that might escape our notice unless we read
carefully, and unless we know some of the details of the word “dog” each
speaker uses.
Here, again, is Jesus’ response,
with my own emphasis shown in italics:
“Let the children first be
fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the puppy dogs.”
Jesus’ use of the word “first” might
escape our notice. But most translations
miss the fact that the word for “dog” that Jesus uses is actually better
translated as “little dog” (or in my translation “puppy dog). The dog that is in view here is a household
pet, apparently, not a stray dog that wanders the town looking to forage for
food. The woman’s retort which mentions
this “little dog” being under the table seems to confirm that the animal is a
part of the household.
What are the implications of the two
aspects of the verbal exchange (Jesus’ use of the word “first” and the
reference to a “little dog”) that affect our understanding of the meaning of
the event before us?
First of all, Jesus’ says that the
bread (of God) is to be given to the children (of God) first. Implied in that idea
is that there can be a second feeding.
Secondly, the reference to an animal
that is, apparently, a member of the household, implies a relationship of some
sort with the other members of the household.
“Yes, Lord, but even the puppy dogs are members of the household, just not
first class members.”
(An aside which I cannot resist
adding is that a reference to the woman’s statement finds its way into our Book
of Common Prayer. In the American 1979
edition, the prayer which is known as the “Prayer of Humble Access” begins this
way: “We do not presume to come to this,
thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold
and great mercies. We are not worthy so
much as to gather up the crumbs under thy
table…” (Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 337))
Here, a question arises: Was Jesus’ testing the woman, to see if her
faith was sufficient for Him to grant her request?
Quite possibly, the answer is “Yes”,
He was testing her.
For one thing, it’s possible that
Jesus was testing her to see if the nature of His response would cause her to
turn and go away. (She didn’t!)
For another, we know that she was listening
closely, and picked up on the nuances of Jesus’ statement (about the children
of God being fed first, and about the nature of the dog).
For yet another, her response seems
to show that she believed that the Lord could grant her request. At least I think we can be sure of that….all
she asked for was some small portion of the goodness that flowed from Jesus’
ministry to the Jewish people. In
essence, that is the core of her response.
What about you and me? Can we wrestle with God in our prayer life as
we present our petitions to Him?
If we look for answers from Holy
Scripture, I think we can be assured that, at times, seeking God’s favor with
endurance and with passion is alright.
Two examples from Scripture will support this argument:
- Abraham’s attempt to save Sodom and Gomorrah: In Genesis 18 (verses 22 - 33), Abraham asks God to save the two cities, if even a small number of righteous are found there. Abraham begins with the number 50, then reduces it to 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, and finally, if only ten righteous are found there, Abraham asks, would God destroy the city? We know the ending of the incident: Not even ten righteous were to be found. But the point to be made here is that Abraham continually asks the Lord to grant his request, time after time, as the number of possibly righteous persons declines.
- Gideon’s request to know God’s will: Gideon asks the Lord to show him with clarity that he has been chosen to lead the people of Israel. In Judges 6: 36 – 40, Gideon lays out a fleece of wool, asking the Lord to make that fleece alone wet with the dew of the morning. Then, Gideon reverses the test, asking the Lord to make the fleece dry, while everything else was wet. God did as Gideon asked in each case.
In each of these cases, the issue at
hand was an extremely important one….In Abraham’s case, people’s lives hung in
the balance. In Gideon’s case, the issue
was to know whether or not God had chosen Gideon to lead the people and to
remove the idols that many were worshipping so that God alone could be
worshipped.
Sometimes, our life experience
presents us with critical decisions, matters of life and death perhaps, or
decisions about our future employment or some other choice. We are talking
about the “really big stuff” of life here.
At times like that, it is especially
important to seek God’s will and to ask for God’s favor.
Perhaps our earnest prayers will
also lead us, assisted by the Holy Spirit, to reflect on the importance of the
matter. Maybe, over the course of time,
we will come to realize the rightness of our request, and be fully convinced in
our minds and hearts that our request is good, right and proper. At other times, maybe the Holy Spirit will
provide a different vision of the matter’s importance.
And as we make our requests known to
God, we can be assured that our prayers will be answered. The answer will take the form of “Yes, no” or
“Not now.”
No matter what God’s answer will
eventually be, we can be sure that His answer is – in the long run – the best
answer for us.
May we, aided by the Holy Spirit, be
able to make our requests known to God, and to discern God’s answer, knowing
that His answer will always be best for us.
AMEN.
