There are days when we reach the limit, the saturation point. We tell the kids to play outside because we need a ‘time out,’ and no fighting and don’t come inside unless it is a dire medical emergency.

After too many interruptions with people wanting to pick-your-brain, or too many demanding details, you tell your co-workers to take a message and leave you alone, no interruptions for an hour.

Or you hit a block and no amount of caffeine and Snickers will add an ounce of inspiration, creativity, or lasting energy, nor diminish the anxiety.

Sometimes we just need to be alone, to take a walk or a nap, or go to that special beach, forest, or path to get centered, find balance, download the head and heart.

The Bible tells us that Jesus experienced everything we go through. After an extended time of teaching, miracles, healing, and starting his ministry to the gentiles, Jesus finally hit the wall, just as we do. In search of much needed solitude, he got out of town, took a retreat, and, as the text says, "He did not want anyone to know he was there."

You know how it is with kids; they give you 8 minutes before they have their medical emergency melt down. Co-workers don’t mean to disturb you -- just give them a quick answer to a simple question. You get to that special place of peace and renewal, a cell phone rings, and the reverie is broken. At least Jesus knows our lot, as the text continues, "But he could not stay hidden."

A gentile woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon, found Jesus. Longing for the return of her daughter’s well being, she fell at Jesus’ feet and beseeched him to exorcise the demon.

Given the Hebraic world of purity codes and racial, religious, and ethnic prejudices, it was a challenge for Jesus and the disciples to start the mission to the gentiles. Gentiles were commonly referred to as ‘unclean’ or as ‘dogs.’ Jesus’ interest in the gentiles caused the Jewish leadership to be even more suspicious of him, while for many gentiles he was a curiosity.

On top of everything else, Jesus was exhausted after a frustrating start of his mission. Context and constitution help us understand what at first read appears to be a rather hostile response to the woman’s plea. Jesus said to her, "Let us first feed the children. It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs." Which was to say, you cannot take the spiritual nourishment for the Jews -- the children -- and throw it to the gentiles -- the dogs.

This woman was not a curiosity seeker or guru groupie. She had seen enough to know that Jesus was the real thing. From what she heard him say she had an expectation and a vigorous faith to back it up. She was also quick on her feet. This gentile did not want to usurp the place of the Jews as God’s chosen, but she expected Jesus’ promised share of God’s reign. She responded, without rancor, perhaps with a wry smile, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s leftovers." Roughly translated, "If I am a dog, treat me like one and give me the crumbs from the table." Jesus got it and answered her prayer. "Because of your answer," he said. "Go home and you will find your daughter healed." She did and her daughter was!

This gentile woman broke through the prejudices and pollution systems that divided Jews and gentiles, and separated gentiles from God’s love and grace. She challenged the exhausted and frustrated messiah of God to walk-his-talk: truly be the divine new being, the human presence of God; reorder power, break down the dividing wall of hostility, bridge the gap between humankind and God, and unite every person into one holy family. She clearly challenged him to honor his teaching that God’s reign was now for both Jews and gentiles.

Significantly, the gentile woman is the only person in the entire Gospel of Mark to refer to Jesus as ‘Lord.’ She believed what Jesus said and on that belief asked for what she needed. If this woman had been at "Beyond Belief," the Burning Man celebration last month, you would not find her at the Belief Relief Camp for those who carry excess religious baggage. No! Her faith was fresh, vital, humble, and tenacious. So strong was her trust that she did not need Jesus to go to the daughter’s bedside, she did not even need him to touch the child.

In a small home, a gentile woman held Jesus accountable for walking-his-talk. She may well have been the one who transformed Jesus’ commitment to the mission and inspired him to move forward. We are the spiritual offspring of this gentile woman, heirs with her to Jesus’ unrestricted grace, love, and healing. Jesus was about inclusion and extending the Divine Choice to all people. Inclusion was Jesus’ world-changing gift and we are among its recipients, therefore we are called to transform the dividing walls and pollution rules carried in every human heart and used to exclude others.

Jesus teaches us in this story that when we reach our limits or saturation point, we need to pull aside and attend to our hearts and souls. As with Jesus, when we pull aside to reclaim our center and reestablish the balances, we can once again live life fully, lead with our hearts, heal from our places of being healed, create from the renewed center, and more ably answer God’s call. The fact is, that like Jesus, we can never really hide from all the voices and demands in our lives -- they are the stuff of being human, the very things that make life meaningful, but we must take time to be spiritually centered.
 
 
 

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