MARK 7:24-30

[R E LANGFORD JR]

Greetings All: Christ is risen!
For some reason yesterday I was often prevented from entering
the chatroom. When I checked the list of folks present, I was already

in the room. The owner has explained that "Talk City" had a glitch in
its machinery. One can only report that Joegabe successfully copied

and provided this summary of what I wrote, for which I thank him!
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1revd:	*MSG* I will begin.
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* MARK 7:24-30 Bible Study for Christian Friendship chatroom, 1 JULY 2011, @ Talk City, revised for Joegabe1's Royal Family Coffee Shop chatroom on 20 APR 2012
1revd:	*MSG* Let us begin today with prayer.
1revd:	*MSG* ALMIGHTY God, whose Messiah has risen from the dead: GRANT that all baptized believers, instructed by their teacher and by Christ's example, may be knit together in unity by your Spirit; MAY we ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is our LORD Messiah Jesus, as also witnessed to in Mark's Gospel, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN.
1revd:	*MSG* The text for our bible study today in the good news tale according to Mark is: MARK 7:24-30.
1revd:	*MSG* This is a story about Jesus speaking with a Greek / Gentile woman.
1revd:	*MSG* "[24] And rising from thence he went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and entering into a house, he would that no man should know it, and he could not be hid. [25] For a woman as soon as she heard of him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, came in and fell down at his feet. 24 For the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician born. And she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. [27] Who said to her: Suffer first the children to be filled: for it is not good to take the bread of the children, and cast it to the dogs. [28] But she answered and said to him: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat under the table of the crumbs of the children. [29] And he said to her: For this saying go thy way, the devil is gone out of thy daughter. [30] And when she was come into her house, she found the girl lying upon the bed, and that the devil was gone out." [Douay-Rheims] I choose this version as it was a favorite of Pouncycat.
1revd:	*MSG* It's worth noting that many early manuscripts include, in vv. 24, as this translation does, "and Sidon." You will have to form your own judgment as to why some modern translations, such as NIRV= New International Readers Version, omit the second place name.
1revd:	*MSG* This is the first cameo Mark reports in which Jesus seeks anonymity, and does so totally outside recognizably jewish communities. Many questions may arise. What's going on? Tyre and Sidon are commercially important towns heavily influenced by Greek culture. Is Jesus afraid of the Herodians and Pharisees at this stage in his ministry? Or is he still struggling with the question of how far his "mandate" extends: "I was sent only to the lost of the children of Israel," as a later gospel tale writer, MATTHEW, puts it. Or is he engaged in a kind of exploration away from Galilee and Judea, to what end?
1revd:	*MSG* One intriguing option is that Jesus simply found trying to be with his disciples and teach in Galilee too much a hassle. Everyone seems to be after him after the feeding of the 5000. Adversaries and the curious alike are bothering him and the Twelve.
1revd:	*MSG* Scholars have puzzled about such things, and it's instructive to read [at your own convenience] the responses they make, and the reasoning for the same. We will strive to stick closely to exactly what Mark tells us in his cameo, while being aware that he puts it right after the pericopes about "clean" and "unclean." Surely a Greek speaking woman counts as an unclean Gentile, at that time inside Galilee and Judah? Mark also "brackets" it by tales of feeding crowds!
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* So, verse by verse, as is our custom, yes?
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* "24 Jesus went from there to a place near Tyre. He entered a house. He did not want anyone to know where he was. But he could not keep it a secret." [NIRV] Tyre is a visibly (even today -2011 - architectural ruins display a Greek style) Gentile town to the NW of Galilee, about a day and a half's brisk walk from Capernaum, by the seaside. To say, "to the coasts of" is merely an old fashioned way of saying two things at once. #1. It implies, "in the neighborhood of." #2. It recognizes the fact that both towns are on the Mediterranean itself. The Phoenician seafarers made these important towns of cultural seduction and heterodoxy for Jewish people since the time of Jezebel. In terms of religion, both show themselves to archaeologists as foci of Canaanite paganism, with temples to Heracles, Astarte, and other gods.
1revd:	*MSG* My suspicion, along with that of some "study bibles" I've read at our local public library, is that Jesus intended to avoid direct confrontation with those who so pestered him while in Galilee. I've already written this? Yes? Here he might reasonably expect to avoid the Pharisees and the scribes sent from Jerusalem. He is also outside the region of the Tetrarchy of Philip in what today is Lebanon.
1revd:	*MSG* Even so, after the feeding of the 5000, [a previous pericope = MARK 6:30-44], his tendency is to avoid Galilee, and the crowds seeking him for the wrong reasons. Here, while seeking privacy, as soon as anyone knows he is there, a local woman shows up with a request.
1revd:	*MSG* "25 Soon a woman heard about him. An evil spirit controlled her little daughter. The woman came to Jesus and fell at his feet. 26 She was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter." [NIRV] Note that some early manuscripts call the spirit controlling her little girl, "unclean." IMO, that is a preferred reading, since we moderns tend to moralizations when we hear or read the word, "evil." In like fashion, I prefer the term, "controlled," rather than the term, "possessed," as there is, to my mind, too much unsavory movie and TV attention given to "demon possession." I like the choice Douay-Rheims gives, using a simple, direct, "had." It doesn't leave the girl off the hook - so to say - for it is she who HAD (vv. 25) the "unclean spirit."
1revd:	*MSG* So far, so good?
1revd:	*MSG* Whoops! Sorry, except for our risen Savior, and the coffeebot, I appear to be alone here.
coffeebot:	*MSG* 1revd: What happened? There is no need to apologize. Then what for?
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* All Mark tells us is that she begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her girl. She does not yet have a voice! Now watch this next interchange; it's quite instructive. She turns out to speak Koiné Greek. [BTW, her lineage is probably mentioned (a) to indicate she is not from Libyia - which also had a Phoenician "colony," and (b) to show she is thoroughly not Jewish. Just my opinion!]
1revd:	*MSG* Jesus is abrupt, one may say, crude, and rude. Remember that the function of dogs at that time was nothing more exalted than garbage collection. Offal was typically the main diet of such mangy dogs as were tolerated in areas Jesus frequented around Nazareth and Capernaum.
1revd:	*MSG* "27 "First let the children eat all they want," he told her. "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs."" [NIRV]
1revd:	*MSG* Here, "the children" references, I suspect, perhaps the "lost" children of the house of Israel. N.B. This is not a nation-state as we think of the country presently, but rather the children a specific forefather. The "children" are not mature, so likewise "their dogs" are not mature - "little dogs," whelps, or pet puppies we might say today. A mature dog would be turned out of the household to find its food on its own, especially the household of a day laborer.
1revd:	*MSG* Jesus' point here? Is he striving to reflect the attitude with which he grew up about "unclean" Gentiles? Is he purposefully being "overbearingly rude" as a kind of test to see if the pagan woman will respond in kind? Or, perhaps, he is simply making a point that he personally held: the good news of God's personal interest and grace was news to be given first to the Jews? Yet again, was Jesus watching alertly to discover what sort of faith this total "outsider" could possibly have? AND, there may be yet other options.
1revd:	*MSG* Whichever response you tend to choose, note now the woman's response. She buys into Jesus' assessment that the "lost" children of Israel have percedence over all other folk! Wow! Would you or I do so as well?
1revd:	*MSG* "28 "Yes, Lord," she replied. "But even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."" [NIRV] Allow me to make a special note here. This is the single spot in Mark's entire gospel tale in which, in the original Koiné Greek, Jesus is given the title: "Kyrios" = Lord or Master. This is something one would not expect out of a pagan Syro-Phoenician at all! Modern translations which reduce it to a polite, "Yes, Sir," are, IMO, missing the point Mark is making.
1revd:	*MSG* Is this comment too oblique?
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* Not only does the woman perceive Jesus' emphasis on "Jews first, Gentiles later," she also subordinates herself, and her daughter, and her request for healing and health to the whim of the Lord, or Master. Let me put it this way, "If only the Master of the Household would see fit to let us dogs lick up the crumbs, . . ."
1revd:	*MSG* Jesus answers, "29 Then he told her, "That was a good reply. You may go. The demon has left your daughter."" The NIV 1984 puts it slightly differently: "29 Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."" I prefer, once again to avoid terms like "good" that can be construed moralistically. Notice well: Not a single word about "faith." Got that? It's important! Perhaps you've also heard far too many sermons that invent what this or that character was thinking. Such sermons are a nuisance, IMO. Stick strictly, or as closely as possible, to what Mark actually says in his gospel tale.
1revd:	*MSG* I take it that the woman simply recognized who Jesus was, and threw herself, her daughter, and her request on his mercy. It's a conclusion of the credulous, a derived conclusion at that, to say Jesus recognized her faith; the inadequate and twisted faith of a foreigner, a pagan, and someone under stress with worry for her daughter. Mark does not ask us to invent faith where he does not mention it. In esse, Mark has Jesus recognize in this auslander a characteristic the LORD Almighty likes: witness Abraham dickering with God over how many people need to believe in order to save the town where his nephew Lot resides.
1revd:	*MSG* Do we do as well? Do we in the churches know 'in our bones,' so to write it, that our Risen Savior has other kettles of fish to cook, not least all the people who are direct descendents of Abraham?
1revd:	*MSG* I put it to you that just as Jesus could say to people who relied on the fact that Abraham was their forefather in the faith, so Jesus might say to people who worship regularly, support their local church or congregation, and show all the other signs baptized believers are expected in scripture to show, never the less - - - God can raise up for himself out of stained glass and bricks and mortar and plaster CHILDREN who will DO what is pleasing to him, because they recognize who he is - - - the way this woman seems simply to recognize Jesus for who it is he is.
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* This cameo concludes with Mark reporting to us in his audience. The woman goes home, finds her child, her daughter, yet in bed, but the unclean spirit gone. Think of that!
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* "30 So she went home and found her child lying on the bed. And the demon was gone." [NIRV] This only reminds me of what we know of the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit can "act at a distance," can "act anachronistically," and we can neither see it at work nor guess whence it goes or from whither it comes. The Spirit blows as it wills, always in accord with the mind of the Messiah!
1revd:	*MSG* - - -
1revd:	*MSG* That concludes the bible study for today::: 20 APR 2012
1revd:	*MSG* Let us pray.
1revd:	*MSG* LORD Messiah Jesus, be with us in these troubled times and help us to keep our minds focused on you and your joyous resurrection. Make us always glad and thankful for what you accomplish on our behalf, as we keep in mind our sisters and brothers in the faith who are in need of your help and healing. Give us the insight and recognition of the Syro-Phoenician Woman of long ago, and the power to keep ourselves meek and humble in your presence as we ask for favors. We ask all this Lord Jesus in your name and for your sake. AMEN.
1revd:	*MSG* . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1revd:	*MSG* I hope joegabe finds this and considers it worth posting.
1revd:	*MSG* I must leave.
1revd:	*MSG* Maybe the chat room will function "normally" next week?
1revd:	*PART* Left room.

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May your jelly beans be fresh and chewy, and may your marshmallow
peeps be fresh and gooey. May your boiled and decorated Easter eggs

be eaten up by now, or if not, may they all be DEVILLED.

 
The Rev'd R E LANGFORD JR, FAPC, ELCA pastor  ! retired !
       39.58°N by 75.98°W

My clarity of conscience and my purity of heart are undisputed

evidence that my memory is failing me.        

`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸..·´¯`·...¸ ><(((((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((º> `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.· ><((º>