Practice what you Preach
Practise what you preach
“Practise what you preach” and “walk the talk” are clichéd and ubiquitous platitudes thrown around in religious circles. It can be ironic and quite fun to watch a “practise what you preach” moment unfolding in front of you. From 2001-2003 I was a Methodist pastor and was required to attend district meetings with our bishop. Usually about 100 ministers were present. At one such meeting the bishop, irritated by interruptions caused by ringing phones, stood up to reprimand us for not turning off our mobile devices. At that precise moment, his phone rang! Hilarious. Similarly, in today’s reading Jesus is tasked with “walking the talk”.
The Gospel of Mark 7.24-37 narrates Jesus’ encounter with a Syrophoenician woman. The encounter follows hot on the heels of Jesus’ admonishment to the Pharisees about their pedanticism with law and tradition. You may remember the take home message in the preceding verses (in Mark 7.1-23); that it is not what goes into the body that defiles, but what comes out that is corrupt. In the case of the Pharisees, overemphasising their scriptures and traditions led to pettiness, jealousy, acquisitiveness, wickedness, deceit, envy, slander, pride, foolhardiness. Yet when a Syrophoenician woman asks Jesus for help, his answer reflects his narrow focus on tradition and the consequent prejudice: “He 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.’”. Jesus believes that his mission is to the Jews and what comes out of this narrow focus is a cultural put-down where a gendered outsider is compared to a dog.
Some find it alarming that Jesus displays racism common to his era. If we take seriously the full humanity of Jesus, we can allow for his need to learn and evolve. Furthermore, Jesus is running on empty. He has attempted to honour his need for prayer, quiet and restoration, but his retreat was interrupted by the hungry crowds (Mark 6). Some of Jesus’ brusqueness with the Pharisees (Mark 7.1-23) arises from his fatigue. Again, looking for quiet and peace 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” (Mark7.24).
The heroine in the story is the Syrophoenician woman who stood her ground and expected liberation from Jesus. She makes a theological argument against limiting the messianic banquet to Israel alone. She thus teaches Jesus the meaning of his own message of Good News. In arguing for freedom and wholeness for her daughter, this pagan outsider, this gentile, this Syrophoenician woman, is the transformer, the Christ presence. She is for Jesus a teacher, mentor, and spiritual director. She helps Jesus critique his sense of entitlement and internalised bias. The narrative arc of Mark’s Gospel pivots at this point; from this moment on, Jesus’ mission intentionally focusses on sharing the power and Good News of God’s kingdom with gentiles. One might even say without her we as gentiles might not be here. As Heidi Husted put it: (in the Christian Century, August 16, 2000): “The day the gospel went to the dogs was the day it came to us. We are some of the “dogs” who have received the good news of the gospel! When Jesus opened himself up to mission to the whole world, he opened his church to the world. Now we are to open ourselves to the whole world in mission.”
Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman supports the kingdom’s vision. The vision is radical inclusion. The story addresses some of the obstacles to Jesus’ vision of welcome.
· The purity codes of the pharisees that exclude people from a meal.
· The honour of the Jews that limits the inclusion of outsiders
· The social reconciliation of “us” and “them”
If the Syrophoenician woman can be Jesus’ teacher and mentor in evolving towards radical inclusion and integration, perhaps we too could allow her to be our teacher. She invites us to examine ourselves and our social structures closely and reflect honestly on who or what is excluded? Where do we draw lines that exclude? What are our blind spots? Who is missing from our churches? What inner attitudes and perspectives keep others out of our committees and boards? For example, why are there so few female principals? Why are LGBTQI people not included in ordained ministry? Why do our churches not reflect the population demographics? What is it about the corporate and political culture that prevents black people, woman and young people from participating more equitably?
What happens when these questions are asked and acted upon? People and societies are transformed to wholeness. Here are some of my Good News moments where “Syrophoenicians” (as a symbol for the excluded) have stood their ground and expected liberation and love from society. I would be interested to hear of your examples.
1. Disable bodied people have long advocated for the use of accessible design by arguing for the built environment to be as accessible for as many as possible. Those in wheelchairs certainly find the ramps on our roads more useful, but the interesting thing is that so many others have benefitted too (e.g., prams and bikes use the ramps too).
2. The concept of universal design is the result of “Syrophoenicians” (the excluded) demanding liberation and love. Universal Design addresses issues of having a different approach for different users, which not only improves and simplifies the way a facility is used but also eliminates user segregation to maximise participation by users of all abilities.
Today is beginning of our Season of Creation. The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration of prayer and action for our common home. Together, the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray, protect, and advocate for God’s creation. During the 2021 Season of Creation, from 1 September through 4 October, hundreds of thousands of Christians will be uniting around the theme, “A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God.”
It is pertinent that at the beginning of the Season of Creation a Syrophoenician woman is our chief theologian. Women are disproportionately affected by environmental issues. https://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/climate_change/downloads/Women_and_Climate_Change_Factsheet.pdf. Further, there is a significant connection between the degradation of the earth and the oppression of women. The Good News that this story offers is that those most affected by the inequalities of exclusion are the best equipped to respond, those close to the problem are close to the solutions too. My sincere hope is that we pray with the Syrophoenician woman who changed the journey of Jesus. My hope is that she inspires those who are excluded to have confidence to speak-up for we all need their message. My hope is that like Jesus we can make space and listen to the words of the 21st century Syrophoenicians God sends our way. The words of today’s collect adequately summarise these hopes:
O God, whose word is life,
and whose delight is to answer our cry:
give us faith like that of the woman who refused to remain an outsider,
so that we too may have the wit to argue
and demand that our children be made whole,
through Jesus Christ. Amen.