Saturday, week four: The traditions of the elders and faith of a stranger (Devotions for Lent from the Gospel of Mark)

The religious leaders in Jesus’ time are no different than other people in power. They want to hold onto their position and authority. Jesus is a threat. After all, massive crowds are following him, looking to him for teaching and authority, instead of them.

They’ve taken to watching Jesus and his disciples closely. Every move, every choice, every word holds the potential for discrediting him and simultaneously turning the crowd. So they confront Jesus about defilement and cleanliness. Jesus puts them in their place.

Contrast these religious leaders with the woman from Syrophoenicia. She has no pretense about power, authority, or even the right to be in Jesus’ presence. She doesn’t care about religious convention. She doesn’t care about anything except the healing of her child and she knows Jesus can deliver. She’s desperate enough to beg.

This woman is smart enough to know she doesn’t stand a chance of Jesus helping her when anyone Jewish is around. He has been healing Jews left and right since his ministry began. But Gentiles? Even if the demoniac in Garasa was a Gentile, that makes the count of Gentiles healed just one. What makes her think he’ll help?

To be fair, Jesus is in the region of Tyre. Technically, it is in the land of Israel, but the people there never really behaved themselves. They never submitted to Jewish practices. The land was not only considered Gentile, but downright hostile.

In other words, Jesus, having just berated the Jewish religious leaders for misunderstanding religious cleanliness, heads off to a defiled place. No Jew in their right mind would follow him there. Perhaps Jesus goes there to get a break from it all, or just to check it out. Who knows? But there he is.

This is the Syrophoenician woman’s chance. She waits for an opportune moment, then she goes right to the source of healing, enduring every lash of his tongue for disrupting his rest. She begs to find out if his gifts might be for the Gentiles, too.

Text for the day:

Mark 7:1-30

Things to think about:

What is the limit of Jesus’ desire to heal?

Things to do:

Ask someone in your life about their impression of Jesus. You might find a more interesting answer if you ask someone who is not Christian.

God, challenge my boundaries.