Mark 7:24-37; James 2:1-10 and 14-17; Proverb 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

          I must confess that the scripture we read from the Gospel of Mark is one of those that if it was on me, I would like to remove it from the Bible, is not because I do not agree with it, or because is hard to understand. My personal reasons are simple, I do not agree with Jesus’ actions; I do not like what He said to this woman, it was very unkind, and somehow rude. After all, she just did what any of us would have done. She came to Jesus begging him to cure her daughter of an unclean spirit; something we already know He could have easily done; not only that, but she also came to him with an attitude of worship and humility bowing down to him, and yet, He rejected her and refused her request and casted her aside. Not only that, what He said to her was an insult, Jesus called her dog. And the question that has been asked for centuries is, why? Why the loving and caring, long expected Messiah treated this poor woman the way He did. Is this a contradiction of Jesus’ message.?

          Now, a traditional answer to this question says that Jesus is not actually rejecting her but rather testing her. According to this interpretation, the insult, the rejection does not have a bad intend, Jesus did not mean it. The so-called insult is only a mean by which Jesus tested her faith, to see if she really, really believed in him. And, of course, she passes with a good grade, and she got what she was asking for.

          Even though it is a pious explanation, I do not agree with it, for a couple of reasons,

First, nothing like it occurs anywhere else in the Gospels. Many people came to Jesus –including gentiles, the Roman centurion is one of them – they came asking for healing and He did not “test” their faith to get what they came asking for.

Second, this story creates a cold-hearted picture of Jesus, contrary to what the rest of the gospel portrays and

Third, James 1:13 says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone”

If the traditional interpretation does not satisfy, then what? Why would Jesus react in such a way before someone in need? Let me try to share with you a different answer to this question.

          There are moments in history considered moments of transition. A before and after events: in World history for instance the French revolution can be one of them; in our national history the Independence war marks a before and after in the life of this country. Jesus Himself is one of those events too; He divided history in two, before and after Christ. And because of that, I consider Jesus a “borderline” man; He lived in the borderline of heaven and earth; between what humans do and what God expects from them to do; Jesus lived in the borderline of the old order and the new order he was introducing.

The encounter with the Syrophoenician woman is one of those transitional moments in Jesus’ life. When this woman came interrupting Jesus’ nap, I wonder what the disciples’ reaction was. Were they expecting him to treat this woman the same way He did with the Samaritan woman by the well in chapter 4 of John and have a friendly dialogue with her? I think they did, however, this time Jesus acted as a real Jew.  I can almost see Peter’s smile on his face; I can almost hear him saying, “well done Jesus, that is the way of doing it, that is the right way to treat gentiles” However, I believe this was what I call a “before and after moment” in Jesus’ life.

The Syrophoenician woman’s reaction was unexpected. She reacted as a loving and courageous mother. She did not back off, on the contrary, she humbled herself even more, she accepted her condition as a gentile, and did something remarkable, she showed Jesus and his disciple that gentiles can also have faith in the God of Israel. They also deserve the caring of God the creator. This unnamed woman reminded Jesus his universal ministry, that His father loves the world. This woman’s reaction was the cause of an “after and before moment” in Jesus’ life. “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” Jesus said.

When this woman believed that Jesus could do the miracle, she was accepting Jesus as God’s messenger. That kind of faith changed the status of this woman from gentile to daughter of God. John 1:12 says “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”Paul in Romans and Galatians makes it clear that we are God’s children by faith, not by belonging to the people of Israel. “Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham.” Galatians 3:7.

The faith of this Syrophoenician woman broke the “walls of separation “and Jesus showed his disciples the reason he came to this world. “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,”Ephesians 2:14. The “Jew” Messiah, who saw gentiles as dogs, thru this unknown woman reminded his disciples his universal love and ministry. With this miracle Jesus was preparing his disciples for the ministry to the gentiles.

          The story of the Syrophoenician woman -as well as many others in the gospel- was a moment of transition in the history of salvation. What Jesus did first -His rejection to this woman- was the old order, it was the way Jews acted; what He did last was the new order; the example we all must follow; it was the change he came to make; it was a glimpse of God’s kingdom where everyone is treated equal.

          We, Christ’s Church, as Jesus, are also a “borderline” people. We live in between what the world wants us to do and what God is expecting us to do; we live in between this world’ rules and the rules of God’s Kingdom. We live in between the voices of this world and the Voice of God, and we must decide which side we are in. We must decide which path we take, the one this world is presenting, or the one Jesus came to show.                       

          The writer of James makes it very clear; we are to push beyond this world mindset and specifically reach out with Christ’s love to all people without exceptions, especially those who are poor and struggling; those who Jesus called my “little ones.” James 2:1-10 invites us to take a hard look at our communities and ourselves.  The Gospel invites us to take a good look at the way we live the gospel, the good news of Jesus. Jesus was a Jew among Jews, so he acted as one, but he is also the Good News that came from above; He is the Savior of the world; He is an agent of change, he is the example we must follow.

Remember we are “borderline” people because even when we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we have to live in this world and be light and salt, with our life style we have to show the most excellent way,as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:31.  We are “borderline” people because with the knowledge we have on God’s Kingdom and His will, we have to leave our comfort zone and go into this world, and … where there is hatred,  sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.  That is our mission. May God give us strength to do it; may God help us to make His kingdom visible this week.