(Mark 7:24-37)

Jesus is a person of his time: speaking Aramaic, thinking David wrote the Psalms, riding donkeys, wearing sandals, expecting the Apocalypse, picturing a flat world. He responds to the woman with concern about the cleanliness codes: “it is not fair to feed the children’s food to dogs”. Jesus steps outside of his code partly due to compassion on his behalf and partly due to the faith of the woman. It is the beginning of a change of focus from a ministry to the Jews to a ministry to the whole world. It is the excitement of a new beginning - like the anticipation at the start of a film, or a book or the first quiet cords of a song. For those starting out, more precious than seizing the moment is trusting the moment – an ending, a beginning, a doorway a threshold – like a simple opening line.Story:

• Jesus had travelled north to Tyre, a large Canaanite/Phoenician city with a long history of tension and Gentile commerce with Israel. A Greek Phoenician woman with a demon-possessed daughter begged Jesus for healing.

• Compassion fatigue: By the time we reach Mark 7:24 Jesus has already banished an unclean spirit, cured Peter’s mother in law, cast out and silenced demons, cleansed a leper, stood up a paralytic, repaired a withered hand, exorcised the Gerasene demoniac whose name is Legion, brought Jairus’ daughter back from the brink of death, staunched by a touch a flow of blood, made alive the synagogue ruler’s daughter, “ and as many as even touched his garment were made well”.

Staying in the box:

• Jesus’ initial ministry was to the lost sheep of the house of Israel… children must be fed ‘first’…‘to the Jew, first, and also to the Greek’ (Rom 1:16-17). Jesus went first to the Jews and when they rejected him and ultimately crucified him, the Gospel was opened up to the Gentiles (Timing rather than change of plan)

• Jesus’ harshest comment: “we don’t feed dogs”. If any dominical saying is historical this surely must be for it is so uncomplimentary, so unflattering. The image (women as dogs) is demeaning. It was common for Jews to refer to Gentiles as "dogs". It portrays Jesus mouthing prejudice

• She had two strikes against her - she was a woman and a Gentile. 

Thinking outside the box:

• But she had a problem.  Her daughter was demon-possessed.  Perhaps she knew all-to-well about the alliances and that proper protocol forbade an unclean Gentile woman from even speaking to a Jewish man, much less a famous religious teacher like Jesus.  Her actions show that it was true then as it is now - when your children are involved in the equation, desperation overcomes even the strongest alliances.  So this poor woman steels her courage and approaches Jesus with her problem.

• What if there was a twinkle in His eye as He spoke?

• Jesus was not prepared to be controlled by the exclusive social and religious customs of the day.  The Lord wants us to move beyond our cultural borders to reach people different from ourselves. Jesus stretches out beyond Judaism, beyond inherited religion, beyond cult and culture, beyond tradition

• Jesus abandoned his very conservative stance in favour of compassion and inclusion. Jesus refused to remain bound by such distinctions. He crossed the boundary.

• A woman from the coastal regions of Palestine persuaded him. What an extraordinary woman!

• The story illustrates the new inclusiveness of the gospel. Faced with human need Jesus is persuaded that people matter most. No one can be excluded. All must be given food. None can be treated like dogs. The story celebrates this reality.

Conclusion:

Jesus can be persuaded to change his mind – can we? There are many ‘dogs’ in our community.Teenage gang leaders Shaahid Latif and Rikki Elliott were brought together by the Unity scheme in Peterborough. The aim of the scheme was to take leaders with ‘street cred’ among their peers who had been involved in racist incidents and put them through a basic youth work training. Previously Rikki and Shaahid would fight in gangs and racially abuse each other. Rikki would called Shaahid a ‘Paki’ or a ‘curry muncher’. Shaahid would call Rikki and ‘white bastard’. What they discovered was that they were desperately looking for a way out of the spiral of violence. “I have learnt that racism isn’t needed" said Rikki, “hate is a baggage you should not carry around. If it hadn’t been for this scheme I would probably have been in hospital or worse prison." Shaahid has also turned a corner. He now believes that his problem was violence not racism and he is studying for a business degree. (Independent 09/09/06)