Gone to the dogs
Based on Matthew 15:21-28
If there is one thing I can say about my life to date, it is that it has
never been boring. There have been many unexpected and dramatic events in my
life I will never forget. But few have had the same impact on me as
something that happened in Taupo 30 years ago.
I had been at a planning retreat for a cause I was involved with at the
time, and we had just finished our business for the day. We were a few
kilometres out of town, and several of us drove into Taupo to have a look
around. And at some point, I left the others, so I could check out one or
two of the local watering holes. I soon found a suitably convivial public
bar. Public bars were always my preferred category of licensed premises. Not
only was the clientele far more interesting than what you found in lounge
bars, the beer was always cheaper.
I was sitting at a table by myself, thinking about life, the universe and
everything, when three patch wearing Mongrel Mob members came sauntering
into the bar. Without having been invited, they all came and sat at my
table, which suddenly felt very crowded.
My instinctive response was to work out who was the leader of the trio. And
to my great surprise, I saw he was upset. Very upset. I understood gang
members were expected to be staunch at all
times and that to show any emotion was construed as
weakness, so to say the least I was very perplexed.
He was greatly troubled by something and needed to talk to somebody about
it. I listened as best I could. All these years later, I don’t actually
remember what I said to him. I think I mainly listened
and did not say very much. I don’t think we even exchanged names.
When we had finished our conversation, they suddenly stood up, he shook my
hand, bought me a beer, and they left as quickly as they had arrived,
leaving me stunned by what had just happened.
I have often wondered what became of that man. And this incident was one of
several that steered me in the direction of prison volunteering, which I did
for a number of years
and hope to resume when it is permitted again. As one who tries to follow
the way of Jesus the Christ, I do feel compelled to reach out to outsiders
and those on the margins, and these are exactly the sort of people you find
in prison.
I met people from all walks of life in prison. Some were young men who
looked like they should have still been at school. Some were older men who
looked like they had led quite respectable lives before falling from grace.
And sometimes they were current or former gang members.
Now before I go any further, I want to make it clear I do not condone crime,
excuse those who commit it, or overlook the plight of their victims.
Most - if not all – people I met in prison regretted the bad choices they
had made. And even though some of them had committed extremely serious
offences, I can only remember once feeling even slightly uncomfortable in
the presence of a prisoner.
I was reminded of these encounters while I was contemplating today’s gospel
reading, in which a Canaanite woman seeks out Jesus and begs him to heal her
afflicted daughter. This incident is described in both the Gospel according
to St Matthew, which we heard this morning, and the Gospel according to St
Mark.
Jesus is in the districts of Tyre and Sidon, meaning he is outside of Jewish
territory. And Canaanites are traditional enemies of the Jews, so he
is well out of his comfort zone. And the woman is a complete outcast to
Jewish society. But she is not too proud to reach out for help when she
needs it.
In the text we heard today, Jesus’ friends urge him to end her away, and he
tells them he is only sent to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. This
snippet is only found in the Gospel Acording to St Matthew, which, along
with the Gospel Acording to St Luke, was written after the Gospel Acording
to St Mark and was heavily influenced by it. Of all the gospels, the Gospel
Acording to St Matthew places particular emphasis on Jesus’ Jewish heritage
and emphasies his role as Israel’s Messiah, seemingly to ensure Jewish
tradition is not lost in a Church that is increasingly becoming a Gentile
institution quite separate from its Jewish roots.
The woman pleads for help, and Jesus tells her ‘It is not fair
to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’1
At first this looks pretty provocative;
to dismiss your people’s children as dogs is rather rough, and not what we
would expect to come from the lips of Jesus. However, things are not quite
what they seem. The used for word for dog in the original Greek versions of
both this text and its equivalent in the Gospel according to St Mark2 is kynarion,
which is better translated as ‘little dog’ or ‘pet dog’. Everywhere else in
the Newer Testament where dogs are mentioned, such as when Jesus talks about
not giving to dogs that which is sacred3 the Greek
word kyon is used, which means an unclean,
wild dog.
So, contrary to what many English Bible translations imply, Jesus does not
call anybody a ‘dog’, but something closer to ‘pet’, albeit maybe one that
is a little rough around the edges. Note the woman’s response does not
indicate she has been gravely offended. Instead, she makes a clever retort:
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’
table.”4
Note that pets sit under people’s tables. Not wild dogs.
Jesus clearly appreciates her spirited response, not to mention her faith
and persistence, and her request is granted.
I find it somewhat ironic that during the age of Christendom, the Church was
probably the most respected institution in the Christian world, yet Jesus
was rejected by the religious authorities of his day. He found acceptance
amongst the poorest and most marginalised members of society,
because he was not afraid to mix with those whom the
rest of society rejected.
Sadly, those who live on the margins are still with us, and although we
treat them a little better than we have done in the past, at best they are
still treated as being something of an inconvenience.
In Taupo 30 years ago, a man on the margins sought help, just as the
Canaanite woman did nearly two thousand years earlier. As members of
Christ’s body, the Church, we have an obligation is to reveal Christ in word
and action, and the most powerful way to do so is to show love and
compassion to those on the margins who need it most.
We don’t necessarily have to go looking for them either, for like the man in
Taupo and the Canaanite woman, they may come looking for help. Now are we
ready for them?
Darryl Ward
20
August 2023
1 Matthew
15:26b
2 Mark 7:24-30
3 Matthew
7:6
4 Matthew 15:27b
All Bible references are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) unless stated otherwise.