Introduction
Even the best of us can be caught up in the complex web of prejudice and culture of arrogance. Jesus was no exception. One should not underestimate the insider-outsider dynamics of his geo-political, cultural, ethnic and religious world. Jesus’ refusal to the Gentile woman’s plea certainly ignited a conversation where the ‘outsider’ reminds him that God’s way of love is larger, more expansive, and inclusive than any tribe, or nation.
Context
This insider-outsider dynamic is all over the news and around us: whether it is the labour leadership discourse and the demonising of the most popular candidate, the costly plight of fleeing people risking lives to get away from terror, the fencing out of desperate humans seeking a better life – penned in a railway station, the clashes at asylum centres, the gender pay gap inequality in our own land, the status quo’s defence of allowing the torture ship Esmeralda to berth at Canary Wharf or a tired economic system creating greater disparities - we seem largely chained to patterns of selfish and exclusionary behaviour. Yet, the way of God’s expansive embrace urges us to take on embodied forms in stories of compassion, solidarity, and active involvement in doing something to disrupt the cycle of exclusion.
Reflection
Holding on – for a blessing
Give her credit. This Gentile mother may have seen something generous in Jesus’ acts. And though Jesus may have been suffering from compassion fatigue or locked in the insider-outsider dynamics of his world, she did not give up. With wit, humility and theological insight she grasped the ‘food’ Jesus was about. Why can’t the ‘leftover’ bread be used to feed her hunger, too? So she insists on a crumb or two for her sick child. The refugee parents from Syria and elsewhere are asking no less! How is Christian Europe responding?
Representing the other
Instead of trying to rationalise Jesus’ dehumanising representation of the Syrophoenician woman, we need to be mindful of how easy it is, in spite of our best intentions, to become locked in systems of exclusion. This encounter is about two realities: that of the woman and that of the brokenness of Jesus’ own reality. Transformation means naming and giving attention to both. What are we waiting for?
Crumbs of faith
What is faith if it is not about desperation and tenacity before the One who offers abundant life for all? Doctrines, titles, and well-crafted theological confessions/statement are irrelevant. Faith is clinging to Jesus in desperation and expecting him to heal, restore, release and save. It's about holding Jesus to his word about abundant life for all!
Minding unlikely blessings
This desperate woman stretches Jesus’ vision of God's grace, clarifying for him that that there is room for all in God's expansive embrace – even people like her and her daughter! Should this not make us more alert to the strangers in our midst and those scaling the high fences at our borders? Is it not common sense that those from different contexts and with different experiences are most likely to reignite the renewal we need in our life together which has become comfortable, brittle, lukewarm and in some cases heartless? And there is something here about hospitality that is about embracing the distinct gifts and experiences of those not like us, and seeing these as blessings to stretch and release us of our fears and draw us out of our comfort zones.
Prayer
Generous and compassionate God,
move our eyes and ears beyond the media;
de-clutter our minds of debilitating statistics;
release us from the fear of what is strange and different,
and breathe into our hearts your way of expansive embrace.
In the name of the One who has shown us
that there is a different way to live:
that like you God, we love the orphan and the widow,
and welcome the sojourner and the stranger in our lives.
Amen.
Questions
- Who are the ones ‘under the table’ in our life, pleading for only a crumb of bread, a voice or attention?
- How is God speaking to you through those you have met/passed by or barely noticed in recent weeks?
- Whom is God inviting us to include and to love?
Action
Take a few moments to consider the Gospel, and how God can give us the strength to hold on to joy and hope – for ourselves and for others – even in the midst of despair.
Consider the times when mere 'crumbs' have made all the difference? What difference will our offer of ‘crumbs’ make for the refugees at our borders? What would it look like to share our bread with them?
Write a letter to your MP to encourage a more hospitable response to the current crisis of people fleeing war, terror and violence to get to Europe and the UK.
Young People
Consider the work of organisations like Save the Children and UNICEF who help children and young people cope with the trauma of wars, conflicts, displacement, death and having to leave their homes. Consider one practical way you can support their work.
Find ways to befriend a young person who has taken refuge (from another land) in your neighbourhood.
Pray for children who have experienced the horrors of war, violence, hunger, displacement: and for parents pleading for ‘bread’ for their children.
Michael Jagessar, a minister of the United Reformed Church and currently responsible for racial justice and intercultural ministry.
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