Mark 7: 24-37

I love the miracles in the gospels! I love hearing them. I love reading them. I love taking stabs at teaching and preaching them. I even love hearing someone explaining away the supernatural elements and translating them into metaphorical fairy tales. But the miraculous in the gospels don’t just straighten people out. These stories exemplify much more than that.

A little boy sent this letter to his pastor: “Dear pastor, I know God loves me, but I wish he would give me an A on my history test so I can be sure.”  

In Matthew’s account of the story I read of the mother and her sick daughter, Jesus told the Gentile woman, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15: 24).” When Jesus selected his twelve disciples in Matthew 10 and sent them out in mission he told them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10: 5b-6).”

During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, the prime minister of Israel, visited the president at the White House. They were talking in the Oval Office when Begin noticed the three phones on Carter’s desk. One was platinum, one was red, and one was gold. Begin joked, “What are those phones really for?” President Carter said, “The platinum phone connects to my family in Georgia. The red phone has a direct line to Russia so I can call them anytime. The gold phone is my personal hot line to God.” Begin laughed, “How much does it cost to talk to God?” “Ten thousand dollars,” Carter answered. “And it’s worth every penny.” Time passed, and the president visited the prime minister in Israel. He happened upon an office with three phones in it. He couldn’t resist asking, “What are your three phones for?” Begin replied, “One is my direct line to the Parliament, one is my line to Egypt, and the last is a line to God.” Carter asked, “And how much does it cost for you to reach God?” “Ten cents,” responded Begin. “It’s a local call.” Jesus’ first priority was to bring the news of the Kingdom of God in word and deed to the Jews first.

The gospel of Matthew, which was believed to be written for a primarily Jewish Christian audience, makes sure Jesus’ mission to the Jews was clearly documented.  The Syrophoenician woman here in Mark 7, clearly a Gentile, non-Jewish woman noticed him staying at a house nearby. He entered a house in clearly Gentile territory, Tyre and Sidon, and hoped not to be noticed. Immediately, when she heard about him, she came and bowed down at his feet.

There are two primary points I want to emphasize in these stories. First, he traveled alone, alone to Gentile territory where no Jews dared travel, live or do business. He wanted to escape notice but failed. He didn’t appear to hesitate in going to Gentile territory, enter a presumed Gentile house, travel through the region of the Decapolis (a ten-town area known to be Greek in its cultural practices) on his way to the Sea of Galilee. His purpose to stay in Tyre might have been to vacation away from the Jewish crowds pursuing him. He didn’t refrain from being among the inferior people, the hopeless people, the ignored and rejected people.

The judge glared down from the bench at the prospective juror. “And why is it,” he asked, “that you don’t want to serve on this jury?” The man replied, “Well, judge, I’m prejudiced. One look at that man convinced me that he is guilty.” The judge scowled and replied, “That man is not the defendant, he’s the district attorney.”

A first grader went on her first day to a newly integrated school at the height of desegregation. An anxious mother met her at the door to inquire, “How did everything go, honey?” “Oh, mother! You know what? A little black girl sat next to me!” In fear and trepidation, the mother asked calmly, “And what happened?” The little girl responded, “We were both so scared that we held hands all day.”

Without hesitation or fear, Jesus went to culturally, religiously and racially foreign territory. Secondly, The Syrophoenician woman begged Jesus to cast out an unclean spirit from her daughter. He said in Mark 7 he preferred the children to be fed first. This reiterated his initial mission to the Jews first. She responded that what would fall from the table would be sufficient. Though he willfully challenged the Gentile woman to back off, she knew whatever he threw to her, even as crumbs from the table, would be enough to deliver her daughter. He honored her determination, her non-Jewish, ritually unclean, uncovenantal, inferior determination, for the sake of her daughter.

In the Decapolis, that Greek area north of Galilee, people brought him a deaf and dumb man and begged Jesus to lay his hands on him in order to heal him. This sounds like the Syrophoenician woman; she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. In both stories, faith is never referenced, but in both stories, Jesus responded to their begging with an exorcism and a recreative miracle. A bold unbeliever was lecturing a group on the folly of religious faith in general and the Christian faith in particular. At the close of the presentation the speaker invited people to ask any questions they might have. In the audience was the town drunk who had been converted to Christ. In response to the invitation the converted alcoholic came up front, took out an orange, peeled it, and ate it without a comment. The speaker asked if he had a question for him.  After downing the last segment of orange, the convert turned to the unbelieving intellectual and asked, “Was the orange I just ate sweet or sour?” Angrily, the speaker replied, “How can I know whether it was sweet or sour when I never tasted it?” To this the converted drunkard retorted, “And how can you know anything about Christ if you have not tried him?”

I love the miracles in the Bible. Jesus came to their territory fearlessly. They came to him, wanting him to deliver and correct their loved ones. They did not have the proper theological language or understanding. They just wanted him to help because somehow, they knew he would.

He didn’t come to that foreign territory and unfamiliar people with his disciples. “He set out and went away to the region of Tyre. (verse 24)” He was alone. He had no one learning from him on this trip, no one but us. We’re the disciples, we’re the learners and students on this trip. What did we learn? Jesus was not afraid to cross boundaries that divided classes and races and religions and cultures. And in those foreign communities, he didn’t withhold grace and mercy from the forgotten and troubled because they couldn’t express the acceptable theological understanding in words like faith or trust. They just begged. They begged, and he showed them the Kingdom. Where we go and cross the borders we know into foreign and challenging communities that leave us uneasy, we’ll have the opportunities to show them the Kingdom, as well.

(Preached at Lincoln UMC in Lincoln, AL, September 5, 2021)