During this retreat into a largely Gentile region, a woman approached Jesus for help. Histor(oriograph)y was not the invention of the scientific age, it was the invention of the Hebrews. At times we can see the editorial comment clearly for the readers and hearers, as was obvious in the early part of Mark 7, though not obvious to what extent. This week we have another no named woman coming to Jesus. Poor male commentators interpret this as de-centring Jesus as the one who has the power to deliver. The Syrophoenician Woman and Her Daughter ( Mark 7:24-30 ). Besides, a careful attention to what the text actually says here offers no grounds for believing that Jesus was ignorant and racist, and that this incident taught him something about the kingdom of God that he did not already know. 3:8). To make a one-off or repeat donation to support the blog, use PayPal with the button below: We promise not to spam you. If the mother had not been so willing to argue, He would not have required it of her; He would have picked another way to allow her to demonstrate her faith, and that encounter also would have ended in her child being healed, as long as she did indeed have faith. God's protective love and compassion are at the heart of all miracle stories found in the Bible. Surely these were animals? But he did not learn to be less racist from a Canaanite woman. I am not from Israel. Consider the following observations about this woman of great faith. No he didn’t, because in a pre-scientific age ‘history’ means something different. First, as Ben Witherington notes in his socio-rhetorical commentary (Eerdmans, 2001, p 231), this passage is indeed challenging—so much so that it is ‘nearly impossible’ to imagine that the story was invented by Mark’s mostly gentile community. Found insideBible scholar Christian Brady, an expert on Old Testament lament, was as prepared as a person could be for the death of a childwhich is to say, not nearly well enough. Adam proved his Godlikeness by refusing a mate from them. Going off topic. It is founded upon knowledge — not mere emotion. Who? Ostensibly they assume that is was used for a number of situations to test one’s resolve. Here are four ways in which this episode relates to the kingdom of God in Mark. It preaches ‘Jesus’ and thereby believes itself orthodox, but it’s Jesus as orphan, not the Son of God. This book provides historical context and nuanced exegesis of texts that continue to be "trouble spots" in Jewish-Christian relations. It illuminates the diverse strands of early anti-Judaism while providing the reader with some surprises. James 1:2-4). Concise exegesis to help readers understand the original meaning of the biblical text in its historical, literary, and cultural context. Bridging Contexts. 10 (in effect) she says, Okay, I understand. I offered this on the fb discussion …. This woman demonstrated that great faith seeks the welfare of others. to learn something about them and their place in God's kingdom. JESUS HEALS SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN’S DAUGHTER 1.521-28 Section 37 JESUS HEALS A SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN’S DEMONIZED DAUGHTER (Parallel: Mark 7:24-30) TEXT: 15:21-28 21 And Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. Surely these were animals? Mark explained that she was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race (7:26). Setzer uses social science and rhetorical studies to demonstate the importance of the belief in resurrection in the symbolic construction of Jewish and Christian communities in the first to early third centuries. Great faith is seeing one’s complete dependence upon God. Steve So don’t tell me you aren’t prejudiced or don’t exercise your position of power through the lens of your prejudice. Likewise Paul did not know better when he treated Genesis as factual history (Acts 17, Rom 1, Rom 5, I Cor 11, Heb 4, I Tim 2), Peter was also deceived (Acts 4, II Pet 3). He appears like a wise teacher who allows, and indeed incites, his pupil to mount a victorious argument against the foil of his own reluctance. Thirdly and more particularly, Jesus has already been involved in deliverance ministry amongst non-Jewish pagans, in healing the Gerasene demoniac. Both focus on unfortunate people suffering infirmities that isolate them from society (verses 25a, 32a). [2] It is interesting to compare Jesus’ journey to Tyre and Sidon (Matt. The verb “is gone out,” is in the perfect tense, reflecting the Lord’s control and power. Unsubscribe at any time. The woman doesn’t approach with arrogance or a sense of entitlement associated with wealth or privilege. In Ian’s view do any of these assertions describe events which actually happened, i.e ‘history’ in the ‘modern’ sense? Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic people related to the biblical Canaanites, who inhabited city-states throughout the Mediterranean. John 20:30-31; see What Does the Bible Say About Miracles? (See also: "purity" (HCBD).). As a result the reader is left more vividly aware of the reality of the problem of Jew-gentile relations, and of the importance of the step Jesus here takes to overcome it. The issue of evolution/special creation is a specific debate/disagreement, especially whether the evolution view is consistent with a wholly trustworthy Bible. What we are saying is that this is a truth, a fact, which both a pre-scientific and a scientific age would recognise as the same truth, the same fact. But there’s more than enough on the table for everyone. Jesus may have come to the woman’s region especially to see this woman and to deliver her daughter and to test and teach the disciples. This final comment is perhaps jumping too quickly from text to theology, so let’s spend a few moments with the text itself. Mark double-emphasizes that this woman who lives in Gentile territory is herself a Gentile—a Syrophoenician Gentile, no less—a Gentile of this abominable Gentile area. What is clear is that in both Matthew and Mark, Jesus has already healed Gentiles, freed them from demons. Don't view debate as a conflict to win; address the argument rather than tackling the person. But the text does not say ‘hominids’. Is it too fanciful to imagine him making the comments about dogs looking at the disciples with a raised eyebrow, inviting them to agree with his pretend-racist and misogynistic assessment, and then winking at the woman, who comes out with her brilliant line about crumbs from the table? In a pre-scientific age ‘history’ means something different. In verse 7:26 the word “Greek” also designates her as a non-Jew. The demon left while they spoke and would remain out. Archaeologists see all human-like remains as proof of a continuum to the present day but Adam didn’t find any of them suitable as coworkers. And you don’t appear to recognise that it is not scripture, but your very particular, literalist, interpretation of scripture that I am rejecting. I don’t know whether he is going to comment. She may well have been a women of status and power. First, Jesus calls the woman a κυνάριον, a pet, house or lap dog, who is part of the family, and not a κύων, a wild street dog. If he’s Fr. Satan, you believe, was not a murderer and liar ‘from the beginning’ and God did not create man and woman ‘from the beginning’ – these are examples of Jesus not understanding that Genesis was a story without historical foundation: in reading it as history he simply did not know better. It says ‘animals’. Found insideNarrative gospels -- Sayings gospels -- Infancy gospels -- Fragmentary gospels -- Jewish Christian gospels -- Orphan sayings and other stories. [2] Perhaps Jesus was also testing the woman’s faith. Apparently the answer to all this incoherence is to ask whether, when I look at the sky and see the Andromeda spiral galaxy, I can trust what my eyes are seeing. Granted Matthew in his account concludes by saying she was healed but in Mark it says simply “the demon was gone”. Such people say there is no such thing as race, but they are happy enough categorising our forebears in racial terms. So when we read the text carefully, and read it in the context of the wider arc of Mark’s narrative, what do we learn? Second, do you think Jesus and Paul believed in quantum physics and special relativity? From my understanding of those sort of arguments, I would have expected the woman to be named – or with some sort of greater identifier – if she were in Mark or Matthew’s circle. But he answered her not a word” (Matthew 15:22-23). We can perhaps forgive this approach, knowing that the author is a third-year undergraduate in law (not theology) at Harvard. But if ‘in him the fulness of the godhead dwelt bodily’ then I think we are getting into serious problems if we think he didn’t understand God’s purposes for humanity, and in particular if he was limited in his understanding by a certain kind of Jewish ethnocentricity which would equate to what we could consider ‘racism’. ", Contaminated as a result of certain physical or moral situations, and therefore prohibited from contact with holy things. Nearly 200,000 copies sold! Chosen by God by Dr. R. C. Sproul is a contemporary classic on predestination, a doctrine that isnt just for Calvinists. It is a doctrine for all biblical Christians. 7:24-30) refer to the same incident? In any consideration of Christ’s perceived ‘racism and bigotry’, we might first ask what racism is that is so terrible, and in many people’s eyes the worst of all sins. It was God in the pre-scientific age of the Pentateuch that taught Israel the difference between history and myth, fact and fiction. The Lord sought solitude with his disciples, but the text says. In other words, this passage helps to address a challenge from a previous generation, that the gospel stories are unreliable historically and largely a creation of the early Christian community. Second this article polarises interpretations in a way that makes it all to easy to disagree with those who don’t follow the line that Jesus said the exact opposite of what he meant. But there is perhaps also a more explicit agenda—to challenge ‘orthodox’ understandings of who Jesus is, by taking the ‘risky’ step of thinking that the Jesus we find in the New Testament isn’t actually a model for us, but is frail, ignorant and sinful too. There is no exploring of the ‘Jew first’ motif which shapes gospel history. Bridgeway Bible Commentary. I agree with that, whether that truth is expressed in statements of fact or e.g. “Jesus was silent because this episode with the Gentile woman was a test. This story calls us to confront Jesus’ humanity. My question (sorry if it is on topics already covered and/or I am missing an obvious point) is: The Bible makes many assertions which appear to be about matters of fact (recognising that other genres are numerous). Mark 7:1-23. Has Mark abbreviated what was a longer conversation? Surely the point here is that here is a woman who is revealed to be alongside the 12, she proves her right to be in the ‘secret place’ and she shares the crumbs. Jesus was passing through the land of the Gentiles (Greeks) and was approached by a woman who was not a Jew. Sorry. Christians who accept evolution as an established biological fact do not question Jesus’ words “He made them male and female” but only How He did that and over what time period. Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today. Some translations have Jesus saying, “Wonderful answer, incredible answer”. Phil Almond. Claudia Setzer , "The Syrophoenician Woman", n.p. THE SYROPHOENICIAN WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER--A DEAF AND DUMB MAN HEALED. A beautiful prayer of submission and humility. I am not going to comment on that on this thread. 12 ** She is not saying, “Lord, give me what I deserve on the basis of My goodness,” She’s saying, But the passage, to me, has hints of Ruth. The two gospels are not contradicting each other in their accounts of the origin of the woman, she was a … He has now begun to adapt those sermon series in book form, and the result is the St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary series. In Mark, the fifth volume in the series, Dr. Sproul deals with major themes in his easily understandable style. It can also be seen in Jesus’ “do you love me” questions to Peter in John’s gospel, and a couple of other places, so I think there is something to this. One of their population centers was Tyre, a coastal city in present-day Lebanon, about twelve miles north of the border with Israel. So I am reminded of Walter Wink’s description of biblical prayer as ‘impertinent, persistent and shameless … more like haggling in the outdoor bazaar than the polite monologues of the church.’. Wrestling in prayer may be too undignified. Even Jesus did that. He listens…Jesus listens. Palaeoanthropologists consider modern man to be a species they call Homo sapiens, even a subspecies, H. sapiens sapiens, and a subspecies is a ‘race’ in colloquial language. It turns out that Mark is a rather more compelling interpreter of Jesus’ ministry that a number of 21st-century readers. … the woman is the first person in Mark to hear and understand a parable…That she answers Jesus from “within” the parable, that is, in the terms by which Jesus addressed her, indicates that she is the first person in the Gospel to *hear* the word of Jesus to her.”. 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