Scraps
Read Mark 7:24-37.
She was "not from here." She was an outsider, a foreigner, and a woman to boot. In that world and culture, "foreign" woman were probably near the bottom of the social scale. But this woman is desperate, and that makes her bold. You can mess with a person's life, but don't mess with a mother's child. (Can I get an "amen" from all the mothers out there?) She is desperate, so she boldly approaches Jesus and asks for a miracle.
If the disciples were shocked on another occasion to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman, they must have been wholeheartedly outraged that this Greek woman made it through the crowds, pushed aside security, and was able to approach Jesus directly. Not only did she get close enough to talk to him, she had a bold request for him as well. Her daughter had a demon. Her daughter needs healing. And she believes Jesus can do that.
The Jesus who responds to her is not the Jesus we're accustomed to. We expect Jesus to agree and to immediately cast out the demon and bring healing to the situation. That's certainly who we've encountered thus far in the Gospel. So what's up with the Jesus who says, "Go away. You Greeks are like dogs to we Jews. You don't get the food first"? And when he's talking about dogs, he's not talking about the cute pets we think of. He's thinking of wild packs of dogs who scavenge for whatever little they can get. Basically, he tells her, "You Greeks can have whatever we Jews decide we don't want, whatever we throw out on the garbage heap."
That's kind of rude, isn't it? At least it sounds so to our twenty-first century ears. Is Jesus testing her? Or is he reflecting his actual mission? He says elsewhere he was sent primarily to the lost sheep of Israel. He came to seek and save his people, who were then supposed to go and be the light of the world. Yes, he has spoken to non-Jews before, but that's not his primary mission.
Or is he teasing her? Does he already know what he plans to do? Is there a jocular tone we're missing here because of the printed text? Whatever is going on, the woman doesn't back down. Like the desperate parent she is, she pushes back at him: "Even the dogs eat the crumbs from under the table of the children." How true I know that to be! With both of our kids, we rarely had to vacuum under their high chairs because our old cocker spaniel, Gideon, would hang out there and clean up things dropped as fast as they fell. (And I think sometimes he may have bumped their arms with his nose, but I can't prove it.) The woman uses that image to push back at Jesus, as if to say, "I'm content to be a dog in your eyes, as long as I get the scraps from the table."
I think I'm with the woman. I've read about the table Jesus spreads, and it is amply stocked. There is grace aplenty. If all I ever get are the scraps that fall from that table, that will be more than enough. I know I am one who is grafted in to the kingdom of God, and I'm just glad to be welcomed, included, invited and loved. The scraps from the table of God are better than the meal from any full table the world dares to set. I'll take those scraps, Jesus. That will be more than enough.
+++++++
P.S. This coming Sunday, I'll preaching on the second half of this passage.
She was "not from here." She was an outsider, a foreigner, and a woman to boot. In that world and culture, "foreign" woman were probably near the bottom of the social scale. But this woman is desperate, and that makes her bold. You can mess with a person's life, but don't mess with a mother's child. (Can I get an "amen" from all the mothers out there?) She is desperate, so she boldly approaches Jesus and asks for a miracle.
If the disciples were shocked on another occasion to find Jesus talking with a Samaritan woman, they must have been wholeheartedly outraged that this Greek woman made it through the crowds, pushed aside security, and was able to approach Jesus directly. Not only did she get close enough to talk to him, she had a bold request for him as well. Her daughter had a demon. Her daughter needs healing. And she believes Jesus can do that.
The Jesus who responds to her is not the Jesus we're accustomed to. We expect Jesus to agree and to immediately cast out the demon and bring healing to the situation. That's certainly who we've encountered thus far in the Gospel. So what's up with the Jesus who says, "Go away. You Greeks are like dogs to we Jews. You don't get the food first"? And when he's talking about dogs, he's not talking about the cute pets we think of. He's thinking of wild packs of dogs who scavenge for whatever little they can get. Basically, he tells her, "You Greeks can have whatever we Jews decide we don't want, whatever we throw out on the garbage heap."
That's kind of rude, isn't it? At least it sounds so to our twenty-first century ears. Is Jesus testing her? Or is he reflecting his actual mission? He says elsewhere he was sent primarily to the lost sheep of Israel. He came to seek and save his people, who were then supposed to go and be the light of the world. Yes, he has spoken to non-Jews before, but that's not his primary mission.
Or is he teasing her? Does he already know what he plans to do? Is there a jocular tone we're missing here because of the printed text? Whatever is going on, the woman doesn't back down. Like the desperate parent she is, she pushes back at him: "Even the dogs eat the crumbs from under the table of the children." How true I know that to be! With both of our kids, we rarely had to vacuum under their high chairs because our old cocker spaniel, Gideon, would hang out there and clean up things dropped as fast as they fell. (And I think sometimes he may have bumped their arms with his nose, but I can't prove it.) The woman uses that image to push back at Jesus, as if to say, "I'm content to be a dog in your eyes, as long as I get the scraps from the table."
I think I'm with the woman. I've read about the table Jesus spreads, and it is amply stocked. There is grace aplenty. If all I ever get are the scraps that fall from that table, that will be more than enough. I know I am one who is grafted in to the kingdom of God, and I'm just glad to be welcomed, included, invited and loved. The scraps from the table of God are better than the meal from any full table the world dares to set. I'll take those scraps, Jesus. That will be more than enough.
+++++++
P.S. This coming Sunday, I'll preaching on the second half of this passage.
AMEN!!!
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