Crumbs and Compassion
Mark 7:24-30
September 9, 10, 2006

I shared the story in the newsletter about the frazzled young mother who ran into the pharmacy to pick up an emergency prescription. Unfortunately, she was in such a hurry that she left the keys in the ignition. And to make matters much worse, she also left her young toddler strapped in her seat in the back of the car. It was late at night, she didn't have a cell phone, and the pharmacy had locked its doors and pulled down its metal shutters by the time she realized what she'd done. She could see her daughter through the windows, and could hear the sound of her crying. It drove her nearly frantic and she tearfully prayed for help. A few moments later, a young man walked past and turned to look at her out of curiosity. She begged him desperately, "Can you help me? I've locked my keys in the car and my daughter is in there!" He nodded, and looked around the empty parking lot until he found an old coat hanger. He worked with it for a few moments and straightened it out. She had never seen anything like it. It was simply amazing how easily he got into her car. A quick look at the door and window, a couple of twists of the coat hanger and bam! Just like that, the door was open. The young mother picked up her daughter and hugged her. She turned to the man and said, "God must have sent you! You've been so helpful. You must be a Christian!" He stepped back and said, "No ma'am, I'm not a Christian. And I'm not a very good person. I just got out of prison yesterday." She said, "Well, praise the Lord! God sent me a professional."

THIS WEEK'S STORY FROM MARK IS ABOUT ANOTHER MOTHER WHOSE DAUGHTER IS IN TROUBLE. If you recall last week's text, you realize that Jesus wraps up his sermon about what defiles a person and now heads off across the border to a region that might be considered defiled. Surely in the midst of this mainly Gentile region of Tyre, Jesus could retire in the quiet of a private home, catch a few days of solitude and silence, do a little reading, watch some ESPN-and avoid the clamoring crowds. But in verse 24 we read, "He could not escape notice." His reputation as a powerful healer has preceded him-even in this culturally distinct and distant region. Before he can put his feet on the sofa and find the remote, there is a knock on the door-and it is not just any kind of knock! When he opens the door, he is face-to-face with a real desperate housewife, a desperate mother, whose daughter is in deep trouble. You are probably familiar with the memorable exchange between Jesus and this woman. I suspect that some of us wish we could think on our feet as quickly and creatively as this mother! She has been described as "clever and cute, witty, bright, intelligent, on the ball."

But I don't think those are the qualities and characteristics that are driving her conversation. She doesn't have time to be clever and witty-her words must have been driven by desperation. Perhaps this is the kind of desperation the friends of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin experienced when they realized he had been mortally wounded by the sting ray this past week? Perhaps this is the kind of desperation that John Sallee, Pete Maupin, and Bryan Jared felt when they risked their lives to pull James Polehinke out of the burning rubble of the plane in Lexington? Perhaps this is the kind of desperation that overwhelmed so many members of the police department and fire department and others who tried to respond on 9/11, the 5th anniversary of which we will remember on Monday? Despite all of the negative cultural baggage, despite her differences and distinctions and disadvantages, she is driven by the desperate need to have her daughter healed.

And how does Jesus receive her? Not very well-in fact, his initial response to the woman sounds cold, even cruel-and definitely insulting. He calls her a dog. I would like to make some kind of apology or excuse for Jesus' behavior on this occasion. But Mark certainly sees no reason to explain or to apologize for Jesus. He has come to serve only a certain, select group of people. Now, hold it right there! Because the story is short, sometimes we rush to the end without letting this part soak in. Rejection can be one of the most painful experiences any of us can have-this seems so out of character for Jesus.

In Ralph Keyes' book, Is There Life after High School, he talks about traumatic experiences of rejection for well-known people. Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz never forgot that the yearbook staff rejected every cartoon he offered. Movie actress Ali McGraw hasn't forgotten that she never had a date in all of high school. Classmates of Henry Kissinger remember him as the kid nobody wanted to eat lunch with at school.
Rejection is painful-and that's what makes this story so hard to understand. Thankfully, the story doesn't end after Jesus' canine comment. Instead, this becomes a critical moment of reflection and reevaluation for Jesus. He is moved-not so much by the woman's desperation-but by her faith! Although the focus of his mission has been to the children of Israel, the camera pulls back to include a much broader view of the folks to whom he will minister.

Some of you may have watched the new CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Couric, last Wednesday. She was interviewing President Bush about issues related to homeland security in a segment called, Five Years Later: How Safe Are We?One of the comments I appreciated from the President was the recognition that a mother of a child in the United States wants the same thing as a mother of a child in the Middle East-the safety and security of the child. Although there are different opinions about how to provide that security, here, at least, is some common ground.

In this story from Mark, the Gentile woman, the outsider, the foreigner-is transformed before Jesus' eyes. She becomes a loving mother with a daughter in need. And, fortunately, God sends a professional! THE STORY OFFERS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR US. I don't have to tell you that we continue to live in a world where too many people would rather build walls than build bridges-we even promote these efforts as entertainment at times. Some of you admit to being Survivor fans. This past week, on a beautiful beach in the South Pacific, the 20 castaways of Survivor: Cook Islands psyched themselves up for their first challenge. But there's a new twist to this one: the Aitutaki, Raratonga, Manihiki, and Puka Puka tribes are grouped by race-Asian-American, African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic. In what seems to be an effort to reverse the 11% drop in viewers last season, executive producer Mark Burnett appears to be trying to increase the audience by increasing the tension between diverse groups of people. What's next? Maybe there will be a Survivor with teams from different denominations-can you imagine the Baptists and the Methodists and the Presbyterians fighting it out? Or maybe there will be one with folks with different sexual orientations? Or maybe they'll go so far as to have teams representing different religions-Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews? Is this really necessary?

As people of faith, as followers of Jesus, we have to make some important decisions-are we willing to welcome the Syrophoenician woman and her family and friends? There is a cartoon in the latest Disciples World magazine. A group of people are sitting around a table at an evangelism committee meeting. They all have their hands up. The caption reads: "So it's unanimous; we want more people-just no new people." Unfortunately, that's the way too many people of faith operate. Can we turn the corner and make the transition and broaden our ministry horizons? Will we be in the retaliation business or the reconciliation business? Will we concentrate our efforts on the distinctions that blind us or the ties that bind us? Will we seek to build walls of rejection or bridges of compassion? Our normal, human reaction to offering help to those who are different may be like Jesus' first reaction to the woman in the story. But he got over it…

It seems important that we give attention to these areas in our personal lives and then look for ways to unite with larger, compassionate communities. In his book, The Call to Conversion, Jim Wallis says, "When I was a university student, I was unsuccessfully evangelized by almost every Christian group on campus." "My basic response to their preaching was, 'How can I believe when I look at the way the church lives?'" "They answered, 'Don't look at the church; look at Jesus.'" "I now believe that statement is one of the saddest in the history of the church. It puts Jesus on a pedestal apart from the people who name his name. Belief in him becomes an abstraction removed from any demonstration of its meaning in the world. Such thinking is a denial of what is most basic to the gospel: incarnation. People should be able to look at the way we live and begin to understand what the gospel is about. Our lives must tell them who Jesus is and what he cares about."

Someone once observed, "If you want to see people's lives touched and changed by God, you must love them." And we are to do this-even in the face of difficult times and tremendous challenges and desperate situations. Almost five years ago, on September 14, 2001, Billy Graham shared these words in his address at Washington National Cathedral. "Yes, our nation has been attacked, buildings destroyed, lives lost. But now we have a choice: whether to implode and disintegrate emotionally and spiritually as a people and a nation; Or whether we choose to become stronger through all the struggle to rebuild on a solid foundation. I believe that we're in the process of starting to rebuild on that foundation. That foundation is our faith and trust in God."

Now, there are those who will say that Monday will be just another day.
And it is.
And it isn't.
And there will be those who will say that today's story from Mark is just another story.
And it is.
And it isn't.
If we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, we will recognize that both the day and the story present us with some choices-some decisions-some options for responding. We can choose the paths of retaliation, revenge, rejection. Or we can choose the paths of restoration, redemption, and reconciliation. The choice is ours.