When he finished debating the Pharisees about the necessity of hand-washing, he told those who were gathered around him… that the source of all sin is lodged in their hearts. Then he left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre, which was then in Phoenicia. Tyre, now in Lebanon, was an important costal city in its day, and although its citizens worshiped a god named Malku, they did have some contact with their Jewish neighbors.
One of them was a man named Jesus who quietly entered the town one day- to rest, and get away from the mobs who clamored for him to meet their needs and also the Pharisees, who were harassing him as he moved from town to town in Israel. Tyre was populated by “unclean” people and the entire region was “off-limits” to orthodox Jews… but for reasons of his own, Jesus went to Tyre, and entered a house there.
He wanted to a little rest, but his fame had already spread to Tyre. People there were aware of his work as a healer and as soon as Jesus arrived a Syrophonecian woman confronted him face-to-face. She was desperate because her “little girl” was “beside herself.” She was no longer in her “right mind,” and her family could see that she was in the hands of a destructive spirit. Things were getting worse and so, this unnamed woman traveled to Jesus… and begged him to heal her daughter.
She was respectful. She fell at Jesus’ feet and begged, but she was there… talking to a man, talking to Jewish man, and she seemed to be unaware that she was way out of her league. She seemed to believe that Jesus could and would heal her daughter, not withstanding the boundaries that governed the ways in which men and women, and Jews and Gentiles… were expected to interact. She seemed to believe that she was as entitled to a miracle as anyone else would be. So she begged Jesus to heal her daughter!
But Jesus demurred, saying that he had been sent to minister to the Jews. I’ve been sent to minister to the children of Israel and that’s where my focus and efforts must be. It wasn’t a matter of empathy, but a matter of priorities. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Yes, the dogs because dogs were “unclean” and when they were free to speak, many Jews called Gentiles- “dogs.” Jesus’ answer was “no,” or at best, “not now,” but the woman held her ground.
She didn’t slink away without saying a word, and she didn’t suggest that she and her daughter should be at the table. She knew that they were not first in line… but she insisted that even the dogs under the table received crumbs of food. Everyone, even the dogs, ought to share in the bread of life. Even if they weren’t at the head table, they should receive God’s love, grace, and healing, even if its only in the form of crumbs. The woman didn’t quarrel with Jesus’ mission, or with the blessings the Jews were receiving… but she was sure that she counted too. Then Jesus told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.”
Faith is strongest when it finds its form in action, and this foreign woman embodied the very definition of faith, She came to Jesus, believing it seems, that she had a right to speak to him. She was asking for her daughter, not demanding, but begging. She knew that if Jesus responded, it would be a “gift of grace.” But out of desperation for her little girl, she asked humbly… and when Jesus demurred she held her ground and presented her case… which was not a matter of what we deserve or even who should be first. It’s simply believing that grace cannot be limited in any way and that God really does love… all the children of the world.
Jesus loves the little children/ All the children of the world/ Red and yellow, black and white, girls and boys, gay and straight, blessed and troubled, in all sizes and shapes, Hebrew, Presbyterian, and Lebanese… Jesus loves the little children of the world. Amen!
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