The little dogs of God
Commentary
The overarching theological theme in today's gospel lesson is the growing inclusiveness of the mission of Jesus. The love that propels him moves ever outward beyond the limits of geography, ethnic identity, gender and social stigmatization. Two encounters of Gentile turf offer suggestive choices to the preacher.
The Syrophonecian woman catches our attention immediately. She marches right into the house where Jesus was staying, hoping to keep a low profile. To our surprise she bows down at his feet, she assumes the posture of worship. No one in Israel had done this, not even his disciples. It is a moving scene as the woman bows before him in her vulnerability and desperate need. Her verbal exchange with Jesus leaves us as well as him just about speechless. "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs" (Mark 7:28). We'll get back to this exchange.
The second encounter during this trip through Gentile territory involves the healing of a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech. He was to all intents mute, the biblical metaphor for voicelessness. No doubt Mark understands this as the fulfillment of the promise of human empowerment. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:5-6a).
The Old Testament lesson comes from a section of Proverbs headed as the Wise Sayings of Solomon. It is difficult to imagine Solomon downplaying the desire for silver and gold. We have here samples of the working axioms generated by the Wisdom tradition of Israel. The epistle lesson from James deals with a propensity in one congregation of the early church to fawn over wealthy visitors and members and ignore less dazzling folk. This is by no means just an ancient problem.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
I am not convinced that all sections of the Bible have equal value as grist for the homiletic mill. The book of Proverbs lacks the dramatic impact and grand theological themes of the narrative portions of the Old Testament. Its perspective is not the broad vistas of history, but the scenes of each ordinary day. Here, perhaps, is their enduring value. The proverbs start with the faith (Proverbs 1:7) and lead out into responsible decision-making in the humdrum of everyday life, whether that decision involves how to act at the table or how to react to a fool (Proverbs 23:1, 14:7).
The proverbs challenge us as preachers to get down to the nitty-gritty issues. Each proverb is a mini insert in the larger biblical atlas. When someone stops us on the street to ask for directions to some near-by point, we do not hand them a globe. But I fear that is what I often do from the pulpit.
Look at the proverbs this way and see where they take you. What about the opening words in our lesson, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches"? How does that go down in a culture where being a big name is confused with having a good name, the lifestyles of the rich and famous are adulated, and our Midas dreams make gambling ultra-big business? James 2:1-10, 14-17
The pagan author, Celsus, who wrote in the second century, claimed that Christianity was a movement made up only of people from the lowest classes of society. For some strange reason, the assumption continues that Celsus was correct even today. He was not. Christians came from all walks of life. For a competent picture of the early Christian communities see The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks (Yale University Press, 1983).
Rich and poor mingled in the church from the earliest days. They still do. It is not an easy mix and the propensity to gush over the well-heeled that James describes is by no means a problem that belongs to yesterday. Can the bank president and the domestic servant meet on equal footing in any congregation? We would like to think so, but the case can be made that Protestantism is denominationally ordered along class lines. Several years ago Vance Packard argued that there is a class ladder that leads from Pentecostal to Episcopal. In affluent middle class congregations our white collar values come into play in subtle ways that make the blue collar worker feel uncomfortable and judged. We can wax sentimental over the shepherd who restores the lost sheep to community, but in practice reentry is not all that easy. In so many of our congregations we still lack an experience of the "plenitude" of the church.
For those who get into the faith and works issue of verses 14-17 here's a story passed along by Martin E. Marty writing in Context. "After living what he believes to be a grace-full, faith-filled life, a Lutheran dies and finds himself baffled by the heat and flames of the afterlife. He gasps to another Lutheran through clouds of sulphur, 'It's not exactly the way we pictured Heaven would be, is it?' 'No,' his acquaintance replies. 'Let's go ask Brother Martin to explain this supposed Paradise.' They find the still portly Martin Luther, alone and sweating profusely, and ask him what went wrong. Luther pauses, sighs, and says with resignation, 'It was works.' "
1 Mark 7:24-31
We need to point out at the start that the Greek word for dog used in the text means specifically little dogs. Every Palestinian village had its street dogs. Dogs were not a favored animal, but children being children and attracted to small animals, little dogs were tolerated in the house. The word "dog" was also an epithet for a Gentile, but the word used by Jesus forbids taking his comment in that mean sense. Matthew's more extended account of this encounter contains a soliloquy by Jesus that might point to an inner struggle as he caught a vision of his mission beyond Israel (Matthew 15:21-28). At any rate it was the way this woman approached Jesus that has made her in Christian tradition an example of praying faith. When his disciples approached him they were full of themselves, waving their profiles in his face, and jockeying for position in the kingdom. How different from the approach of this woman who came as a little dog under the table.
There is in Jewish lore a story of two rabbis who lived about 70 A.D. One, Rabbi Hamina Ben Dosa, went to study the Torah with the second, Rabbi Johanan Ben Zaccai. When Rabbi Ben Zaccai's son fell sick he asked Rabbi Ben Dosa to pray for his recovery. The Rabbi laid his head between his knees (the position of earnest prayer) and prayed for mercy for the boy and the boy lived. Rabbi Ben Zaccai later said to his wife, "If I had prayed like that all day, nothing would have happened." "Is Hamina Ben Dosa greater than you?" asked his wife. "No," replied Ben Zaccai, "but he prays like a servant before the king, I pray like a prince before the king." The Syrophonecian woman went further even than Hamina Ben Dosa, she came as a little dog. That is not easy to do especially when we are filled with an exaggerated sense of our own virtue.
The dog, incidentally, shows up frequently in Christian tradition as a symbol of faith. Some ancient Christian tombstones have a sleeping dog carved at the base, symbolic of faithfulness unto death. Legends say that dogs accompanied Saints Tobias, Roch, and Vitus. Domingo De Guzman is known to us as Saint Dominic. He founded the Dominican order of preaching friars. Paintings of Dominic often show near him a dog with a torch in his mouth. Before Dominic was born his mother dreamed of a dog. Through that story and a Latin pun the order he founded got its name, Dominicans, the Dogs of God, Domini canus. Robert Short in The Gospel According to Peanuts sees Snoopy as a modern day symbol of the faithing Christian. It is Snoopy who says, "Everything that falls on the floor is legally mine."
Mark 7:31-37
Jesus had cancelled out the stigma of physical handicaps in Jewish territory by healing a paralytic and a man with a withered hand. Now he does the same in this journey through Gentile precincts. In the confirmation rite of the ancient church there is a moment when the priest moistens his finger with saliva and makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the confirmand. The practice is rooted in this memory of the encounter of Jesus with this man who could neither hear nor speak. That Mark retains the Aramaic word "Ephphatha" testifies to the impact of this memory upon the church. This is an example of human empowerment. Jesus gives voice to the voiceless and creates for them a bridge into the human community.
Is this not a miracle that has been going on all around us in this century? Who are some of the voices who have become articulate? What about those of us who can be functional mutes; hearing, but never really listening to those around us; able to speak, yet letting inner fears keep the words we might speak bottled up inside of us?
Anyone dealing with the miracles involving the deaf in the gospels should read the story of Ann Sullivan and Helen Keller as told by William Gibson in his play, The Miracle Worker, or read Helen Keller's journal. An excellent way to receive new insight into the world of the deaf is to read Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks (Harper 1990). Dr. Sacks also wrote Awakenings, which was made into an excellent film depicting a facet of his work. 1. Reprinted by permission from Context, published by Clarentian Publications, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60606.
The Syrophonecian woman catches our attention immediately. She marches right into the house where Jesus was staying, hoping to keep a low profile. To our surprise she bows down at his feet, she assumes the posture of worship. No one in Israel had done this, not even his disciples. It is a moving scene as the woman bows before him in her vulnerability and desperate need. Her verbal exchange with Jesus leaves us as well as him just about speechless. "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs" (Mark 7:28). We'll get back to this exchange.
The second encounter during this trip through Gentile territory involves the healing of a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech. He was to all intents mute, the biblical metaphor for voicelessness. No doubt Mark understands this as the fulfillment of the promise of human empowerment. "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:5-6a).
The Old Testament lesson comes from a section of Proverbs headed as the Wise Sayings of Solomon. It is difficult to imagine Solomon downplaying the desire for silver and gold. We have here samples of the working axioms generated by the Wisdom tradition of Israel. The epistle lesson from James deals with a propensity in one congregation of the early church to fawn over wealthy visitors and members and ignore less dazzling folk. This is by no means just an ancient problem.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
I am not convinced that all sections of the Bible have equal value as grist for the homiletic mill. The book of Proverbs lacks the dramatic impact and grand theological themes of the narrative portions of the Old Testament. Its perspective is not the broad vistas of history, but the scenes of each ordinary day. Here, perhaps, is their enduring value. The proverbs start with the faith (Proverbs 1:7) and lead out into responsible decision-making in the humdrum of everyday life, whether that decision involves how to act at the table or how to react to a fool (Proverbs 23:1, 14:7).
The proverbs challenge us as preachers to get down to the nitty-gritty issues. Each proverb is a mini insert in the larger biblical atlas. When someone stops us on the street to ask for directions to some near-by point, we do not hand them a globe. But I fear that is what I often do from the pulpit.
Look at the proverbs this way and see where they take you. What about the opening words in our lesson, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches"? How does that go down in a culture where being a big name is confused with having a good name, the lifestyles of the rich and famous are adulated, and our Midas dreams make gambling ultra-big business? James 2:1-10, 14-17
The pagan author, Celsus, who wrote in the second century, claimed that Christianity was a movement made up only of people from the lowest classes of society. For some strange reason, the assumption continues that Celsus was correct even today. He was not. Christians came from all walks of life. For a competent picture of the early Christian communities see The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks (Yale University Press, 1983).
Rich and poor mingled in the church from the earliest days. They still do. It is not an easy mix and the propensity to gush over the well-heeled that James describes is by no means a problem that belongs to yesterday. Can the bank president and the domestic servant meet on equal footing in any congregation? We would like to think so, but the case can be made that Protestantism is denominationally ordered along class lines. Several years ago Vance Packard argued that there is a class ladder that leads from Pentecostal to Episcopal. In affluent middle class congregations our white collar values come into play in subtle ways that make the blue collar worker feel uncomfortable and judged. We can wax sentimental over the shepherd who restores the lost sheep to community, but in practice reentry is not all that easy. In so many of our congregations we still lack an experience of the "plenitude" of the church.
For those who get into the faith and works issue of verses 14-17 here's a story passed along by Martin E. Marty writing in Context. "After living what he believes to be a grace-full, faith-filled life, a Lutheran dies and finds himself baffled by the heat and flames of the afterlife. He gasps to another Lutheran through clouds of sulphur, 'It's not exactly the way we pictured Heaven would be, is it?' 'No,' his acquaintance replies. 'Let's go ask Brother Martin to explain this supposed Paradise.' They find the still portly Martin Luther, alone and sweating profusely, and ask him what went wrong. Luther pauses, sighs, and says with resignation, 'It was works.' "
1 Mark 7:24-31
We need to point out at the start that the Greek word for dog used in the text means specifically little dogs. Every Palestinian village had its street dogs. Dogs were not a favored animal, but children being children and attracted to small animals, little dogs were tolerated in the house. The word "dog" was also an epithet for a Gentile, but the word used by Jesus forbids taking his comment in that mean sense. Matthew's more extended account of this encounter contains a soliloquy by Jesus that might point to an inner struggle as he caught a vision of his mission beyond Israel (Matthew 15:21-28). At any rate it was the way this woman approached Jesus that has made her in Christian tradition an example of praying faith. When his disciples approached him they were full of themselves, waving their profiles in his face, and jockeying for position in the kingdom. How different from the approach of this woman who came as a little dog under the table.
There is in Jewish lore a story of two rabbis who lived about 70 A.D. One, Rabbi Hamina Ben Dosa, went to study the Torah with the second, Rabbi Johanan Ben Zaccai. When Rabbi Ben Zaccai's son fell sick he asked Rabbi Ben Dosa to pray for his recovery. The Rabbi laid his head between his knees (the position of earnest prayer) and prayed for mercy for the boy and the boy lived. Rabbi Ben Zaccai later said to his wife, "If I had prayed like that all day, nothing would have happened." "Is Hamina Ben Dosa greater than you?" asked his wife. "No," replied Ben Zaccai, "but he prays like a servant before the king, I pray like a prince before the king." The Syrophonecian woman went further even than Hamina Ben Dosa, she came as a little dog. That is not easy to do especially when we are filled with an exaggerated sense of our own virtue.
The dog, incidentally, shows up frequently in Christian tradition as a symbol of faith. Some ancient Christian tombstones have a sleeping dog carved at the base, symbolic of faithfulness unto death. Legends say that dogs accompanied Saints Tobias, Roch, and Vitus. Domingo De Guzman is known to us as Saint Dominic. He founded the Dominican order of preaching friars. Paintings of Dominic often show near him a dog with a torch in his mouth. Before Dominic was born his mother dreamed of a dog. Through that story and a Latin pun the order he founded got its name, Dominicans, the Dogs of God, Domini canus. Robert Short in The Gospel According to Peanuts sees Snoopy as a modern day symbol of the faithing Christian. It is Snoopy who says, "Everything that falls on the floor is legally mine."
Mark 7:31-37
Jesus had cancelled out the stigma of physical handicaps in Jewish territory by healing a paralytic and a man with a withered hand. Now he does the same in this journey through Gentile precincts. In the confirmation rite of the ancient church there is a moment when the priest moistens his finger with saliva and makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the confirmand. The practice is rooted in this memory of the encounter of Jesus with this man who could neither hear nor speak. That Mark retains the Aramaic word "Ephphatha" testifies to the impact of this memory upon the church. This is an example of human empowerment. Jesus gives voice to the voiceless and creates for them a bridge into the human community.
Is this not a miracle that has been going on all around us in this century? Who are some of the voices who have become articulate? What about those of us who can be functional mutes; hearing, but never really listening to those around us; able to speak, yet letting inner fears keep the words we might speak bottled up inside of us?
Anyone dealing with the miracles involving the deaf in the gospels should read the story of Ann Sullivan and Helen Keller as told by William Gibson in his play, The Miracle Worker, or read Helen Keller's journal. An excellent way to receive new insight into the world of the deaf is to read Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks (Harper 1990). Dr. Sacks also wrote Awakenings, which was made into an excellent film depicting a facet of his work. 1. Reprinted by permission from Context, published by Clarentian Publications, 205 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL 60606.
