Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
James 2:1-10, (11-13,) 14-18
Mark 7:24-37
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” British science-fiction-slash-comedy author Douglas Adams wrote about a computer named “Deep Thought” who was created to answer the greatest question of all: the question of life, the universe, and everything. It took thousands of years before the computer gave the original programmer’s great-great-great-et cetera-et cetera-et cetera grandsons the correct answer: forty-two. Yes, the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything is forty-two. Realizing this answer would not satisfy the waiting crowd, these sons of sons began to really worry about what would come next.
Of course Adams ’ book doesn’t leave us hanging. He goes on into a total of five books in what is known as “The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy”[1] before it was all said and done. But the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything is forty-two? A whole number? No wonder the grandsons were feeling antsy. As for me, I would have imagined the answer would have been a fraction like “Pi” or some odd mathematical constant like “e” or an even weirder imaginary number “i.” By the way, if you don’t know what these numbers are, that’s my point—the answer should be something more mysterious than the product of six times seven.[2]
I bring up these weird statements because this week Jesus’ life is filled with weird statements.
It begins as Jesus left the place where he had just told the Scribes and Pharisees that their vision was too small. He told them that their purification might keep their digestive system kosher, but their minds and mouths were another matter, one not handled by their careful washing. So Jesus heads northwest to the region of Tyre and Sidon , or in English, gentile country.
Now, Jesus did not come to this place to teach, if he had he would not have snuck into a house. Why did Jesus sneak into town? Was it because his own church government wasn’t happy with him? Was it because he wanted to go to the sea for a religious retreat where he wouldn’t be distracted? Was it because someone offered him a place up north to take a rest? This is one of the times I get to say “I don’t know and it may have even been none of the above.” Scripture doesn’t tell us why, but it does say “He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it,” which means he did not come to teach. For that, he would go where he could be found.
He is found, of course. In gentile country he is found by a gentile woman, a Greek from Syrian Phoenicia. This woman is out of Jesus’ circle on so many levels. She is a woman in a man’s world. She’s a gentile in the presence of a Rabbi. She’s a Greek in a land far from home. In gender, race, and residence—she has no place in the world of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is well aware of this. Her daughter, a little girl in a grown man’s world which gives her less social standing in front of Jesus than her mother, this woman’s daughter is demon possessed and she knows Jesus can help.
Last spring, the Lifetime TV Show “Army Wives” had an episode where a company of soldiers was ordered to rescue some aid workers. When they got there, the aid workers wanted to take the orphans too. The Colonel said no, his orders were clear, no orphans. He was begged to call HQ to see if the orders could be changed. HQ said no changes, aid workers only. They begged, but the Colonel said no, he couldn’t change his orders and he wouldn’t disobey them either.[3] Maybe this was why Jesus did what he did. His standing orders had nothing to do with the gentiles, not then anyway.
Jesus says “Let the children eat all they want for it is not right to take their children’s bread and toss it to their dogs?” This is what Jesus says. Jesus! The guy who we see walking with the little children, all the children of the world, divides them between his children and their dogs. Israel is the children of God; Mark’s rendering of this story makes this point crystal clear. Then some people try to soften this. They say that Jesus is calling the gentile children puppies, cute little pet puppies.
In seminary they teach that if there are two different ways to read scripture, go with the toughest one. God doesn’t take the easy way out and neither should our interpretation. Yes, the word for “dogs” could be translated “cute pet puppies,” but I want us to consider something more likely, something tougher. I want us to consider Jesus called the gentile children a pack of stray dogs, the kind the animal control officer takes to the shelter.
If Jesus saying your children are no better than stray dogs, as weird statements go, that’s weird enough for me. But it gets even weirder when the woman calmly reminds him even “the dogs under the children’s table eat the children’s crumbs.”
Those of you with children or grandchildren and pets know what this is; someone throws something on the floor and the dog gets it, but this week, another image crossed my mind. Imagine Jesus laying out the miracle of God like Cheerios on a high chair tray. Now imagine the little ingrates who either know no better or just want to act bratty throwing those oaty-oh’s on the floor. The Scribes and Pharisees throw the word of the Lord like so many Cheerios to the ground. Can you blame the dogs for eating their fill?
There’s a Greek woman from Syrian Phoenicia who says no. There’s a gentile woman who says that if your own people won’t taste and see the Lord is good there are others who will. As someone said during our study on Thursday, Jesus was schooled. Jesus was taken to the woodshed of the Lord by a woman with no social standing.
Jesus was humble and righteous enough to know when he had been schooled though. For her reply, her hopeful, faithful reply, her intercession was granted and the demon was gone.
Jesus was looking for one thing, but got something completely unexpected. This would have come to nothing if he weren’t willing to focus on the distraction.
So then Jesus went to the Decapolis , the ten cities. According to Mark’s gospel Jesus took the long way there too. He went somewhere between thirty to fifty miles or maybe even further out of his way to get to the Decapolis . This could mean one of several things. Maybe Jesus needs a new travel agent. Maybe the authors and editors of this part of the gospel needed a map. The reason I think is likely is that Jesus wanted to take the long way. Jesus wanted some time on his own.
So for whatever reason, after taking the scenic route, Jesus comes to the gentile region west of the Sea of Galilee . There a deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to him. His friends begged Jesus to lay his hands on the man.
Important historical note! At this time, things like birth defects were chalked up to sin. Somebody sins, and this is why Tony is a deaf-mute. Was the little girl in the last narrative demon possessed or did she have some kind of medical seizure disorder? Well, from our reading we know what the doctors of the day had to say about that.
So Jesus takes the man aside and to make a long story short, he opens the man’s ears and loosens his tongue. He can hear well and speak plainly.
The people were overwhelmed. Despite the Lord’s wishes, the people proclaim, “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Of all things, what makes that proclamation interesting is the word “even.”
Sure, bum rushing a demon out of a little girl; it takes someone special to do that. To make the deaf hear and the mute speak; to heal a birth defect—a birth defect rooted in sin—that requires God. Only God can forgive sins. When they said “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak” they weren’t just talking about special ability, they were saying that he does things only God can do.
If Jesus had stayed to the beaten path and ignored the distractions, we would have none of this. Jesus focuses on the distractions around him and this becomes his mission. A broader mission than the one he had only a half chapter earlier. We learn something very special from these very odd narratives from Mark’s gospel. We learn first about not faith that can move mountains, but actions that can restore the world.
These people, the woman and the friends, they had heard of Jesus. He was not their savior, he belonged to Israel . In the midst of the social and racial distance between them, these people knew that Jesus could and would work a miracle in their lives. They knew, somehow, someway they knew Jesus would save their friends and family from the separation sin and disease put in their way. They knew Jesus would save them.
They knew what James writes,
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Suppose a brother of sister is without clothes and daily food? Dang, the Greek woman said as much to Jesus, and she dared him not to respond to the needs of the people Jews saw as less. Yes, Jesus shied away from this new mission to start, but he came around. The twin controversies of a woman confronting the Lord and the Lord being schooled were tremendous, but not so much that her desires were not heard and healed.
The faith of the gentile mother and the deaf-mute’s friends was not dead. They brought their concerns to the glory seat of Christ where they were heard and healed. By their faith in Christ and their actions; a little girl and a full grown man are restored to their loved ones and their place in the community. This is a glimpse of the restoration Christ promises to us all. These two are returned to the people who love them. They now have the opportunity to lead full rich lives.
This is the hope of all Christians today—restoration, reconciliation with God. This is a restoration of more than our health, it is a restoration from the wages of sin and a reconciliation with the Lord our God which has been broken since the fall. This is the community from which sin separates us. In Mark’s distractions, a mother reminds Jesus of his present and future mission. Later in this trip, Jesus demonstrates he has learned that lesson with the men in the Decapolis .
Jesus could have hung a shingle and said, “Gone fishin’,” but when confronted by the distractions life put in his way he responded with care. He balked first, but Jesus answered when the new call came into his life.
We too need to stand up for others like Jesus did, even when it’s an interruption, a distraction. We need to look around into the faces that do not look like us and see what the Lord is calling us to do. Some days we too need a reminder as harsh as the one Jesus received. Even when our distractions are controversial, they aren’t nearly as controversial as the one Jesus got in this reading.
“Deep Thought,” the super computer from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” told these fellows that while the answer they received to the question of life, the universe, and everything is correct, they had no idea of what the question really is. Later author Douglas Adams answers the question of life, the universe, and everything; and the answer is “What do you get when you multiply six by nine?” This answer is not expected for at least two reasons. The first reason is that the ultimate question should be more than a math equation. The second is that when you multiply six by nine, the result is fifty-four, not forty-two.
This teaches us that sometimes the questions and the answers don’t add up to us, but they do to a greater power. In the book this power is a super computer. In our world the power is God who wants us to be reconciled to the Lord and to one another. Sometimes when we don’t get what we expect we end up playing favorites, the kind of favorites Marie warned us about in today’s children’s sermon; the kind of favoritism Jesus scolds the Pharisees about, the kind Jesus himself practiced with the gentile woman. When we are able to focus on the distractions, sometimes—that’s just where God wants us to be.
[1] The final paperback called it “the increasingly misnamed Hitchhiker’s Trilogy”
[2] On a side note, I took two semesters of calculus in high school and retook them in college, eventually earning “C” grades. That said, I have no idea how to use e, not a bloody clue!
[3] UPDATE: One of the aid workers stayed behind and the kids were rescued which caused a controversy. The Colonel and his company were absolved of wrong doing, they did not disobey an order and they stayed within their pay grades.
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