Food to the Dogs

The encounter in today's gospel reading has long bothered people. Jesus' words seem out of character in some way, leading some to rather contorted interpretations of the passage. When a woman - a Gentile woman - approaches Jesus, asking for healing for her daughter, Jesus says, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 

Anything might have been better than this. Jesus could have said, "I'm too tired, come back tomorrow," anything but what Mark tells us he said. This "problem" has led many to suggest that Jesus doesn't say what he says. Dog is somehow understood as a term of endearment, as though Jesus called the girl a cute little puppy. He didn't. He disparaged her, spoke of her as having less value than Jesus' fellow Jews. It's not so different from some of the charged language we're hearing in this political season, harsh language of "us and them."

I've often wondered why Mark tells the story this way. Why would he describe Jesus in a manner that seems so contrary to the portrait he has been painting of the one he has already identified as the Son of God? (No humans other than writer and reader are aware of this until the cross in Mark's gospel.) He could easily have told the story without telling us what Jesus said, so he must think it important.

The importance has nothing to do with Mark reporting the facts, no matter how uncomfortable. Ancient writers did not share our modern notions of truth demanding factual accuracy. One need only look at how Matthew adapts some of Mark's stories in writing his gospel to get a glimpse of this at work. The gospel writers were interested in prompting faith and discipleship, something much closer to a sermon than a newspaper account of events. This means that Jesus' encounter with this foreign woman, this outsider, must have some real significance for Mark. 

Something that strikes me is how this encounter reverses the typical pattern that has been reported by Mark. Usually it is a religious leader who raises points of tradition or law to Jesus, objecting to his healing on the Sabbath, hanging out with sinners, etc. And in fact, Jesus has just finished lashing out at Pharisees and scribes, going on a long harangue about how they misunderstand and misinterpret God's law, immediately prior to this episode with a Gentile woman. 

In this episode, it is Jesus who sounds more like Mark's depiction of scribes and Pharisees challenging Jesus. On those occasions, Jesus quickly dispatches them. One does not enter into a battle of wits or verbal  sparring with Jesus and come out the victor. At least no one other than this Gentile woman.

Women were not thought capable of being religious disciples in Jesus' day. Religious leadership was a 100% male field. Women were not even allowed to serve as witnesses in a trial. If that were not enough, this woman is a Gentile, a religious outsider who knows nothing of God's covenant with Israel, nothing of Torah. For her to challenge Jesus and win is mind boggling, and Mark certainly knows that when he writes this story.

I wonder if Mark doesn't use this story to address an issue that is current when he writes, some 30 or more years after these events. I wonder if he doesn't allow Jesus to speak words that sounded a lot like those spoken by some Christian leaders in Mark's day (and in ours). "Let's take care of our own, and not worry about them. Let's not throw any food to the dogs until we're certain all of ours are fed."

I wonder if some of Mark's first readers got punked just a bit by this story. They smiled as Jesus agreed with them, but then this no-count, foreign woman makes a once sentence retort, and suddenly Jesus sees things her way. "Wait a minute. What just happened here?"

I can't say for certain what motivates Mark to tell this story as he does. Regardless, it is a stunner. For that matter, the story of God's love, mercy, and grace is very often a "Wait a minute. What just happened here?" sort of story. Turns out that God is a God of abundance. There is more than enough for all; distinctions between us and them, children and dogs, simply don't matter. 

This God of abundance sometimes startles and even frightens over-zealous, religious insiders, but this God is incredibly good news for everyone else.

Click to learn more about the lectionary.