This is one of those texts that many preachers would simple like to ignore. It is a gospel lesson that presents Jesus in a very difficult light. In one of my previous congregations of which I was a member, the pastor would mysteriously take the Sunday with this text off ever single year and leave the job of preaching to a seminary Professor. But, here I am. And, there you are. And, here is the text.
It is a text in which Jesus finds himself in the wonderful region of Tyre. As you might have picked up the past few weeks, Jesus has been trying to get a little time off…to get a vacation. But, people keep interrupting him.
In my opinion, Jesus might have made some better choices as he pursued a vacation destination. He might have chosen Jerusalem, a very Holy and Jewish destination. He might have gone to visit Bethlehem, his town of birth. But he does neither one. He chooses the region of Tyre.
He might as well have chosen the extremely Holy Bourbon Street during Marti-Gras; a true celebration of incarnation (a true celebration of being in the flesh). Or he might as well have chosen the border region between Iraq and Iran where he would surely be given a one star hotel for an indefinite number of years. What is Jesus doing in a godforsaken, unclean, unholy, gentile region such as Tyre? And to top it off, as if things did not look bad enough, he chooses to spend this alone time with a Syrophoenician woman who is of the wrong race, wrong religion, wrong social class, wrong gender, and who has a snot nosed brat with a demon. "That is some good company Jesus," I sneer sarcastically.
I know, I know, you are already light years ahead of my rhetorical argument. You are surely thinking that of course Jesus is in such a place. Our loving, forgiving, healing Jesus can be found in all of the forsaken places in the world. Of course he is in Tyre, the land of sinners, the land of the Gentiles, because Jesus is the savior of all sinners. Why would we expect him anywhere else? You are a smart reader, and you think you know where this sermon is going so your brain is just going to wander over to Jesus on the nice sandy beaches of the resort island of Tyre and start your own 12 minute vacation.
Well, your wrong. Not about the nice resort island of Tyre, but about Jesus. Get your head out of Matthew where the nice, friendly, Jesus of peace resides and get your head into Mark where Jesus says bluntly to the woman’s request to heal her child, “no.” “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Did he just? Did he really?Yes, he just called the woman and her sick child “dogs.” How is that for a nice sandy beach vacation?
Do you see why I should have just gone on vacation this weekend? I could use a nice sandy beach myself right about now. I could leave this text for some poor retired pulpit supply pastor to type up while I stretch out and get some sun. Tyre, here I come! I could just hang you out to dry and leave you dangling with this text. Let the scholars plumb the riches in the text. I am going on vacation.
But, you might say to me, “but don’t even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs? Please, give us a little food for our souls.”
Could you trust that I would be persuaded and come back to preach? Can the woman trust that Jesus will change his mind and show mercy on her child? Who can you trust in this cold world? Insurance companies, government, corporations, friends, spouses, presidents; who can you trust in this cold, unclean, unholy world? Who will not turn their back even when you have done the worst? Who will change their mind and show you a little mercy? Who will change their mind and show a desperate mom who is of the wrong race, wrong religion, wrong social status, and wrong gender a little mercy and love? Who can be persuaded to love me too?
Probably, the same one whose mind was changed when the Israelites were wandering and hatefully complaining against God in the desert, and saved them anyway. Probably, the same one whose mind was changed when the Israelites forgot about the poor and the widows and were punished for such ungodliness, and gave them back their land anyway.
Probably, the same God who became flesh and changed his mind, and healed the woman’s daughter despite the fact that she was the wrong everything.
Who can we trust to change his mind about us, and save us on the cross? Who can we trust to change his mind and show grace? Jesus of course. I guess this story was worth sticking around for after-all.
All Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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