[This is an extract from my essay "Breaking Bread: The Power of Hospitality in the Gospel of Mark" which you can read in full and with footnotes here.]
In ch. 7 the Gospel [of Mark] changes tack; the focus is now on Jewish traditions and ethnic boundaries. Yet the conversation still revolves around meals. The Pharisees notice that the disciples did not wash their hands before eating (7:1–5). We are not told whether the Pharisees were guests or hosts at the implied meal, but once again we have the disciples experiencing vulnerability and hostility in their role as guests. Jesus responds with a biting denunciation of pharisaic tradition (7:6–15). Later, in private with the disciples, he explains that food does not defile but only the evil intentions of the heart (7:17–23).
Next, Jesus encounters a Syrophoenician woman. Mark’s redundant additional identification of her as a Gentile (non-Jew) reinforces the significance of her non-Jewish ethnicity (7:26). She asks for her daughter to be delivered from a demon, but Jesus accuses her of trying to subvert the appropriate order of a meal: “it is not fair to take the children’s bread (artos) and throw it to the dogs” (7:28). The implication is that Jews (children) are those who are entitled to Jesus’ saving work, not the other nations/Gentiles (dogs). Jesus’ perplexing and rude response alerts the reader to the presence of metaphor.
I wonder too, should we imagine Jesus saying this with a twinkle in his eye? Is he testing her? Is he joking with her? Jesus seems an ungracious host, his response harsh, but the woman has been paying attention. Jesus’ feasts are not characterized by scarcity but abundance, there is always some left over. She doesn’t take offense, but presses on in faith. She says, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs” (7:28). Jesus recognizes her faith and rewards her with what she requests.
Again, we have an example of Jesus being surprised! Jesus is in a house in Tyre and does not want anyone to know he is there (7:24). He is surprised by this Syrophoenician woman who wants him to cast out her daughter’s demon (7:25). Jesus engages her with the metaphor of a meal where first the children are fed and then the little dogs (doggies/kunarion, not dog/kuōn), that is, the household pets (7:27). If it is unlikely that a Jew would have pet dogs, and it may not be, the reader should remember that Jesus is talking to a Gentile woman and describing the scene of her own home. She does not disagree with him but reminds him that in the same domestic scene the dogs are enjoying the abundance that falls from the table long before they are fed according to plan (7:28). She, unlike the disciples to this point, gets it. Even if Jesus’ ministry is to the Jews first, Gentiles with faith can benefit from his abundance before schedule. Jesus’ hospitality has no doors, it is unconditional, and all who come can and will be fed—even, perhaps especially, the surprise visitors.
This story is often read in a different way, that Jesus is hostile to the woman and she changes his mind through her response. Assuming that my reading above is correct, this shows how difficult, and easily misunderstood, humour and metaphor can be—even in the Bible! There is a clear power imbalance in the relationship. Jesus has what the woman wants, the power to heal her daughter. The woman is vulnerable, both as a woman and as a non-Jew in a Jewish home. Should humour always be avoided in such situations? I don’t know, the safe answer is yes. But by challenging her with a metaphor, Jesus treats her, not as a delicate object, but as an equal, someone worthy of his wits. By allowing her to be seen to either match him or even beat him in a battle of wits, Jesus humanizes and dignifies her and even gives her the credit for her daughter’s healing (7:29). Sometimes, when we treat people too delicately, when we are over sensitive, we can make things worse, and make the other person feel more isolated and helpless than they need to. Perhaps Jesus gives us an example of a better, more humanizing way?
Let me know what you think :-)
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