Isaiah 35;4-7a; James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 7:24-37
“Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.”
Today we are going to spend a little time under the table before we gather “at the table.” Under the table one can find such treasures as food scraps, spilled milk, dropped shoes or silverware, used paper napkins, toys, dogs, cats, maybe ants and who knows what else. If you look at the floor around the table after dinner, you can always tell where the youngest children were sitting—you can tell what was on the menu just by looking under there. You should see what's on the floor after a church supper!
Yet, the real jaw dropper in today's message is the under-the-table zinger exchange between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman. Lots of folks have a hard time swallowing the idea that Jesus could say something so rude, especially to a despondent parent who has come to him looking for compassion and healing. His calling the woman a dog just doesn't compute. That's not the Jesus we know and love!
The desperate woman who has come out to find Jesus who is just as desperately trying not to be found.
Haven't we all been in that position now and again, when we just want some alone time? Time to think a complete thought; remember our names, retreat from the pressures of everyday life and experience a little quiet? Jesus needed that kind of time, too. Leaving Galilee and Capernaum behind and traveling into Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon was a little like Jesus crawling under the table to get away from it all and stay out of sight of all the people who wanted to get something from him.
But...the syro-phoenician woman must have heard about the power of this Jesus; and rumor had it that the healer was in town. For the sake of her daughter, she went out looking for him, not particularly because she believed that he was Messiah, the Son of God, or anything like that. She was a woman desperate to save the life of her child. She would have done anything, gone anywhere, promised everything to anyone who could exorcise the demon that possessed her daughter.
She did not know, nor did she really care at the time, that the man whom she sought was not only able to set her daughter free from a demon, but that he was also the one who had come to set all people free from the demons of sin and death. She was focused on one thing only. All the woman wanted was a few crumbs of his time; she wasn't looking for a complementary ticket to the banquet. And when she catches up with Jesus, what does she get for her trouble?
“Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
The Syro-Phoenician woman, however, does not miss a beat in the exchange. Nothing can dissuade her from her appointed errand—her child's life is at stake. “Yes, Lord," she replies, "yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” What does that mean? How about, “I may be a 'dog' but even dogs need to eat.” Why does Jesus seem to change his mind and grant her daughter's healing?
Notice: the woman does not slink away; she doesn't give up on Jesus. She hangs on as long as there is even just one crumb of hope, and it is her tenacity and quick comeback that endears her to Jesus. “For saying this you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” Compassion at last.
When the woman returned home, she found her daughter healed. Jesus had not come near the girl. He did not touch her, put spittle on her, say a magic word or anything else. The daughter was healed from a distance because her mother had the courage to come near to the Lord, stay near the Lord and put her complEte trust--her whole self--in him.
You see, just like in our passage from Isaiah, the Lord's presence turns the tables upside down, everything goes through a great reversal--deserts bloom, roads are made straight, hearts change, the blind are made to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to leap like deer.
And the mastery of this whole episode teaches us a few lessons.
1. Tenacity in faith is essential.
2. God is merciful.
3. The Lord loves a good debate.
4. And most of all--
Even the “crumbs” are enough to bring healing and wholeness, miracles and mysteries, to each one of us. We don't need the whole loaf to get the big benefit. A single crumb will do
When we come out from under the table of thinking we might not deserve what God has to give, we find ourselves standing AT the table. The complete banquet of love and salvation is before us.Have you ever wondered why everybody gets just a small piece of the loaf? We don't need to eat the whole loaf, we don't have to grab a fistful to get all the Christ we need; we simply take is one small piece. Even the crumbs that fall from the loaf as we pull one piece carries within it the entire promise of God to each of his children—wayward or demon- possessed, obedient or rebellious, passive or aggressive, astute or simple or any other combination you can think of--the great sacrifice made for the salvation of all God's children.
The Good News is that there's enough love and healing, mercy and hope in one little crumb from the loaf to feed the whole world with Christ's love. So he calls us to come out from "under our table" where our hurts and failings, disappointments and demons hide, and stand before his table: take and eat for this bread is Christ's body broken for us; take and drink for this is his cup of blessing poured out for us. Christ feeds us with his love, so eat your fill and "Be opened." Let Christ open our ears, release our tongues and speak plainly of the most amazing love the world has ever known. "Ephphatha!" Amen.
September 6, 2009
First Parish Federated Church of South Berwick, ME
The Reverend Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
