Jesus Shows his Butt

Mark 7:24-37

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.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Hello?  Is this Jesus?  Yes?  Okay good.  Well, I’m calling from HR.  The Heavenly Resources department.  Well Mr. Jesus, we’ve had a serious complaint from one of your co-humans that you were, and I’m quoting from the complaint here, “a pretty big butt” when you first talked to the Syrophoenician woman when she came in to talk to you about her demon possessed daughter.  You apparently called her the “D” word?  No, Mr. Jesus, that wasn’t very nice.  Yes, I am fully aware you did cast out the daughter’s demon and that was absolutely “meets or exceeds expectations” work, but Jesus Christ… you have to know that is simply not an acceptable way to speak to another human being! 

You see, Jesus had just come from a huge fight with the Pharisees.  He had come up North, out of Jewish territory, to Tyre where the world was a lot less “People-y” so that he could come down from that encounter.  It’s easy to imagine then, that Jesus was emotionally, spiritually, and physically drained… you know… fully human.  He was just like we all get when we have to deal with super grouchy people.  He had no more… we’ll say “Cares to Give” and by coming to Tyre, he had TRIED to give himself a timeout to recover.  But what happened?  What happened is what always happens!  He got tracked down by yet another person needing something and the fully human Jesus just snapped.  A Jesus that snaps when he’s tired and over it?  Now there’s a Jesus who looks a whole lot like me!

That’s the first point of this story.  Even Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Son of God had days where he couldn’t help but to show his butt… just like all of us humans do.  The second point of this story is for us to understand that while showing our butts is a genuine part of being human, it is also NOT a spot where God is calling us to live full time!  That’s why in this encounter we see BOTH Jesus being fully human AND we also see him working with his Syrophoenician, female therapist to help him return to the fullness of the person God created him to be!  Back and forth they went in that therapy session until Jesus finally arrived at a place where both he and that little girl were freed from their demons.  

The story of the deaf man then extends the point being made in the first story.  Because while being run down, out of sorts, hangry, done with people and showing your butt is absolutely a part of being a genuine human being, doing the work to move and grow out of that part of being human, not only opens us to living a more abundant life OURSELVES, but also gives us the opportunity to pass that sort of abundant life on to others.  Whether we do that work on our own, or with the help of our own Syrophoenician therapist, God calls us into that work of becoming a better human being, not just so that WE might live a better life than we live when we’re dwelling in the cellar levels of humanity, but also so that we can move beyond ourselves and also bring a better life to those we meet along the way.  

It was only after Jesus had done the work he needed to do within himself that he was then able to take that deaf man away to put his fingers in his ears, spit, and scream “BE OPEN” so then that man could then ALSO stop living in the basement of humanity and move upstairs where the light shines, friends and family and neighbors come and go, AND where he would then ALSO have the opportunity to be part of lifting up and healing others around him.  

This Gospel story tells us that it is absolutely understandable and fully a part of the human experience for us to get run down, run over, and rung out and end up in a place where we are NOT at all functioning as our highest selves.  Even Jesus, it turns out, had those sorts of days.  But this story ALSO tells us that while being human and getting to that spot is understandable, its NOT the place God created any of us to live full time.  In this story Jesus started out REALLY showing his butt, but then he got help, did the work, got better, and went on to help others.  

SO WHAT JESUS DID HERE IS A MODEL FOR YOU AND ME TO FOLLOW!  We too, just like Jesus, are being called to be open to doing the work we need to do when we get to a place where our butts are showing.  We too, just like Jesus, are being called to be open to getting the help we need from a Syrophoenician therapist, or really a mental health professional of any ethnic origin.  BECAUSE when we DO that work… When we GET help… we FIRST return ourselves to life on the upper floors of humanity and SECOND we become able to help others live into those upper floors of humanity as well and it is there... on the upper floors of humanity where we will all find the abundant life in which God created ALL of us to live.  Amen.