The Things That Limit Us

No doubt all of us have at some point in our life have felt like an outsider. We may have decided to go to a public meeting because the topic caught your interest, only to discover no one welcomed you – or even stopped to talk to you! You most probably left feeling “That was a waste of time!”

If you have ever had that kind of experience, it may be of some comfort to know that research has discovered about a third of the population have also experienced a similar situation.

Professor Naomi Eisenberger (University of California, L.A.) has discovered from her research that the experience of social rejection, exclusion (or loss) are generally considered to be some of the most painful experiences that we may endure”

I mention this by way of introduction to this reflection on the Gospel reading for the 8^th of September, 2024, where Mark records the story of Jesus interaction with the Syrophoenician Woman. The unnamed woman had approached Jesus seeking healing for her daughter (Mark 7:24-37). Initially Jesus rejects her but because of her persistence, Jesus finally heals her daughter.

There are alternative versions of this story in Matthew's Gospel and Elaine Wainwright, the former Richard Maclaurin Goodfellow Professor in Theology at the University of Auckland, has suggested that it wasn't the woman who took the initiative to seek out Jesus – it was Jesus who sought her and this twist in interpretation opens a whole different way to understand this story. Suddenly the space in which Jesus and the woman met became a sacred space where time stood still as the holy and the human met face to face. And while the woman's daughter was healed by Jesus, God's inclusive grace suddenly is affirmed as having no limits as both the woman and her daughter both find healing and new freedom from the restrictions and limitations that society and formalized religion had so easily inflict upon the wounded and outcast.

In many ways this story is also a story about the limitations our society, or our religion, or our culture quietly place upon us. Yet these limitations are only perceived limitations which we inflict upon ourselves. We do this by the way we live, or by the company we choose, or by our attitudes towards others, for example. Such attitudes and silent thoughts will inevitably end up affecting our life and the way we live.

However, the Good News of this story is that the Syrophenician woman refused to be limited by her ethnicity, or by her widowed status, or by the attitudes of others towards her. Her courage to seek out Jesus and her determination to challenge Jesus initial reticence to heal her daughter, reminds us also that whatever thoughts, beliefs or excuses we may make, these will inevitably carry their own history and may well go on to shape our future!

However, this story carries it own footnote.

While Mark did not give us the woman's name – perhaps he did this deliberately. Because, deep inside our human psyche we also are born with a indwelling longing to encounter that sacred space where time will stand still for us. However, it takes courage to allow the holy and the human to meet within us, face to face. We see this illustrated in the unnamed woman as she met with Jesus. In the encounter she received fresh insight of the world in which she and her daughter lived. This fresh insight enabled her to discover a fresh vision of her future as the holy and the human met face to face. It took courage and the woman had courage. May we also have the courage to respond to the ways Jesus seeks to enter our personal world as we allow the holy and the human to meet within us, face to face.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil