No Limits

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

September 6, 2015

No Limits

Mark 7:24-30

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.

He entered a house

and did not want anyone to know he was there.

Yet he could not escape notice,

but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit

immediately heard about him,

and she came and bowed down at his feet.

Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin.

She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 

He said to her, "Let the children be fed first,

for it is not fair to take the children's food

and throw it to the dogs."

But she answered him,

"Sir, even the dogs under the table

eat the children's crumbs."

Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go—

the demon has left your daughter." 

So she went home,

found the child lying on the bed,

and the demon gone.

************************************

Jesus was worn out,

exhausted,

desperately in need of a break, a respite;

The Son of God needed a Sabbath.

He and his disciples had been preaching,

teaching,

healing and ministering without stop.           

When his disciples returned from their travels

after Jesus set them off

for the first time on their own,

Jesus tried to take them away

so that they could rest, all of them.

Crossing the wide Sea of Galilee

didn’t deter the crowds, though;

they followed Jesus and his disciples

even to a deserted area,

followed to hear Jesus,

to learn from him,

to be healed by him.

Jesus knew he needed to

care for the crowd.

There would be no let-up,

no rest.

He knew he needed to feed them with God’s word,

and feed them with bread as well,

all five thousand of them.

The next day Jesus sent his disciples

on by themselves,

once again across the Sea of Galilee,

off to Bethsaida this time,

on the north shore of the Sea,

where he would join them.

But there too they were greeted by throngs

who had heard that he was coming.

The people “rushed about the whole region

and began to bring the sick on mats

to wherever they heard Jesus was.”

(Mark 6:55)

The Pharisees and scribes followed him as well,

followed him so they could keep on eye on him,

followed him so they could continue

to challenge him,

trying relentlessly to undermine him,

trying relentlessly to embarrass him

so people would turn from him,

stop listening to him.

“Look”, they said to one another,

“he and his disciples fail to follow

the law and tradition that requires them

to wash their hands before a meal,”

a tradition that had been an essential part

of obedience to the Pharisitical tradition

for centuries.

Jesus responded to the Pharisees,

even though he knew that nothing he said

would change their minds,

change their thinking.

Still, he quoted Scripture,

from the prophet Isaiah:

“The Lord said:
…these people draw near with their mouths

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me

is a human commandment learned by rote…”

 (Isaiah 29:13)

The Pharisees knew the scripture well,

but were oblivious to the fact

that Jesus used it to speak of them.

Our Lord Jesus Christ

fully divine,

the Son of God,

yet also fully human,

needed a break,

needed rest from his work.

So he set off yet again,

this time by himself for the region of Tyre,

northwest of Capernaum and Bethsaida,

far from the crowds,

beyond the boundaries of Judea,

the land of the Jews.

He went into the Phoenician region peopled by

those referred to as Gentiles,

which was anyone and everyone

who was not Jewish

as our Lord was,

as the disciples were,

as the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes were.

Perhaps there, in that region, he thought,

no one would know him,

no one would recognize him,

no one would be interested in him.

Perhaps there he could be anonymous,

blend in, not stand out,

and have time for prayer, rest, and renewal.

But it was not to be:

word got out that Jesus, the Messiah,

the Son of David,

the healer,

the miracle worker,

this Jesus was in the area.

So it was no surprise to anyone,

other than perhaps Jesus himself,

when a woman approached him,

desperately seeking healing for her daughter,

a cure, a miracle.

The woman was Syro-Phoenician,

not a follower of the Lord God,

not a descendant of any of the

patriarchs of the Twelve Tribes;

yet still she came to Jesus,

came in hope, came trusting,

came to him and dropped to her knees,

grabbing his tunic so he could not turn from her.

She raised her face

and looked deep into his eyes, pleading,

“heal my daughter; make her well.

Heal her my Lord,

heal her I beg of you.”

Jesus, exhausted, hungry,

worn out,    worn down

responded with words that to those gathered around

must have sounded harsh, almost a rebuke:

“Let the children be fed first,

for it is not fair to take the children's food

and throw it to the dogs.”

One didn’t need to be follower of Jesus,

a believer in the Lord God

to understand Jesus’ words:

a rebuke,    

with what sounded like an insult thrown in,

the woman referred to as a dog;

the woman who wanted only

her child’s suffering to cease,

who wanted only that her daughter be healed

and made well again.

It had not been that long before

when Jesus had instructed his disciples

as he prepared to send them out in pairs,

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles,

and enter no town of the Samaritans,

but go rather to the lost sheep

of the house of Israel.”

(Matthew 10:5-6)

It was clear to Jesus that these were God’s instructions;

it was clear from those words

that Jesus believed

that that was what his Father in Heaven wanted

of him and his disciples:

to go and minister to the

lost sheep of the house of Israel,

and only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

That was a big enough job as it was:

the children of Israel had strayed so far,

so widely,

for so long,

and there were so many of them.

But the woman who knelt at Jesus’ feet

was undeterred,

unshaken;

she let the words slide off her back,

as she replied to Jesus,

“Sir, even the dogs under the table

eat the children's crumbs.”

Her response stunned everyone,

including, apparently, Jesus,

the woman’s words spoken so firmly and resolutely,

yet with such humility,

such grace,

and such faith,

…oh, such faith.

Jesus was shaken out of his lethargy,

his fatigue, his weariness.

Drained as he was, he didn’t hesitate,

smiling as he said to the woman,

“For saying that, you may go—

the demon has left your daughter.”

Matthew records Jesus words

as decidedly more emphatic,

even enthusiastic:

“Woman, great is your faith!

Let it be done for you as you wish.”

(Matthew 15:27)

The daughter healed,

the Syro-Phoenician woman’s prayer answered,

God’s grace extended,

extended beyond the children of Israel,

beyond the known and the familiar,

beyond borders and language and culture.

God’s grace knows no limits.

God’s grace is boundless.

Our text suggests that even Jesus

needed to take a step back

and grasp that lesson,

a lesson he no doubt knew,

but perhaps had lost sight of

in his obedience to his Father’s will,

coupled with his exhaustion.

While God may well have instructed

Jesus and his disciples

to concentrate their efforts

on the children of Israel,

our Risen Lord has taught us

that God’s word was and is to be taken

to all the world,

shared with all the world,

…all the world.

We followers of Christ have put so many barriers,

so many limits on God’s grace, God’s love:

limits of theology,

limits of denominationalism,

limits of creeds, of culture       

of nation, of language.

We read scripture as though we are called

to narrow God’s word,

make it exclusive, keep it exclusive,

rather than casting wide the net

of grace and love.

They are our barriers, our limits,

not God’s.

As theologian Eugene Boring has written,

“God is not [bound] by any theology,

even one announced by God’s Son.

Theology, valuable and necessary as it is,

need not stand in the way of

divine compassion ….”

Nothing should stand in the way of God’s grace,

least of all, us, you and me,

as professed followers of Jesus Christ.

Who are we to try to put a limit

on God’s grace?

God’s grace is for all,

not just those we approve of,

those who think like us,

those who pass our theological tests.

And there is yet another example of grace here,

beyond God’s grace shared with the woman,

there is such grace in Jesus’ response to the woman.

Having got involved in a quick bout

of verbal jousting,

the woman got the better of Jesus

with her humble, faithful, resolute reply.

                          

It would have been easy for Jesus

to have dismissed her

or argued further with her,

but he conceded her point,

and healed her daughter.

Jesus was gracious as he extended God’s grace.

How often do we see graciousness in differences today?

        

This is a story about a miraculous healing.

This is a story about “overcoming prejudices

and boundaries that separate humanity.”

This is a story about graciousness.

                                   

But most important,

this is a story about grace,

God’s grace,

grace which has no limits.

AMEN