What Jesus learnt from ‘dogs’ by Rev Stuart Simpson
9th September 2012
Isaiah 35:1-10
Mark 7:24-37
“Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the
children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Illustration: Picture of the dog on the front of the Bulletin
How many of you have dogs? Aren’t they great? Some of us
have little dogs, some big, some sleep inside and some outside
If you do have a dog you probably spend a reasonable amount
on dog food, vet bills
You make sure they are healthy because they are part of the
family
In those parts of the world where dogs are not house pets, they
have a complex interaction with humans. Here is my impression
of the relationship between humans and canines in
Madagascar: Dogs alongside humans as scavengers, constantly
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on the prowl for food. They are often inbred, mangy, and
accompanied by flies. Nonetheless, they walk right into a group
of people and lay down to nap or stand under a table or beside
the kitchen waiting for a scrap, cooked or raw. They bark
incessantly at night and claim first dibs on anything dead. They
are shameless in defecating and procreating. They are
tolerated, but when company comes they are often driven
away with a switch or a rock and tend to settle again once the
imminent danger is out of reach.
This is the type of dog Jesus is referring to in the story today
Jesus is pretty much saying “the children, that is the people of
Israel, my people, God’s people are to be fed first. What God
has is for them, not for inbred, mangy, flies ridden animals like
you and your child.”
Whoa, hang on a minute, this doesn’t sound like the Jesus i
know!
It is an absolutely awful thing to say, to compare another
person to a dog.
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It is horrible to say to anyone, much less a mother, who has
fallen down at one’s feet begging mercy for her little child
Begging Jesus, the one who said "The Spirit of the Lord is on
me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Luke 4:18-19).
So why did Jesus say such a thing to this woman in need? And is
there anything we can learn from this dialogue between Jesus
and this woman?
Now there are ways of softening this scene, of recasting the
whole passage in face, if we so choose.
This requires two moves
First, Jesus doesn’t call her a dog, but rather a puppy. He’s
being affectionate, not insolent
You know, like “sorry little puppy, but it’s just not your time
yet.”
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While this is a family dubious piece of linguistic work to begin
with, this interpretation, as far as i can tell, doesn’t really solve
the problem.
Whether “puppy” or “dog” it’s still pretty obnoxious thing to
call a desperate mum who’s seeking your help.
The second twist in the traditional reading of this difficult
passage is to say it’s all a test, kind of like Job in the Old
Testament.
Except that unlike Job, nowhere does the passage indicate it’s a
test and, in fact, it would be the singular example of this kind of
move in the Gospel of Mark.
And honestly, why does this desperate woman, who’s already
demonstrated her great faith by coming to Jesus alone, bowing
at his feet, and beseeching him for healing
(Demonstrating her belief that Jesus, can in fact, heal her
daughter)
Need to be tested, let alone in such a demeaning way?
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I think this more traditional interpretation appeals to us
because on the surface, at least, it preserves the picture of
Jesus we
hold
in our heart
– perfect compassion,
foreknowledge, courage and love.
Yet this is Mark’s Gospel we are talking about, not John’s and
so maybe, just maybe
Jesus hasn’t fully lived into his messianic consciousness
Actually, this is just a fancy way of saying that maybe even
Jesus doesn’t quite realise just how expansive God’s kingdom is
yet!
Maybe this desperate woman pushes him, stretches his vision
of God’s grace
Notice in verse 29: Then he said to her, “For saying that, you
may go—the demon has left your daughter.” Jesus expels the
demon because of the reasoning of the woman.
It’s because of her statement that “even the dogs under the
table eat the children’s crumbs,” that Jesus heals her daughter
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It’s not simply that she cleverly reconfigures Jesus’ metaphors
of crumbs and canines to fit her desires. Her words contain as
much theological insight as they do wit or even humility.
It appears she recognises—somehow—a certain abundance
about the things Jesus is up to.
Recalling the leftovers when Jesus fed 5000 and perhaps more
in Mark 6 we hear these words
Go ahead, children, eat all you want. But what if your table
can’t contain all the food Jesus brings? The excess must
therefore start spilling to the floor – even now.
The woman also recognises the potency of this ‘food’. She
doesn’t demand to be treated as one of the ‘children’.
Look, mister, I’m not asking for a seat at the table.
My
daughter is suffering. All i need from you is a crumb or two. I
know that will do the job. But I’m going to need it right now.
Parents of really sick children don’t wait around.
It’s as if the woman inexplicably understands implications of
what Jesus announced in Mark 7:14-23 about what defiles
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Aren’t Jews and gentiles in the same boat, in terms of what
makes all of them defiled?
Then why should gentiles have to wait to participate in the
blessings made possible through the reign of Israel’s God?
She makes clear to Jesus in an unexpected and initially
unwelcome way that there is room in God’s kingdom for all
For Jews and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, insider
and outsider
Even dogs like her and her daughter.
If this is so, then I think we should give thanks for this
desperate mother and her fierce parental love,
For in it we see as clearly as anywhere in the Gospel the
character of God’s tenacious commitment and God’s similarly
fierce love for all of God’s children
But there is also one more thing this reading of the passage
does: it makes us aware of the unexpected blessing and insight
a stranger might bring to us
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Most churches are, when we get down to it, pretty
homogeneous
And while that’s perhaps understandable it can also be limiting
As we tend to bring the same perspectives, share the same
experiences, and hold common assumptions about God, the
world, and our faith
But every once in a while someone who is totally different from
us might stumble upon our faith community to join us for
worship and then suddenly the question becomes how we will
welcome this one.
Will strangers feel welcome or, well, strange?
Will they sense people eager to make a place for them to feel
the need to fit in and conform to the way things are?
Let’s face it: hospitality, for most of us, means being patient
and polite while we wait for newcomers to become more like
us
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But can we understand hospitality as a willingness to be open
to the distinct gifts and perspectives of someone who is
different?
Can we even imagine that hospitality is an openness to
receiving people who are different from us as gifts of God given
to change and stretch us?
If Jesus was changed and stretched in his understanding of
God’s kingdom
Then we must be open to the same changing and stretching.
Illustration:
PCM, why have a relationship with the
Presbyterian Church of Myanmar. I remember when i use to
work for the Global Mission Office of the PCANZ and hearing
about a woman who had travelled to Myanmar as a missionary.
She went with a set plan. She was being faithful and thought
she was the one who would do all the teaching. However,
when she was there Cyclone Nargis hit the country and
devastated vast areas of the land. She shares a story of how
she went to church the day after and was staggered at the faith
of the people who were able to give thanks to God even in the
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midst of such disaster. She had been taught something new
about Faith.
We can learn so much from our brothers and sisters in Christ in
Myanmar
What about those people who are closer to us
Those whom we might call non-Christian
Do we ever think we can learn from them, have our faith
strengthen by them?
Do we ever think they have anything to offer?
So what is God telling us today?
1. God’s is steadfastly committed to us and has a fierce love
for all of His children
2. We need to realised that if Jesus’ understanding of the
expansiveness of God’s kingdom and love was challenged
so will our understanding of what God is up to, will be often
be turned upside down and inside out
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3. It is often those whom we think have nothing to offer who
will challenge our faith, our assumptions and help us to
experience God and what God is doing in new ways.
Question: Who is the “under the table” in your life, asking for
only a crumb of bread or a morsel of attention? How is God
speaking to you through those who you have met or passed by
or barely noticed in recent weeks? Whom is God inviting you
to include, to love, as they were yourself? Because in the
largest sense, in God, your neighbour is yourself
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