THE EGYPTIAN MOSQUE MASSACRE

There’s so much suffering in the world that it’s hard to imagine a loving and caring God is in control. Because it seems inexplicable, the natural tendency is to build an emotional wall against the painful sight of suffering. Out of sight, out of mind. Eventually, the suffering of others ceases to impact us.  We stop relating, especially when the suffering occurs thousands of miles away to people who are very different from us.

On Friday, November 24th over three hundred Sufi Muslims were killed — slaughtered — while offering prayers in their mosque. Twenty-seven of them were children. What do we do with that? There is a dangerous dance some Christians perform when tragedy strikes. If the tragedy strikes our perceived enemies, it’s the wrath of God punishing those who are living in the dark. If the tragedy strikes us, it’s Satan attacking God’s righteous ones. Nifty … and unbiblical.

So, what did Jesus say when he was confronted with the suffering of those who were foreigners and very different from him? I’ll look at three instances where this actually happened to Jesus. Hopefully, we can learn a few principles about how we love and care for the foreigner who suffers.

Every Person has Immeasurable Value (Matt. 15:21-28)

On one of the few occasions when Jesus ventured outside of his homeland, he met a Greek woman from Tyre. 1Tyre was an ancient port city on the northern coast of Palestine. It was famous for the production of purple cloth, and shipbuilding. Tyre was a sister-city to Sidon, and Byblos forming the nucleus of the state of Phoenicia. These were all important cities of commerce in the First-Century Mediterranean world. She begged Jesus to heal her daughter who was extremely sick. 2She was possessed by an “unclean spirit,” which was synonymous with “a disordered mind” (C.S. Mann). She was most likely suffering from some time of mental health issue, always associated with demon possession. Jesus, three times, refused to deal with her. But, she was extremely persistent. 3According to Matthew, the woman first approached Jesus and he ignored her. She persisted so the disciples came to Jesus and asked him to deal with her. He refused. Finally, she threw herself at Jesus’ feet and begged him to heal her daughter. Jesus basically told her no. But, she still didn’t give up. See also Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow (Lk. 18:1-8). On his last refusal he said to her, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26). In perhaps the greatest one-liner in the Bible, the woman shot back, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table” (Matt. 15:27). 4Mark uses the word for “puppy” instead of “dog.” But it was no less insulting. He was referencing her status as one outside the status of “child of God.” This, in combination with the mention of her ethnicity (Greek/Syro-Phoenician), clearly marks her as a pagan. In other words, she is a pagan gentile, unworthy of the priceless secrets of the Kingdom of God. I picture Jesus smiling as he responded, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted” (Matt. 15:28). The woman went home to find her daughter healed (Matt. 15:28; Mark 7:30).

Jesus’ conversation with this woman reveals that she was not a believer, but had great respect for Jesus as a spiritual sage. 5 She calls him “Lord,” and bows prostrate before him – neither is necessarily a sign of worship or belief, but both are signs of respect and honor. As a Phoenician from the region of Tyre, with a Greek heritage, she would have worshipped the god, Melquart. 6Melquart was considered to represent the monarchy, the sea, hunting, and colonization. He was also responsible for the commercial success of Tyre as the discoverer of the dye the Phoenicians extracted from the murex shellfish, which they used to create their famous purple cloth. A temple was dedicated to Melqart in the city and was visited by Herodotus, who described its entrance columns of gold and emeralds, and Alexander the Great, who made a sacrifice at its altar. Melqart was depicted on coins from Tyre in his guise as a sea god riding a hippocampus. The Greeks identified him with Hercules. The other important deity at Tyre was Astarte, who also had her own temple, built by King Hiram in the 10th century BCE. Jesus rebuffed her three times as a way of testing her true desire to know him and his healing power. 7Jesus used a well known Rabbinical technique to test the strength of her desire to know truth. The rabbis and sages were encouraged to rebuff their would-be disciples three times as a test of their worthiness. The person had to prove that they were serious about following the sage. Jesus does this several times with those who proclaim a desire to follow him (see Mt. 16:24; Lk. 9:57-62; 18:22)   So, we know that she was neither a practicing Jew nor a confessing Jesus follower. In fact, there is no indication that she ever proclaimed faith in Jesus as Son of God, nor did she become one of his disciples. This woman simply showed a stubborn strength of will and a tenacious hope that Jesus, the famous healing sage, could help her daughter. Apparently, that was enough.

The lesson from this scene is that even someone who has a culture and a faith very different from yours is valuable in the eyes of God. Everyone deserves a chance to live and grow and discover God’s healing power.

Every Person has great capacity for Faith (Matt. 8:5-13)

One day a Roman Centurion came to Jesus to ask him to heal one of his servants. This servant was particularly valuable and was suffering from paralysis. 8The servant was most likely Jewish. Servants were not necessarily slaves, and this particular servant had risen to a place of importance in the administration of this Roman military commander (see the case of Joseph, Gen. 39:4).  Jesus volunteered to go to the man’s house. But, the Centurion said, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matt. 8:8-9).

This Roman Centurion was a part of the Roman control system established in Galilee. He was a man of great power and influence. 9Reporting to the tribunes, centurions were responsible for training legionaries, assigning duties, and maintaining discipline amongst the ranks. They themselves were expected to display valour in battle and stand resolute when things were not going so well, and if they did not they could face execution. Accordingly, most centurions commanded respect from the troops in their charge through leading by example. // By the 1st century CE centurions were regularly given the job of commanding special police and intelligence units (frumentarii), sub-units of auxiliary forces (auxilia), which were composed of non-citizen soldiers, and units of allied armies (numeri). Experienced centurions might also become aides to provincial governors or train troops as exercitores. // In the late Republic, centurions were paid five times more than a normal legionary. Centurions also received a higher bonus from war booty, as, for example, in 64 BCE when Pompey gave each centurion a bonus of 1,000 drachmas whilst legionaries got only 50 drachmas each. By the 1st century CE, centurions were getting 15 times the pay of a legionary, senior centurions considerably more. Centurions were also notorious for bolstering their pay with bribes, as it was they who assigned duties and recommended promotions for the men below them. He was most likely a worshipper of several Greek and Latin gods, and most likely lived from the philosophical school of Stoicism. 10 Stoicism was the most popular philosophical school in the Roman world at this time and was especially popular among the equestrian ranks that filled the military leadership. There is also substantial evidence that Stoicism had a foothold in Galilee. He also had a great respect for the religion of the Jews. 11In Luke’s version, the Centurion first asks the local Jewish elders to approach Jesus with the request. Their plea to Jesus included a strong commendation for the way the Roman leader had funded the construction of a synagogue in Capernaum. This was a sign to them that he loved the Jewish people. It was not uncommon for Roman rulers to appease the local leadership through acts of philanthropy. This did not make him a believer, but rather made him politically shrewd (see Mark Cartwright, Centurion, in Ancient History). But, he was clearly not a believer.

This is why Jesus was shocked by the Centurion’s faith. He was a commanding officer and understood how authority worked. He saw Jesus as a spiritual sage who had great authority in the spirit world. Jesus concluded that many insiders had little clue compared to this outsider. In fact, the Pharisees were constantly questioning Jesus’ authority (Mt. 21:23; Mark 11:28). And here — a Roman pagan — thoroughly understood that authority.

Jesus concluded that every person has great capacity for faith.

Never Judge Those Who Are Suffering (Luke 13:1-9)

Jesus was asked what he thought about an incident where Pontius Pilate had dozens of Galileans killed while they were offering their sacrifices in Jerusalem. 12While not exactly foreigners, Galileans were considered to be very different from those who lived in Jerusalem. The southern states of Judah felt that the northern states in Galilee were inferior in their practice of the faith. The area where Jesus grew up was sometimes called “Galilee of the Gentiles,” not because a lot of Gentiles lived there, but because the area had been heavily influenced by Gentiles. There were major trade routes that ran through Galilee, while Jerusalem was more isolated, and therefore, in many ways, more provincial. The Jerusalemites looked down on the Galileans who had different ideas about keeping the law and different ways of worshipping as well as a distinctly different accent (see Mt. 26:73). The differences were akin to the differences between North and South in our own country. In some places of the deep south, a New Yorker might as well be from another country. He is perceived to have different ways, values, and worship practices, not to mention a different and foreign accent! We’re not sure exactly what happened but this sounds like a classic Pontius Pilate move early in his governorship of Judea. 13see Josephus, Antiquities, for various atrocities committed by Pilate during his ten-year proconsulship of Judea. He was particularly brutal in the early years before he understood the all-encompassing role faith played in the Hebrew culture. This would be akin to someone entering a house of worship and killing the worshippers. The question was very judgmental. 14The implication by the Jerusalem Jews who were asking the question is clear in light of Jesus’ answer — particularly his “unless you repent you too will all perish” (Lk. 13:5). They were implying that the Galileans’ worship was somehow inferior to that of the Judeans’ and that their death was a punishment from God for their spiritual laziness.  The implication was: What did the Galileans do wrong that they were killed in the act of worship? Did God punish them because their worship was unworthy?

Jesus doesn’t allow it. He reminds them of the Jerusalemites who were killed when a tower fell on them. Were they guiltier than anyone else living in Jerusalem? Were the Southerners (Jerusalemites) who died any better than the Northerners (Galileans) who died? No. Bad things happen to all kinds of people. Evil is all around us. Sometimes good people get hit.

Jesus tells them that instead of judging those who have been hit by horrific tragedy, they should get their own house in order. Worry about yourself, Jesus said, because you could be next. Then, Jesus tells them to love everyone, even their enemies because God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45). In other words, when it comes to bad things happening to people, there is no discrimination between those who believe in God and those who don’t. So, neither should you discriminate in your judgment.

When confronted with the suffering of foreigners, Jesus worked to bring healing and comfort. He didn’t judge them, nor did he preach to them. Rather he let his actions speak love into their lives. In the end, they understood where their help came from (Ps. 121:1), and would forever be grateful for the love Jesus showed them. Their lives were certainly changed. Who knows where it would lead?