Persistence at the Margins

The Syrophoenician Woman and Ujima

The Christmas season intertwines sacred rituals and family traditions, reflections on social responsibility, and aspirations for peace and goodwill. During this liminal time between years, our gaze extends beyond our immediate concerns to contemplate the state of our society and world.

The African American celebration of Kwanzaa, with its focus on seven principles called the Nguzo Saba, invites similar broadened perspective. In particular, the Kwanzaa value of Ujima implores us to collective work and responsibility to build and maintain community (Karenga, 2021). This year, the biblical figure of the Syrophoenician woman, found in the gospel accounts of both Matthew and Mark, provides a timely embodiment of Ujima’s call. Her story of determination and faith models interconnection across divides, advocacy for justice, and passionate vision seeking communal wholeness.

Overlapping Values

Though not directly related historically, Kwanzaa, Christmas, and Lent share related themes that illuminate the Syrophoenician woman’s tale. Kwanzaa creator Maulana Karenga (2021) designed the holiday's value system to "reinforce the best of African culture and to expand its humanistic thrust" (p. 10). Ujima sits among Kwanzaa's central principles, which also include concepts like collective economics, purpose, and creativity. Meanwhile, Christian observances leading up to Christmas inspire altruism and idealism—consider the iconic image of Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Dickens, 1843/2021) awakening Scrooge's social conscience. The Lenten season also cues themes of spiritual purification, simplicity, and solidarity with those who suffer privation. Across these traditions, shared values emerge around community ties and ethical obligation.

Connection Amid Exclusion

The Syrophoenician woman's experience bridges cultural and religious divides to demonstrate Ujima in action. The story appears in the gospels of both Matthew and Mark (Mt 15:21-28; Mk 7:24-30). Mark sets the scene describing Jesus withdrawing from Galilee to the region of Tyre and Sidon, today part of modern Lebanon. There he encounters the unnamed Gentile woman described as Syrophoenician—the region of Phoenicia overlapped with Roman Syria. She beseeches healing for her daughter tormented by a demon, but the disciples rebuke her clamorous pleas. Jesus also initially refuses her request, saying ""I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel," language excluding Gentiles from his messianic mission (Mt 15:24).

Yet the woman persists, falling to her knees in desperation. Through proverb and metaphor, she convinces Jesus to reconsider. Just as house dogs eat crumbs dropped from their master's table, she reasons hopefully, couldn’t she partake of leftover grace not needed by Jesus’ fellow Jews? She successfully changes the trajectory of the conversation. Jesus praises her conviction and heals her absent daughter instantly from miles away (Aslan, 2014; Meyers, 2014).

Advocacy Begetting Justice

This gospel encounter models interconnection through surprising collaboration. The Syrophoenician woman exemplifies Ujima through her adamant advocacy, sacrificing pride to seek communal healing she can then extend. Womanist theologian Mitzi J. Smith (2009) names such determination "talking back" and "taking responsibility for changing oppressive structures" (p. 107). Propelled by motherly love, the Syrophoenician woman persisted even when exhausting typical means of access and influence. She turned seeming adversaries into partners in her project for justice.

Initially blocked by disciples functioning as gatekeepers, the audacious mother got their attention with her noisy lamentation. Their rebuke actually connected her to Jesus’ ear and presence. Browne (2021) suggests perhaps “her loud cries inspired empathy among other women and mothers in the crowd” who ushered her to Jesus when traditions dictated men control access (p. 50).

Even Jesus’ apparent reluctance empowered rather than hindered her cause. Unflinching, she argued that his messianic mission needn’t adhere to restrictive ethnic lines given divine generosity that overflowed (Jennings, 2021). Jesus himself praised this conviction that built communal bonds, telling her, “Woman, great is your faith!” (Mt 15:28). Unexpected obstacles became openings for broader fellowship and grace.

From Barriers to Bonds

What can this provocative encounter teach during seasons of idealism mixed with isolation and exclusion? The Syrophoenician woman models passion for justice that builds connection amid divisions through tenacious hope. She moved fluidly through her world's intricate power dynamics to secure communal dignity.

Womanist theology scholar Rev. Melanie Jones (2021) names such strategic resistance "shape-shifting,” morphing roles to infiltrate closed circles of power otherwise barred (p. 50). The Syrophoenician mother shifted from scorned outsider to insider with a place at the table through savvy persuasion. Her prophetic imagination conceived new possibilities for belonging and dignity that Jesus himself at first resisted yet ultimately embraced.

The story thus resonates amid current polarization and fragility. Taylor (2021), Black feminist scholar and Episcopal priest, suggests "the demonized daughter symbolizes all marginalized people” while the ardent mother models “ceaseless intercession” (p. 42). When systems seem immovable obstacles, the Syrophoenician woman whispers—find the cracks where grace seeps through. Reimagine ostensible boundaries as connective tissue. In the spirit of Ujima, build community from the inside out.

Liminal Encounters, Collective Wholeness

The palm trees swaying behind Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman located the story in the governerate of Roman Syria (Jennings, 2021; Cooper, 2018). Yet its themes transcend geographical and temporal bounds. Perhaps this frontier region, on the edge of the Empire, cultivated insight impossible in more insulated Galilee where Jesus focused his early ministry amongst Jewish villagers. Borderlands birthed innovation.

Poet and historian Clint Smith (2021) extols the revelation facilitated by liminal spaces: “It was not until Jesus was able to break out of his comfort zone and expand his worldview that he could realize his power was not just for some people, but for everyone" (p. 42). The Syrophoenician woman guides a radical reversal of assumed hierarchies encoded even in healing and help. Through desperation and gumption, she catalyzed transformation, her contagion of conviction becoming redemption for outsiders. Smith names this “beautiful kind of audacity” that dismantled barriers perceived as intractable (p. 44).

Even seasonal traditions like Kwanzaa, Christmas and Lent enact liminal rituals—candle lightings, charity efforts, prayers of renewal—all nudging awareness beyond egoist comfort zones. The Syrophoenician woman’s gutsy story stirs imagination likewise. When we accessorize diversity for celebrations yet revert to insularity in practice, remember her persistence unlocking Jesus’ own limited vision. She models a catalyzing audacity needed when collective action stagnates. Even from the margins, with hope and boldness, we might help birth more inclusive community.

Expanding the Circle

The Syrophoenician woman's persistence invites contemporary questions—how might we likewise expand visions of community beyond habit's familiar contours? Womanist theologian Karen Baker-Fletcher (1998) suggests the woman "teaches marginality as a place for discovering compassion and justice” (p. 69). Where we inhabit intersections of identity already navigating borders, we gain insight invisible to those assuming dominant norms uncritically. When we experience exclusion personally, we gain incentive to advocate structurally. Most provocatively, as we awaken to interconnection, we gain responsibility to challenge convenience’s circumscribed circles of concern.

The Syrophoenician woman models what ethics scholar Peter Singer (2011) calls "the expanding circle" morally—pushing care to encompass unfamiliar others for mutual flourishing (p. 119-157). She conveyed conviction that healing excluded populations improved communal health holistically. Jesus himself learned obligation extends past ethnic and religious communities one conveniently inherits at birth. Insight gained through openness and challenge allows reimagining affiliations we unconsciously constrain. Rather than passive inheritance, genuine community intertwines hard-won insight with responsibility and solidarity reshaping bounds of belonging.

Seasonal traditions like Kwanzaa, Christmas and Lent enact liminal rituals—candle lightings, charity efforts, prayers of renewal—all nudging awareness beyond egoist comfort zones. The Syrophoenician woman’s gutsy story stirs imagination likewise. When we accessorize diversity for celebrations yet revert to insularity in practice, remember her persistence unlocking Jesus’ own limited vision. She models a catalyzing audacity needed when collective action stagnates. Even from the margins, with hope and boldness, we might help birth more inclusive community.

Conclusion

The Syrophoenician woman's audacious story stirs the imagination during seasons where social responsibility intertwines with spiritual reflection. Her persistence models the hard work of expanding community beyond barriers that limit visions of belonging, justice, and dignity. Through desperate advocacy, she converted initial obstacles into openings for connection. Her contagion of conviction awakened even Jesus to reconsider exclusionary stances unconsciously embedded.

Today, we need similar tenacious hope challenging assumed boundaries that constrain the circles of care. We need boldness revealing interconnection where only isolation prevails. The Syrophoenician woman whispers still—with passion and persuasion, we might catalyze more inclusive community even from the margins. Her holy restlessness exemplifies the Kwanzaa principle of Ujima and stands as a testament to faith’s power to transform.

References

Aslan, R. (2014). Zealot: The life and times of Jesus of Nazareth (pp. 136–139). Random House.

Baker-Fletcher, K. (1998). Sisters of dust, sisters of spirit: Womanist wordings on God and creation. Fortress Press.

Browne, R. R. (2021). The fences are talking: Witnessing the transformative power of Jesus. In C. J. Depass (Ed.), Say this city remembers: Spiritual renewal through women of the Bible (pp. 48-51). Flyaway Books.

Cooper, A. J. (2018). A woman’s evangel: The rhetorical shaping of the Methodist tradition [Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University]. Vanderbilt eScholarship. https://doi.org/10.15866/8

Dickens, C. (2021). A Christmas carol. Race Point Publishing. (Original work published 1843)

Jennings, W. J. (2021). Resistant humility: Reclaiming Jesus’s power through the Syrophoenician woman. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 75(1), 7–17.

Jones, S. M. (2021). Nevertheless, she preached: Old mothers and shape shifters. In C. J. Depass (Ed.), Say this city remembers: Spiritual renewal through women of the Bible (pp. 47-50). Flyaway Books.

Karenga, M. (2021). Kwanzaa: A celebration of family, community and culture. University of Sankore Press.

Meyers, C. (2014). Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite women in context. Oxford University Press.

Singer, Peter. (2011). The expanding circle: Ethics, evolution, and moral progress. Princeton University Press.

Smith, C. (2021). The beautiful audacity of the Syrophoenician woman: A poem and reflection. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 75(1), 42–45.

Smith, M. J. (2009). Mark. Abingdon Press.

Taylor, B. B. (2021). “Have mercy on me!”: A womanist preaching lens. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 75(1), 41–42.

Resources for Further Study:

Books:

- "Can I Get a Witness?: Prophetic Religious Voices of African American Women : An Anthology", Marcia Riggs

- "Queering Christ : Beyond Jesus Acted Up", Robert E. Goss

- "An Other Kingdom : Departing the Consumer Culture", Peter Block, Walter Brueggemann

Videos:

- “The Bible and Borders”, Yale Bible Study, Dr. Joel Baden

- “Gospel Women”, BibleProject playlist

- “Overlooked: Women of the Bible”, The Daily bean