Changing our Worldview; Changing our World 6

A Study of Mark Week 6

Mark 7  All have fallen short—even Jesus!

Did Jesus, the human Jesus, avoid the reality of original sin?  When I hold a newborn grandchild in my arms I don’t for one minute believe that child to be sinful, but I do know that they will grow into a three year old who will push away a younger cousin and grab all the toy cars for themself. The brief story of Jesus’ encounter with a foreign woman (Mark 7:24-30) tells us that maybe he was more human than some people want to believe.  It seems he had to be pushed to get beyond his prejudices.

Photo by Danny Lines (unsplash)

Jesus had been consistently challenging the social and economic systems of his time.  He challenged not the teachings of the Hebrew scriptures but the systems into which they had evolved.  The laws of the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) and the temple cult in Jerusalem had been intended to create a society that connected the Jewish people to God and to each other.  It intended a just and equitable society built on care for the most vulnerable, care for the land and a sharing of its bounty.  But as with all sinful human societies it had been corrupted so that some people had wealth and power and others did not.  Jesus’s teachings directed people back to the heart of the matter; to peace founded on justice, to respect for and care of every individual, to an equitable sharing of the earth’s bounty. The people who benefited from the status quo of injustice, wealth and power became his opponents.  It seemed that the lines were clearly drawn until Jesus met the Syrophoenician Woman.  Jesus had all he could do to stand up for the poor of his own country and now this woman was asking him to take on more; to expand his compassion beyond the limits of his imagination.  Did God’s love really go that far?  Was it humanly possible?  How could he not? 

Our economic and social system of liberal capitalist democracy is being challenged.  It was intended to share the wealth that had formerly belonged to the aristocrats and to share the power that had formerly belonged to the monarchy among the people.  It has been a good system in many ways but like all human systems it has been corrupted.  Wealth is once again being accumulated and controlled by a few, democracy is being threatened by intentional lies and deception, the vulnerable are not being cared and the earth’s bounty is being decimated. 

You who are reading this are likely among those who are doing more than most to change things but who is your Syrophoenician woman pushing you beyond the boundaries of your imagination?   (Ironic that Jesus was challenged by an immigrant woman from Syria!)  We are all products of our time and our culture.  If the world is going to change we need to change.