Being Human Together
October 04, 2009
October 4, 2008
Rev. Susan E. Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Psalm 124; Mark 7:24-30
Most of the Gospel stories are about Jesus and other people of his background – Jews from Galilee or Jerusalem. But there are some episodes when Jesus is interacting with others – a Roman centurion, or in today's story, a Syro-Phoenician woman. Now the Syro-Phoenicians were one of the more recent conquerors of the Jewish people, but their conquest, about 150 years earlier, had been one of the more remarkably brutal in Jewish history. There was a well-known story of the mother and her seven sons who had been tortured to death. Many Jewish children had been killed by the Syro-Phoenicians. Syria and Phoenicia were then where Lebanon is now – north of Galilee, on the coast of the Mediterranean.
Before this episode in Mark's Gospel – Jesus had been going full-tilt for quite a while. He had called the disciples, gone to several villages healing the sick until finally wherever he went people followed him. He had heard about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, he had walked on water, fed the 5,000, and also there had been several confrontations with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were educated, and well-known for their command of Scriptures and the Law. So by the time we get to this episode, Jesus is tired and wants to get away. Hear the word of God from the Gospel of Mark: [tell the story of Mark 7:24-30.]
This is a passage where we see the humanity of Jesus – and not humanity at its best. He succumbs to the easy characterization of the Syro-Phoenician woman, referencing her as a dog, in contrast to the children of Israel. We need to understand also in this story – the woman has challenged a number of taboos: Jews and Gentiles kept separate; and there was an absolute taboo against women speaking to men they didn't know in public. Perhaps her willingness to cross these taboos is a measure of her desperation on behalf of her daughter. But Jesus does engage in conversation with her – he responds to her pleas, even if he does in terms that seem at least rude and perhaps an example of the kind of us-versus-them thinking that some have characterized in broad terms as tribalism.
Tribalism is the ugly underbelly of community – it is when those who are like us (our nationality, group, religion, race, political party) are good and those who are unlike us are bad – and often the language about them is dehumanizing. In Rwanda, the Hutu tribe broadcast radio diatribes against the Tutsi's, calling them cockroaches and urging their eradication. And Jesus calls this woman a dog.
It's the same kind of us-versus-them thinking that occurs in the psalm: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side —let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive.... God is on our side – we have heard that thinking echoed by jihadists, Catholics and Protestants in northern Ireland, Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, red states and blue states in our political process, liberals and conservatives in the PCUSA, and we are seeing the passion of partisanship become ever more the dominant voice in U.S. political discourse as each side labels the other: Birthers, Deathers, Socialists, Fascists, un-American, Racists...and at the heart of this is the assumption that there are sides, and the people who disagree with us are on the Other Side. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say—if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us.... God is on our side, and They are the Enemy. How discouraging to see that kind of thinking even in the Bible.
But is it? The Rev. Dr. Trisha Tull of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary spoke recently of a conversation she had with a rabbi about this psalm with a rabbi, who pointed out that the psalm was mistranslated. Tull, a professor of Hebrew Scripture went back to the original Hebrew and found that Rabbi Ariel-Joel was right: it is mistranslated. But not only in our own NRSV, but also the New International Version, the King James, the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible, and the Jewish Tanakh. As Tull summarizes: “Whether we are past or present, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, evangelical or mainline we all agree: God always liked us best.”
Tull's scholarly focus is on Isaiah and she reminds us that although the prophet Isaiah teaches that although God assures a particular nation of God's presence through fire and flood, in the future God will teach all nations, and that “they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” that “nation shall not life up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4) Tull asks, “Would a God whose ultimate goal is peace and security for all the world takes sides against some of it?”
The original Hebrew doesn't talk about sides or enemies. It says, “Had God not been the one who was for us when humankind rose up against us....” The psalm is not about sides, but about violence and hostility, and it ends “Our help is in the name of God, maker of heaven and earth” - an assertion of God's care for all of us.
So where did this mistranslation come from? Tull researched it and found that for the first 2000 years of this psalm's history, it never mentioned sides or enemies...not in any of the translations into Greek, Latin, or German, French or Spanish. It is the English translations that spin life this way. It seems that this thinking was introduced during the Reformation by English-speaking translators.
Tull retranslated the psalm, and it reads:
And what about Jesus, who called the Syro-Phoenician woman a dog? Was he just laying the groundwork for later extending his healing ministry to her daughter? Or was his fatigue really showing? For me, this is troubling – for Jesus to be so confrontational and dehumanizing of this woman. And it’s important, I think, not to explain away the things we find troubling in the Bible, but to acknowledge them. And then, we will bracket that, and move on. We know that he was trying to get away from everyone, so much so that he finally went into Gentile territory to do so. Whatever the reason for his calling her a dog, he doesn't ignore her – he engages her in conversation, and although he has bested Pharisees in debate, in this case he acknowledges that a woman and a Gentile has prevailed. “For saying that, you may go,” he tells her, and adds “The demon has left your daughter.” When he says “You may go” he is not dismissing her, he is expressing something more like “go in peace” or “we have nothing more to argue about.” Jesus grants her full dignity in their conversation and grants her daughter wholeness. The story ends up being one in which Jesus, again, refuses to acknowledge the boundaries of his time. The one that his culture would describe as less for being a woman, and other for being a Gentile, Jesus accepts as a full conversation partner, and blesses by granting her plea.
We don't have to agree with one another, but can we at least be in conversation? Can we remember that we are all in the care of the Holy One on this one earth? On this Peacemaking Sunday can we let go of the thought that we are on different sides before God? In this Season of Creation, let us find common ground with all of God's creatures: those who are like us, and those who are unlike us, those who agree with us, and those who disagree with us. In this time of increasing polarization in our country and in our world, let us claim our heritage as peacemakers by praying for those who hurt us, and remembering that those with whom we disagree are also made in the image of the One we worship. Our help is in the name of the Holy One, who made heaven and earth. Amen.
Rev. Susan E. Gilbert Zencka
Frame Memorial Presbyterian Church
Texts: Psalm 124; Mark 7:24-30
Most of the Gospel stories are about Jesus and other people of his background – Jews from Galilee or Jerusalem. But there are some episodes when Jesus is interacting with others – a Roman centurion, or in today's story, a Syro-Phoenician woman. Now the Syro-Phoenicians were one of the more recent conquerors of the Jewish people, but their conquest, about 150 years earlier, had been one of the more remarkably brutal in Jewish history. There was a well-known story of the mother and her seven sons who had been tortured to death. Many Jewish children had been killed by the Syro-Phoenicians. Syria and Phoenicia were then where Lebanon is now – north of Galilee, on the coast of the Mediterranean.
Before this episode in Mark's Gospel – Jesus had been going full-tilt for quite a while. He had called the disciples, gone to several villages healing the sick until finally wherever he went people followed him. He had heard about the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, he had walked on water, fed the 5,000, and also there had been several confrontations with the Pharisees. The Pharisees were educated, and well-known for their command of Scriptures and the Law. So by the time we get to this episode, Jesus is tired and wants to get away. Hear the word of God from the Gospel of Mark: [tell the story of Mark 7:24-30.]
This is a passage where we see the humanity of Jesus – and not humanity at its best. He succumbs to the easy characterization of the Syro-Phoenician woman, referencing her as a dog, in contrast to the children of Israel. We need to understand also in this story – the woman has challenged a number of taboos: Jews and Gentiles kept separate; and there was an absolute taboo against women speaking to men they didn't know in public. Perhaps her willingness to cross these taboos is a measure of her desperation on behalf of her daughter. But Jesus does engage in conversation with her – he responds to her pleas, even if he does in terms that seem at least rude and perhaps an example of the kind of us-versus-them thinking that some have characterized in broad terms as tribalism.
Tribalism is the ugly underbelly of community – it is when those who are like us (our nationality, group, religion, race, political party) are good and those who are unlike us are bad – and often the language about them is dehumanizing. In Rwanda, the Hutu tribe broadcast radio diatribes against the Tutsi's, calling them cockroaches and urging their eradication. And Jesus calls this woman a dog.
It's the same kind of us-versus-them thinking that occurs in the psalm: If it had not been the Lord who was on our side —let Israel now say— if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive.... God is on our side – we have heard that thinking echoed by jihadists, Catholics and Protestants in northern Ireland, Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East, red states and blue states in our political process, liberals and conservatives in the PCUSA, and we are seeing the passion of partisanship become ever more the dominant voice in U.S. political discourse as each side labels the other: Birthers, Deathers, Socialists, Fascists, un-American, Racists...and at the heart of this is the assumption that there are sides, and the people who disagree with us are on the Other Side. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side—let Israel now say—if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us.... God is on our side, and They are the Enemy. How discouraging to see that kind of thinking even in the Bible.
But is it? The Rev. Dr. Trisha Tull of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary spoke recently of a conversation she had with a rabbi about this psalm with a rabbi, who pointed out that the psalm was mistranslated. Tull, a professor of Hebrew Scripture went back to the original Hebrew and found that Rabbi Ariel-Joel was right: it is mistranslated. But not only in our own NRSV, but also the New International Version, the King James, the Catholic New Jerusalem Bible, and the Jewish Tanakh. As Tull summarizes: “Whether we are past or present, Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish, evangelical or mainline we all agree: God always liked us best.”
Tull's scholarly focus is on Isaiah and she reminds us that although the prophet Isaiah teaches that although God assures a particular nation of God's presence through fire and flood, in the future God will teach all nations, and that “they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” that “nation shall not life up sword against nation, and neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4) Tull asks, “Would a God whose ultimate goal is peace and security for all the world takes sides against some of it?”
The original Hebrew doesn't talk about sides or enemies. It says, “Had God not been the one who was for us when humankind rose up against us....” The psalm is not about sides, but about violence and hostility, and it ends “Our help is in the name of God, maker of heaven and earth” - an assertion of God's care for all of us.
So where did this mistranslation come from? Tull researched it and found that for the first 2000 years of this psalm's history, it never mentioned sides or enemies...not in any of the translations into Greek, Latin, or German, French or Spanish. It is the English translations that spin life this way. It seems that this thinking was introduced during the Reformation by English-speaking translators.
Tull retranslated the psalm, and it reads:
If Holy God had not been the one who was for us--let Israel say—If Holy God had not been the one who was for us when humankind rose up against us, then alive they would have swallowed us, when their anger burned against us. Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the torrent would have gone over us. Then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed is Holy God, who did not give us as prey for their teeth. We are like a bird escaped from the hunter's trap; the trap is shattered, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of our Holy God, maker of heaven and earth.The psalm doesn't say anything about God being set against anyone else – God can be with us without being against someone else. Our help is in the name of Holy God, maker of heaven and earth.
And what about Jesus, who called the Syro-Phoenician woman a dog? Was he just laying the groundwork for later extending his healing ministry to her daughter? Or was his fatigue really showing? For me, this is troubling – for Jesus to be so confrontational and dehumanizing of this woman. And it’s important, I think, not to explain away the things we find troubling in the Bible, but to acknowledge them. And then, we will bracket that, and move on. We know that he was trying to get away from everyone, so much so that he finally went into Gentile territory to do so. Whatever the reason for his calling her a dog, he doesn't ignore her – he engages her in conversation, and although he has bested Pharisees in debate, in this case he acknowledges that a woman and a Gentile has prevailed. “For saying that, you may go,” he tells her, and adds “The demon has left your daughter.” When he says “You may go” he is not dismissing her, he is expressing something more like “go in peace” or “we have nothing more to argue about.” Jesus grants her full dignity in their conversation and grants her daughter wholeness. The story ends up being one in which Jesus, again, refuses to acknowledge the boundaries of his time. The one that his culture would describe as less for being a woman, and other for being a Gentile, Jesus accepts as a full conversation partner, and blesses by granting her plea.
We don't have to agree with one another, but can we at least be in conversation? Can we remember that we are all in the care of the Holy One on this one earth? On this Peacemaking Sunday can we let go of the thought that we are on different sides before God? In this Season of Creation, let us find common ground with all of God's creatures: those who are like us, and those who are unlike us, those who agree with us, and those who disagree with us. In this time of increasing polarization in our country and in our world, let us claim our heritage as peacemakers by praying for those who hurt us, and remembering that those with whom we disagree are also made in the image of the One we worship. Our help is in the name of the Holy One, who made heaven and earth. Amen.