Those Other People

February 5, 2022 Georgia Tanner

The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

“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.”

“Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Mark 7:26-28 NIV

Let me tell you a little story.

‘Susanne arrived with her heart heavy in her hands. There was only one thing that would ease the pain. She looked out the window in the back of the cabin and there it was - the lake, blue in the moonlight, waiting for her, calling her name.

She snapped the latches of her suitcase open – and then paused. Considering the circumstances, a bathing suit was completely unnecessary.

Feeling lighter than she had in ages, she pushed the door open and walked across the lawn. Reaching the crunch of the sand under her feet, she looked up into the stars in the vast sky over her head. She breathed in the night air. And dove deep into the water.’

Did you hear it? Did you see it? If you pictured this location as a warm place in the south, then this was a midnight swim to unwind. If the location was much further north, and it was much colder, Susanne may have chosen to end her life by freezing to death in an icy lake.

Location can drastically affect the story. And that is why, as I read the second time in two weeks that Jesus has fed the multitudes, I find myself backtracking and asking myself, now where is he again? And I guess I need to clarify - it has been the second time in two weeks in my life – not his!

I am working on a project I am calling “The Jesus Stories”. Using a chronological bible as a road map, I am reading about Jesus from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Sometimes all four of them will tell a story or a parable. Sometimes only one of them will think a specific teaching needs to be told. It is interesting and harder than I thought it would be – because those writers did not tell the story in a linear order.

They told the story according to who they saw Jesus to be. For example, the Apostle Matthew was writing to his fellow Jewish brothers to prove Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah. There are a lot of comparisons to Moses, and Jesus is heralded as the coming King of the long-awaited Kingdom, promised to Abraham, descended from David.

The also Jewish Apostle John paints Jesus as the covenant maker known as the great I Am. Jesus defines himself accordingly; I am the Light of the World. I am the Bread of Life. I am the Good Shepherd. You get the idea. And every parable and miracle lines up to expand on who Jesus is. Not getting too caught up on lining the events up neatly in your calendar as taking place on Tuesday, or wait a minute, was it Thursday?

And then this week (in my world), Jesus is feeding the multitudes – earlier it was over 5,000 men (probably even more women and children) and now today it is 4,000. Of course, the disciples ask again where they could possibly get enough bread in this remote place, again there is fish and bread (before there were only five loaves; there are seven loaves here) and again there are leftovers. Before there were 12 of the smaller baskets called KOPHINOS (Greek) that were knapsack size. Here there are seven of the apparently larger baskets called SPURIS, a kind of hamper - sometimes large enough to hold a man.

But there is something else different about this story. It is the location.

Mark (also Jewish), who was probably writing down the ex-fisherman Peter’s stories, has been carefully telling us where Jesus is. And it seems Jesus has gone off the ranch. Normally, he is hanging around the northern or western side of the Sea of Galilee. But this week (again – in my world), he has traveled way north to the Mediterranean Sea and then way east, to the wrong side of the Jordan. He has entered the world of those Gentiles. How did this happen?

Backing up to the beginning of chapter 7 in Mark, Jesus has just had a showdown with Pharisees who have come all the way from Jerusalem. Instead of seeing miracles, they see unclean hands. The disciples aren’t washing before dinner. Jesus basically tells them it is a bigger problem to have unclean hearts than unclean hands. He throws their traditions up in the air claiming "things" are not unclean – but people are when they hold tightly in their heart thoughts of evil, sexual immorality, theft, murder, etcetera etcetera. It is a long list.

And then, apparently, to prove his point to his disciples, they immediately take off for unclean lands. The places of the unclean Gentiles. They go to Tyre and Sidon, the last place the crowds will be…

“But immediately” an annoying Gentile woman shows up and will not shut up. She is wailing at the feet of Jesus, begging him to heal her little daughter who is nowhere to be seen. And the response of Jesus is so disturbing. It is disturbing because we do not understand who he is talking to. And who he is. He is Jewish. She is not. He has come for the Jewish people as the Jewish Messiah. She boldly and quickly reminds him that even though she is not who he intends to feed, she would be happy to pick up the leftovers.

Wow. He is moved by this Gentile woman's great and bold faith – and her daughter is healed. Instantaneously. Without a touch, without a word.

But we are not done with these unclean Gentiles in their Gentile land. He travels even deeper into their territory. It is in the region of Decapolis where Jesus opens a deaf man’s ears and loosens his tongue – by putting his fingers in his ears and touching his tongue. Well, that does it. Jesus is completely ‘unclean’ now. Did he have to go so far to get the point across to his disciples that perhaps they have closed ears and doubting tongues?

And a great crowd gathers. Yes, there were Jews there, (we must remember Jesus came to his people, the Jew first) but in this area, these Jews were very influenced by the Hellenistic culture of their neighbors. And their neighbors were showing up to be healed by Jesus. To listen to Jesus. For three days. Three days!

And Jesus is concerned. “I have compassion on the people… it has been three days they have stayed here listening… and they have nothing to eat.” Again, he gives thanks to God, breaks the bread, and the people are filled. “They ate and were satisfied.” And there were leftovers.

Remember one more time where they are. They are not in the safety of the land of their father Abraham. They are in non-Jewish land. What was Jesus doing there? Perhaps he was teaching what the Kingdom of His Father would look like. It would have doors that opened for the Jew. And for the Gentile. The Gentiles, who were as 'unclean' as the family dog, scavenging for scraps the children would drop.

I am reminded of the words of the prophet in Isaiah 49:6

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel I have kept.

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."

I think I need to be reminded; Jesus came as a Jew to the Jewish people. Almost all his stories take place in the Jewish world with Jewish people. But sometimes Jesus went over the line. He healed the demon-possessed daughter, he opened the deaf man's ears, he taught the crowds who zealously proclaimed the glory of the Jewish God.

Jesus went beyond the inner circle. The ceremonially unclean showed up to listen. To have great faith. And Jesus had compassion on them. On the woman with the possessed daughter who would not be deterred. On the deaf and speechless man whose friends begged for his healing. On the religiously mixed multitude, who came from far distances to sit at his feet for three days.

Who am I having compassion on? Who is not like me that I am moved to reach out and touch?

NEEDTOBREATHE - TESTIFY Lyric Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL6eCfEQrQ8