Jesus' Lesson & Priority Shift

 Sometimes, it all comes down to the meaning of a single word. We see this in the Bible a lot. Especially because of the translation process. Unless one reads ancient Hebrew and Greek, we read the Bible thanks to English translations.

Our passage from Mark 7 is a great example of how one word and our understanding of that one word can make all the difference in the meaning of the text we are reading.

In Mark, a gentile woman, a Syrophoenician, begs Jesus to cast a demon out of her daughter. To this Jesus says, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

Did Jesus just equate this desperate gentile mother to a dog?

Apparently so. The mother responds to the claim. She says, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

This smart and cutting retort somehow moves Jesus. "For saying that, you may go--the demon has left your daughter."

Still, we are left with that troubling question – did Jesus troll a gentile mom desperate to see her daughter get well?

It all depends on the meaning of one word, translated here as “dog.”

Now, in Jesus’ culture of Judea, referring to someone as a dog was a huge insult. Much more so than our culture. If we in our culture really wanted to insult someone with the word dog, you’d qualify the word dog.

The renowned quote from the novel and film Color Purple comes to mind. The protagonist, Celie, in a climatic scene, finally confronts Albert, the antagonist of the story, saying, “you a lowdown, dirty dog, that’s what’s wrong.”

Now, if Celie qualified dog with the word “pet,” we’d have a completely different meaning. “You a pet dog, that’s what’s wrong.”

Or if she said, “You a puppy dog, that’s what’s wrong,” we’d have a completely different meaning.

Well, in our passage from Mark 7, that English translation “dog,” does it show anything useful in the original Greek? It does, actually. The word for dog in Greek is the word “kyon.” Jesus doesn’t use this word in Mark 7:27. He uses the word, kynarion. Kynarion doesn’t mean simply dog, it means “little dog” or “puppy.”

Referring to someone as a puppy hits a whole lot differently than referring to someone as a dog does. By using little dog or puppy, Jesus is less insulting and more point-making.

What is the point Jesus is trying to make with he words, “it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the puppy dogs"?

We must understand what’s going on with Jesus at this point.

Well, in chapter 6, Jesus is rejected by his own people in his hometown. This is when we get his famous retort, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown.”

Jesus then sent his disciples out to minister in his name, meaning Jesus is along a lot more. Loneliness – even Jesus felt it.

What happens next? As Jesus experiences being alone, he gets word that his cousin, mentor, and friend John the Baptist has died. So we add grief to loneliness.

His disciples then return. Jesus tries to get away to grieve. But before he has time to fully grieve, he’s bombarded with people hungry and needing hope. This gives way to the feeding of the 5,000.

Finally, Jesus is able to get away to pray amid his grief. He goes to the hills to do this. As he is praying, in the distance he can see his disciples in a fishing boat struggling with a storm. He goes to help, walking on water to do so. His disciples, still not fully seeing the truth about Jesus, doubt it is Jesus. Jesus expresses frustration at their lack of faith.

As they came back to land after Jesus calmed the sea and his disciples’ spirits, Jesus is again bombarded by human hurt and hopelessness. We sometimes forget that Jesus saw a lot of sadness and suffering, which he internalized deeper than we can ever imagine.

Then Jesus is visited by some religious men from Jerusalem. They harshly critique and condemn Jesus on his approach to Jewish law and on his leadership as a teacher. Jesus responds angrily, calling these authority figures, “hypocrites” and in turns lambastes them for their calloused approach to Jewish law.

So, we go from being rejected by his own folks, to loneliness and the grieving of his mentor, to experiencing the harsh reality of human suffering and the hardheartedness of his own disciples, to being rejected by the religious hierarchy of his own faith.

What is the effect of all this? Jesus leaves town. Jesus rejected by his own people and his own faith tradition leaves it behind and heads to Gentile country. He goes to Tyre, a Gentile town, with the hopes of being left alone to ponder all of this.

But being left alone is not in the cards. A Syrophonecian mother comes begging for help for her daughter.

The priority in his ministry up to this point has been his own people. The children of Israel are his focus.

But human suffering and need is universal! We see the universality of human need in the figure of this Gentile mom. Jesus sees it, too. But old habits die hard, even for Jesus.

So Jesus responds – the children of Israel are why I’m here. As for Gentiles, like pet puppies in this house, they, as cute and adored and needy as they are, can’t be my priority.

That’s what makes the mother’s response so powerful.

She knows who Jesus is. She knows the great healer he is. She knows the spiritual power he possesses. But she speaks honestly and pointedly.

She basically says all the vulnerable need your help. Children of Israel, children of Canaan, they all need care and compassion. If a person in need comes to you and you can help, why not do so?

The mother’s persistence and compassion moves Jesus. It becomes a turning point in Jesus’ ministry. He seems to realize his priority, that of ministering only to his people, is too narrow. Expanding his scope seems necessary. 

And so immediately, while still in Gentile country, Jesus heals a deaf man then feeds 4,000 people.

Now, there might be some resistance to seeing Jesus as too narrow-minded. Christ, God in the flesh, how can his scope be too narrow? How can Christ, God in the flesh, need to change his mind.

It seems simple to me. In the story of the Flood, God changes his approach and promises to never respond so harshly. In the story of the Exodus, Moses talks God out of reneging on his promise and God relents. If God can change in this way, then certainly Jesus in his human ministry can expand his view and broaden his scope.

That brings me to this week’s take away. There’s that dog-based idiom. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Well, in fact, you can teach an old dog new tricks. That’s been proven again and again. 

Sometimes, our scope is too narrow. Sometimes, our worldview is too closed-minded. Sometimes, our priorities are too limited. If it was true for Jesus, it certainly can be true for us.

And like Jesus, it isn’t too late to change. Like Jesus, we’re not too perfect to better the way we approach things. 

Jesus didn’t get stuck in unhelpful, narrow-minded ruts. Neither must we.

Being human means seeing new things and growing past old things. Be that human, friends. Be that human.