Not Yet...No Now

It’s good to be here. It was good to have the time off that I had in between my calls, but it is always good to be back doing what God has called me to do.

I have said it before to some people, and I’m going to say it again. This story of the Syrophoenician woman would not have been my first choice of texts to preach on at a new call. Yet I am glad that this is the text because it forced me to really face this text and dig into better understanding it, and seeing what we all can learn from it.

We find Jesus leaving Galilee and heading into Gentile territory. Here he enters a house because he wants some quiet time away from the crowds that have constantly followed him everywhere. This is not the first nor will it be the last time that Jesus attempts to seek to be alone and he is not able to find it.

This time, the interruption comes from someone who is about as far from Jesus religious and cultural identity as you can get. As one commentator put it, this person has 3 strikes and she’s out. She’s a woman approaching Jesus in the privacy of a home which is a cultural “no-no”. She’s a Gentile and not a Jewish person. Finally she is Syrophoenician which is a group of people who were looked down upon and despised by Jewish people even more so than an average Gentile person.

So not only is Jesus being interrupted when he’s trying to escape notice for a few moments, but he’s being interrupted by someone who has all of these things going against her. I do believe all of this is at play when Jesus talks to this woman. That’s not to say that that’s an excuse for the way that Jesus talks to her, but it might help us to understand the dynamics happening and why I believe that this story is more about the woman teaching Jesus than it is about Jesus.

While Jesus uses the terms children and dogs he is essentially saying that the people of Israel are the children and the gentiles and especially this Syrophoenician person are the dogs. In other words Jesus is saying that the Word of God, the healings and everything he is doing, which he calls the food, is for Israel first and then eventually it will go the the Gentiles. He’s explaining to her the order in which things are going to happen. Jesus seems to be saying in a rather offensive way that Israel has to be fed and healed first and then eventually the rest of the world will follow.

What this Syrophoenician woman is able to do is essentially change Jesus’ mind, not about ministry to the Gentiles I don’t believe because we do see there is ministry to the Gentiles, but I believe she changes his timeline. Jesus is saying not yet, I’m not done with Israel, your time will come. The Syrophoenician woman is saying, no…now. She doesn’t argue by saying that he should stop his ministry to Israel. What she does say is that there is so much that he has done and is doing in the world that even the crumbs, the leftovers of his love, his grace, his healings is more than enough for her daughter. Surely he can spare some crumbs for her daughter.

Jesus agrees. There is enough. His plan doesn’t have to completely change, he doesn’t have to stop his ministry to Israel and there is always enough bread to go around. She is right and he changes his mind to heal the daughter.

I wonder if we have ever been somewhere, perhaps on vacation, or a trip or just trying to spend some time away from the busyness of the world and we too have encountered someone who needs to talk or has questions about God and faith and we are caught off guard and not really wanting to have that conversation because we just want to be alone or any other time but right now.

Here on my first Sunday with you I figure I would spend some time in confession with you. So here we go. It’s been a long time since I have been on a plane for many reasons, but the rare times I spent traveling by plane without Bekkah and before we had kids, meaning I was traveling alone for whatever reason I would try to get settled in my seat and read a book or put my headphones in so that I could just enjoy some quiet time while traveling. My confession is that part of the reason I used to do that is because when I talk to people on a plane they inevitably ask you what you do for a living. So obviously I answer that I am a pastor or that I was studying to become a pastor. People would either end the conversation there or more often they would then start talking to me about all their problems and their faith and their struggles, etc.

It used to bug me. I didn’t get my quiet time. I was hearing very private details about a complete stranger that I would never see again. Eventually though I learned what I think Jesus learned in his interaction with the Syrophoenician woman. It’s not about me. There’s plenty of people in the world who need to hear a word of grace, a word of forgiveness, a word of acceptance. None of us know when we might be the light of Christ to a world very much in need of his light. And it will probably happen when we least expect it to happen, and it might even happen when we’re trying to get away, trying to relax, or when we’re just trying to enjoy our vacation. Don’t let culture, stereotypes, preconceived notions, or anything else stop us from spreading the Good News to those who want to hear it. We could and probably will be surprised by the faith of the people we encounter.

Take for example the faith of the deaf man and his friends. The Decapolis where this next encounter occurs is also in Gentile territory and the man he heals is likely a Gentile along with his friends. They too, just like Syrophoenician woman, have heard of Jesus and his teaching and his healing and seek him out in faith and hope. The part that I want to point out is the last line of that interaction where the people watching the healing say 37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

The reason why I want to point these lines out is because they are quotes from the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures. These Gentiles either have direct or indirect knowledge of what scripture says about God and God work in the world. When they say that he has done everything well it brings our minds back to Genesis 1:31 “31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.” When God finished creation God saw that God had done everything well. These Gentiles are relating the work of Jesus to the work of God at creation. Then they continue by saying that he makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak which is directly quoting the first reading we had today from Isaiah 35:5-6 “5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;” . This text from Isaiah is speaking about the one who is to come to make everything ready for God. The one we call Jesus, the Messiah, our Savior and Lord.

We see the deaf man and his friends, the Syrophoenician woman, and many people from around the world who are hungry for the love of God as found in Christ Jesus. They are eager to hear and participate in the kingdom of God. May we be open and receptive to the times and the people who come into our lives also seeking that same love, grace, forgiveness and hunger for the bread of life that only God can give and that Jesus offers. And may we also never forget that we too should be eager to come to Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit with all our concerns and cares. For our God is a God of abundance, healing, and life for all people.

Amen.