Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost; 5 September 2021; Proper 18B (RCL); Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37.
The story of the Syrophoenician woman has always made Christians uncomfortable. Since when does Jesus insult people (besides religious authorities)? It doesn’t fit with our picture of Jesus. And to deny a healing, no less.
Mark has organized his material in two great blocks, each bracketed by a sea crossing and a feeding in the wilderness. In the first instance, Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat during a storm. His disciples rouse him, and he calms the storm — they wonder who he is. Upon arriving at the shore, they encounter the Gerasene demoniac, the man with the Legion. Then follow two healings, Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the flow of blood. After the sending of the twelve, and some teaching, Jesus instructs the disciples to feed the multitude of 5000 in the wilderness.
Anyone familiar with either the grand tradition or the little tradition would immediately recognize the Moses motif. Sea crossing/destroying Pharoah’s army/manna in the wilderness. When Jesus sends the twelve, he sends them only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the flow of blood represent people of Israel who would have been excluded from ceremonial table fellowship. I believe Mark (or the tradition that lies behind the gospel) is representing people being brought across dangerous social boundaries through baptism to table fellowship (eucharist). Paul makes the connection between Red Sea and baptism explicit in 1 Corinthians 10.
In the second instance, Jesus is not in the boat during the dangerous sea crossing, but comes to the disciples walking on the water. They think they are seeing a ghost, and Jesus addresses them using the divine name (I AM). Upon coming to shore, there are many healings, and then the two we have in the Gospel for this week. Jesus is in Gentile territory, and doesn’t want anyone to know, but he can’t escape notice. This block of material also closes with a feeding in the wilderness (4000 this time).
If the story represents people crossing dangerous social boundaries through baptism and inclusion in table fellowship, this episode I believe represents the case after Jesus’ lifetime (he is not in the boat). This time, a Gentile woman, through her own moxie is included in the gathered fellowship. At some point, the church struggled with whether or not to include Gentiles, and not just the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This struggle is written back into the story of Jesus.
In Matthew’s telling of the event, Peter says to Jesus, “If it is you, command me to come to you walking on the water.” Peter gets out of the boat, and walks on the water, until he sees the storm of controversy, and then he sinks. Jesus says to him, “O you of little faith! Why were you of two minds?” I believe this represents the Antioch incident that Paul relates in his letter to the Galatians. Peter ate with Gentiles until certain men from James arrived in Antioch, and then he drew back.
The healing that follows the Syrophoenician woman is a deaf man who has an impediment in his speech. Perhaps he could not hear the Gospel clearly, and so proclaimed it incompletely. Upon his healing, he cannot but proclaim it boldly.
The letter of James also warns us against making snap judgments about difference. The poor may indeed be the ones who will reveal God to us, rather than the rich.
Who are those clamoring to be healed by Jesus in our day, to whom we either turn a deaf ear, or worse, reply with an insult? We’d like to think we don’t do that, but I suspect that’s why Mark chose to tell the story the way he does. Even Jesus can respond from a place of prejudice and needs his mind changed. It would arrogant of us to assume we don’t.