Circuitous Routes

Here are some thoughts regarding this coming Sunday's gospel lesson that was sent out to the people of St. Timothy Lutheran Church via email. 

Gospel: Mark 7:24-37

24[Jesus] set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

  31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Don’t you love it that when you fly anywhere that due to the various hubs, you have to go north to go south, east to go west etc.? Well Jesus’ travels look much the same. He did not take the most direct routes to get places, but rather went the way the Father led, which often took him on circuitous routes through areas that most Jews wouldn’t dare enter. Such is the case with this Sunday’s gospel. 

Jesus started out in Galilee in the previous part of this chapter. From there he went northwest to Tyre (a Gentile area), then to go back toward Galilee, he went northeast, then southeast to the Decapolis, which really isn’t even that close to Galilee and is also Gentile. Check the route out on this map. 

So what situations does Jesus encounter while on his unusual itinerary? Let’s concentrate on the first encounter. A gentile woman wants her daughter delivered from a demon. 

Now we have all kinds of problems in this exchange. First of all, she’s a woman. In that time, men and women didn’t converse with each other. Second, she’s a Gentile and Jesus is a Jew, which makes matters worse. 

Now the woman was not demanding, but humble. She bowed to Jesus. She begged Jesus to do this miracle. 

We expect Jesus to respond like he usually does—having compassion, healing and all that good stuff. But…Jesus seems to go off the rails! He calls her a dog. Now in that time and even today, that’s an incredible insult. People try to tame this by saying he said puppy and that it was an affectionate term, but it wasn’t. 

And the woman’s response? She gives it right back to Jesus. She is feisty and determined that her daughter would be healed. Wouldn’t you be as a parent? How does this end? Think about this unusual interchange and we’ll talk more about it Sunday. 

Map biblestudy.org