Those People

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."

But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go - the demon has left your daughter."

-Mark 7: 27-29

We all have them.  People we are prejudiced against, the ones we think of deep down as "other." Most of us, if we are polite and decent, hide this prejudice well, and it only slips out in moments when we're most afraid and vulnerable to that "other." Speaking honestly, I have no trouble recognizing the humanity of a young black man in the line at the grocery store, seeing him as a brother and an equal, but put that same young man in a different setting, the proverbial dark alley, and despite all my best intentions, the prejudice I bear will come out at least in emotion if not in action.  It is not purely racially motivated, it is a situation in which another human being may genuinely present a threat to me and whether they are black or white or brown, a stranger in isolation is something we basically perceive as a threat, the greater the difference, the more the danger is felt.

Jesus' dialogue with a Syrophoenician woman is a particular text that speaks to the dynamics that can happen when we are confronted with the "other." Since I happen to believe that Jesus was both human and divine, I see a dynamic unfold here in which the human and the divine evolve together into something that is better by the end than it was at the beginning. The human being who was born and raised as a good Jewish boy, from a working class family, has certain expectations about Gentiles, which this woman was.  He also has certain generally middle eastern and ancient manners concerning females.  He is confronted by a woman who, out of desperation for her afflicted child, disregards all proper protocols and procedures and speaks to him directly.

Jesus the Rabbi, also as teachers tend to do, has a certain sense of his mission, and this woman, this brazen foreigner, also falls outside the bounds of that mission. Some people, including friend of mine, believe that Jesus is being intentional in his attempt to alienate this woman, to see what faith might be there.  That may be so.  It also may be that everything in his human experience is actually in the process of being refined and purified by the Spirit of God which dwells in him.  What he says is a little mean, but it is far from cruel, the animosity between Jews and Gentiles in those days was profoundly mutual.  This story, I believe, shows the bridging of human differences in a genuine way, that is not coated with any sort of magical balm to smooth out the rough edges.  The prejudice of both parties is mutual and acknowledged, grace operates, and love triumphs and the child is healed.

The Gentile woman does not become one of Jesus' followers, which would have still not been possible in that society.  The world does not change in that moment, the age old animosity between Jew and Gentile is not resolved, but human kindness is given room to shine, and the divine connection that we all share is visible for a moment.

It is a remarkable Jesus moment because he manages to cut through a lot of interference to get to that moment of grace.  Most of us have trouble with that.  I'm thinking this morning of our Imperious Leader referring to immigrants as animals.  I suspect he was talking about MS-13 and other violent criminals (at least I hope he was confining the sentiment to them), but I can't really be sure, because his use of language and his general vulgarity makes it hard even to give him the benefit of the doubt. I have no hope that Trump could exhibit the Christlike turn of grace, which would allow him to see the suffering and desperation which drives so many people to take the risk of entering this country as undocumented people.  He does not strike me as person who is particularly capable of remorse, only self-preservation, which is why, as a follower of Jesus and a fan of repentance and forgiveness, I find the Donald so difficult to respect as a leader.

As time goes by, it's not so much the policy decisions and rash behavior that I find so galling, it is the most basic failure of humility, which leads to an inability to learn from mistakes. A while back he referred to nations that struggle with poverty as $#&hole countries, now he calls people entering the country illegally animals, way back during the campaign he mocked a disabled man, I am disappointed in him for continuing to be so crass and tasteless, I am disappointed in us for simply accepting this behavior as normal.