In our gospel reading today, Jesus behaves shockingly badly...at least according to our current standards of conduct. In the process of helping two Gentiles, he belittles one of them, and shows visible frustration in curing the other...behaviour that flies in the face of everything we think we know about Jesus. Because in these episodes, Jesus shows a PREFERENCE for the people who are HIS OWN...and it's only by God's extreme grace that WE are included in that number...
With the recent announcement by Jagmeet Singh, it sounds like it may soon be federal election time again here in Canada – we can dream, can't we? And as an employee of a registered charity who has NOT been registered by Elections Canada, I have absolutely nothing to say about that, EXCEPT to note tangentially that election campaigns are when our federal leaders are on their best behaviour. And these days, when we say best behaviour, we mean the most INCLUSIVE behaviour, enabling voters of all ethnicities, sexualities, genders, religions, and family situations to see their interests being “fought” for. Please note this is not an official position on an official policy of an official political party, it's just an observation that happens to tie in with today's gospel reading!
Because it's clear in today's gospel reading that Jesus was not running for prime minister of Canada! Jesus had an encounter with a woman, and it went very differently than your average inclusive campaign speech. A woman begged Jesus to cast a demon out of her poor daughter, and Jesus replied, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” WOW! What are we supposed to make of that, here in 2024? Notice how carefully Mark describes the person with her three characteristics of note: she is female (a different gender), she is Gentile (a different religion), and she is Syrophonecian (a different ethnicity) – THAT'S why she is considered a dog. By today's standards, how can we not label Jesus a misogynistic, racist, Gentilophobe? Isn't Jesus supposed to be our role model?!
And then in the second half of today's gospel reading, Jesus is again in Gentile territory, and people beg him to lay his hand on a deaf mute. And while this would result in Jesus being ceremonially unclean, and would likely result in more unwanted publicity hindering future travel, and would NOT likely result in any benefits to his own mission, we are SHOCKED that Jesus is not overjoyed to help the man. He makes a big deal out of curing the man in PRIVATE, he uses a bizarre, intense set of actions to perform the miracle, and he SIGHS (or in a different Greek translation, GROANS) as he looks up to heaven. By today's standards, how can we not label Jesus a selfish, ablist, Gentilophobe? Isn't Jesus supposed to be our role model?!
Well, thank goodness our SECOND reading today, written by Jesus' younger brother James, makes a lot more sense! “Do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?” That's better! We are supposed to ELIMINATE favoritism. THAT sounds more Christ-like, more virtuous, more acceptable in 2024. But James was talking about favoritism between people “coming into your assembly,” not people in general. And the only example he gives is favoritism FOR rich people and AGAINST poor people, which has nothing to do with other religions, cultures, or even genders. And in 2024, would James also agree that favoritism FOR poor people and AGAINST rich people is just as evil?
We have a picture of a very “nice” Jesus in our minds. What would be different if we realized that WE are the Gentiles Jesus is frustrated with? What would be different if we realized that WE have NO NATURAL CLAIM on Jesus, and that it is only through our humility, desperation, and gratitude that Jesus rescues us?