Sermon matt 15, Canaanite woman

Well now, what did you think of today’s gospel reading?  Earlier in Matthew, Jesus teaches his disciples that it is what comes out of your mouth and comes from the heart that can defile you…not traditions and customs like eating with unwashed hands.   However, the next thing we know Jesus is reacting to a woman in need with very real and very strong cultural prejudices.  We read that Jesus calls a woman seeking his help… a dog….and not a cute puppy, but a mongrel. 

This seems to be a bit of a contradiction with his earlier teachings and quite out of character, and we are left trying to justify the cruel and heartless words of our Lord Jesus Christ, the meek and mild who cuddles children and lambs alike on the felt boards of Sunday schools everywhere.

What is going on?  Frankly, Jesus sounds like a jerk. 

I’ve heard some explain that He was testing that woman’s faith.  Others that ‘dog’ was an endearing nick name.  Still others, that Jesus wanted to prove a point.

The one thing I find that these explanations all have in common, is a desire to defend Jesus, to protect his image as a nice man.

We are ok if Jesus insults the Pharisees…we’ve put them in the bad guy role.  However, this woman just wants to help her daughter…she is a victim and Jesus is supposed to heal her immediately and with a smile and a blessing.

But things aren’t so cut and dry. 

First of all the Pharisees aren’t really bad.  In our time we’d call them the ‘old boys club’, they are the ones who like things by the book.  They think there is a right way and a wrong way to do things and they are very good at doing things the right way…the way it should be done…they way it’s always been done. 

The Pharisees are the ones you would go to if you wanted to know which reading was supposed to be read today.  Or what book to use… and they would pass you the Book of Common Prayer and show you exactly what you needed to know.  They would know all the creeds by heart ….all three of them. 

In fact they could probably quote you all of the 39 articles of religion (the list of things all Anglicans are supposed to believe and adhere to) and they would be very, VERY upset that I couldn’t. (but, I do know where to find them  if I need to look them up)

The Pharisees weren’t bad, they just saw things in black and white, and they were very good at being very good Jews.  Some might say they were the best Jews.

What they didn’t do well at … was change.   And Jesus….he advocated a LOT of change.

But perhaps that change didn’t always come easily to Jesus either. 

The Canaanite woman of today’s reading wasn’t just a victim in need of assistance.

She was a gentile, a gentile from a country long since enemies of the Jews.   She was a woman and even between  Jews there were laws about the interactions between men and women.

 Beyond even that she was a stranger….and she was annoying, uncouth and presumptuous.  No Jewish man in his right mind should have even acknowledged her existence.  So, perhaps, we shouldn’t be as surprised that Jesus referred to her rudely, perhaps, we should be impressed he, eventually, talked to her at all.

What become interesting is that years later disciples saw fit to include the interchange in two of the four gospels.                        

Something important is happening here.

Perhaps Jesus doesn’t just advocate change here….perhaps it is HE who changes.

Jesus had been taking with his disciples about what was clean and what was unclean…in other words, what was more important tradition and doctrine, or righteousness and justice.  What Jesus was teaching was the question ‘what really matters to God?”

Then, as he walks on, he finds himself in the middle of an example of his own teachings.   Time for Jesus to practice what he preaches. A person approaches him with reverence and respect, asking for mercy and healing.  A faithful person willing to go outside what is socially and culturally acceptable to get close to Jesus.  A person whose heart is in the right place, who is seeks God and calls Jesus Lord. 

But all those proper teachings that the Pharisees obey, say this woman is unclean and to engage her, would make you unclean.  The rule is clear. Keep away!

It seems that Jesus knows this and at first he simply continues on his way…obeying the rules,.. but something changes.

This woman…this nobody…. this mongrol… challenges Jesus on what it means to be a child of God…challenges his sense of ministry and purpose …challenges him and perhaps even changes him.

                Kind of seems reminiscent of someone else we’ve been learning about lately…someone who confronted God and wouldn’t give up, only this woman wrestled with words rather than with limbs. Just like Jacob, the Canaanite woman wouldn’t leave without a blessing.

Jesus began his ministry with the understanding that his message was only for the people of Israel, God’s chosen people.  That the message he spoke and the healing he offered was for one people, his people, the children of God….but was it?

Throughout Jesus ministry we get themes of inclusivity, abundance and grace…we get a sense that his ministry is more then one might expect.

A couple of weeks ago we got to hear about the loaves and fishes and the feeding of the 5000 (plus women and children).  In that story God took the expected and did the unexpected…5 loaves and 2 fish fed thousands of Israelites, God’s chosen were taken care of, .. but there was so much left over, …. more than enough to feed the dogs under the tables as well, and not only scraps…but a meal!

Then, as if to reinforce the idea, mere verses after today’s reading Jesus does it again, feeding 4000 (plus women and children) with 7 loaves and a few small fish, leaving 7 baskets full of leftovers.  We are certainly learning that God isn’t stingy.

A truth that this Canaanite women seemed to inherently know with strong faith and great certainty.  She knows God has the ability to bless and to heal, she knows Christ is Lord, she knows that there is enough God to go around.  And so she comes forward and challenges God to bless her too, to heal her child.

And Jesus, focused on his ministry to the Jews… find’s he can change.  Jesus initially speaks to her of his mission to the Jews alone, the children of Israel…of Jacob.  Jesus says “It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”… and like Jacob the Canaanite woman challenges Jesus.  ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table’.   I wish I could hear her voice…

Do you not think…she seems to say…do you not think God can provide for us all?  Jesus’ heart and mind are opened…a mouth that spoke harsh words, a heart that was closed off, underwent a transformation.  Words that defiled are reconciled, a heart too small was expanded….Jesus changed.

 Later on in Matthew we hear Jesus preach the parable of the wedding banquet, in which a banquet was planned with a very specific guest list, but in the end the banquet hall was opened and filled with as many people as could be found.

A banquet that defied cultural norms, defied the traditions, a banquet that changed everything about what it meant to be a child of God.  Something that some found very hard to accept. 

In the gospel of John after the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water, we come to a passage in which Jesus says that ‘whoever believes has eternal life’ and ‘whoever eats the living bread (that would be Jesus) will live forever’… difficult teachings, teachings that changed and challenged the way people understood God and who God came to save,  and we read that ‘because of this … many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.’

Change is difficult, and sometimes heart breaking.  We may not use the language of clean and unclean, but we certainly have the language of right and wrong…and each of us has an internal concept of what is and is not acceptable.  Who is and is not saved, what should and should not be preached, how many candles belong on or off the altar. 

The challenge is determining if we are following tradition for traditions sake, or if there is a call to grow and to change things so that God’s banquet can flow over the tables and onto the floor and out the doors,        because God’s banquet is intended to feed any and all.

In our gospel today I believe we get to witness the spiritual growth of Jesus, we get to see a defining moment in Jesus ministry…we get to see our fully divine, fully Human saviour start to realize it wasn’t about who was invited, but about who was served.

This is challenging and uncomfortable sometimes…we know Christ to be God, and in our minds that often includes words like unchanging, all knowing, fully divine, unerring…but perhaps there was room for growth as well.

Perhaps there is room for all of us to grow, beyond traditions and norms, beyond what is expected and into a place where there are no leftovers, but a perpetual feast and there no dogs, just friends at the table.

amen