Whenever I read this Gospel reading it really speaks to me. Not the healing side of it but the geographical reach of Jesus into Tyre and Sidon which were Gentile countries. That region today is known as the region that encompasses Lebanon as does Syrophoenicia. In case you’re not aware, Lebanon is the homeland of my father who immigrated to Australia after World War 2. Here he met my German mother who also came to Australia after World War 2. After they got married and had children, they had a big decision to make – because my mother, while being a German Lutheran, my father was a Lebanese Muslim. The decision – what religion to raise their children as. The decision was made easy in that my father felt that Australia was a Christian nation and we would have more opportunities. So we were Baptised at Trinity Lutheran Church in East Melbourne – the German speaking church still there today.
Fast forward about 20 years when I had my spiritual awakening, I decided to attend the local Lutheran church to further my faith journey, namely, St Paul’s Box Hill.What I had no inkling about was when one of the first comments made to me was “Ghalayini” – that’s not very Lutheran. I had no idea what that meant – but secondly it didn’t make me feel very welcome. It made me feel like a Gentile in the land of Israel. Whereas I don’t have the Lutheran pedigree that many in the Lutheran church have who came out in the 1800s from Prussia rather than post World War 2 – I sometimes like to believe that there may be a slim chance that the Syrophoenecian woman in our bible reading today may be a long lost relative of mine from Lebanon.
But our readings are not about who has the best pedigree but rather it’s about the very opposite. It is about treating one another as oneself. James calls it the royal law – You shall love your neighbour as yourself, Society often calls it the Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There should be no distinction whether it be race, colour, creed, gender – nothing. Because every single person is created by God and created in God’s image. And image has nothing to do with physical image.
Image has to do with extending the love and care to all of God’s earth and creatures just as God would. Just as Adam and Eve were asked to: Genesis One reads: So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Sadly we are living in a very fractured world and I probably don’t need to list all the categories by which we are seeing this division. As Christians we are asked to live by example of not treating anyone differently even if there are differences. And there are differences. Even God says that when St Paul explains the gifts of the Holy Spirit:
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. All these gifts are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
There are differences, there are distinctions, but there is to be no division as we work together for the common good – something we are not seeing much of today.
Even Jesus’ disciples didn’t see that at first when the Syrophoenician woman came up to Jesus begging him to heal her daughter: In Matthew’s Gospel reading of this account the disciples told Jesus to send her away.
James also warns against making any sort of distinction: If a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
But I want to look a little bit closer at this Syrophoenician woman because it almost seems that Jesus too was making a distinction because of her ethnic background.
Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” That sounds really harsh – and commentators have tried to get around it by saying the Greek word for “dog” is an endearing term like puppy – but truth be told, I don’t see it. But what we know about Jesus is that he searches the heart.
Jesus knew when the Pharisees came up to him with their religious piety what was really in their hearts – like last week when they exalted themselves because they kept the rules of purity handed down to them by their forefathers – the traditions of the elders. But Jesus called them hypocrites because while their outside was clean their hearts were unclean.
Likewise here, Jesus could see into her heart and would challenge her faith by seemingly rejecting her request. But she persisted, as Jesus knew she would and she fought back. And maybe this is the lesson for us to take from this.
We are going through difficult times at present and if you’re like me you have prayed for an end to what we are facing. It seems like God has said “no” – as he did to this woman. But she persisted –and she was bold and brazen and confronted Jesus when he said – it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs. She claimed her rights.
This is a time for us to not give up praying. This woman grew in her faith by the rejection she received and she kept Jesus honest reminding him of her rights, as a dog, to receive even the crumbs that fall from the table. Maybe we too need to be more bold and brazen in our prayers to God and remind him of his duty of care for us.
Yes I know that sounds blasphemous – but no more than this woman to Jesus.
The Psalms are full of cries to the Lord of their unjust treatment, seemingly forgotten by God:
Psalm 13: How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
Or Psalm 10: Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Even Jesus cried out at the injustice – My God, My God – why have you forsaken me?
There are different types of prayer but what we see here in our Gospel reading is the prayer of desperation, not pleading with God, but holding God to account when she was refused – even the DOGS have rights Lord. And we are worth much more than many dogs, as Jesus himself said when explaining how precious we are to God.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
I hope I am not coming across as disrespectful – I would never do that towards God.
But Luther, when explaining the Lord’s Prayer says – With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. As a child, did you ever say to your parents “that’s not fair”?
The book of Hebrews also says: Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. The woman in our Gospel approached Jesus, not with disrespect but with confidence knowing that the one who stood before her could heal her daughter.
We too know that the one standing before us can bring healing to our world so let’s keep asking.
Let’s keep asking with confidence.
Let’s keep asking with boldness.
Let’s keep asking with persistence.
Let’s keep asking –
And may the peace of God that surpasses all our understanding keep our hearts and minds forever in Christ Jesus. Amen.
