This makes sense. Be defiled based on what you do and say
and think, rather than being defiled by what you eat or drink.
After having had to again explain himself to his
disciples regarding the what goes in to the body, Jesus travels to Tyre and
Sidon. A woman from the region comes out and shouts, “Have mercy on me Lord,
son of David,” and she explains that her daughter is tormented by a demon.
Jesus does not respond to her, and after that lukewarm reception, the
disciples, showing great love and compassion urge Jesus to send her away
because she’d been yelling at them, been bothering them.
Then the unnamed woman and Jesus have this really
interesting and perplexing conversation, that goes something like this:
Woman: Jesus, help my daughter.
Jesus: But I came to save the house of Israel, not you!
Woman: Jesus, help my daughter.
Jesus: But I shouldn’t give the children’s food to the
dogs!
Woman: But even the dogs get the crumbs under the table.
While the story ends on a higher note, up to this point,
it’s not portraying any of the normal Gospel characters in a particularly good
way. There is a lot of speculation and supposition about what this interchange
means, and what it implies about Jesus. And as a fair warning, I’m going to
raise a bunch of these questions, with no intention of answering them.
What does it mean that the daughter was tormented by
demons? Real demons? Horned devils? Maybe was it mental illness. Is Jesus
likening this woman to a dog? Maybe it was just a puppy. And why did he refuse to assist her? Was it because she
was a woman? A foreigner? A non-Jew? Was Jesus just testing her? Some mental banter after
having to repeatedly explain things to his disciples? Was Jesus just tired?
Tired of stupid people? Tired of needy people?
Seeing if she’d go away and leave him alone?
As I said, I’ve no intention of answering those
questions. First of all, I don’t know the answer, and more important, I don’t
think any of it really matters. What does matter is that after being asked
repeatedly, Jesus seemingly concedes, and responds that the woman’s faith has
healed her daughter.
When I read the Gospel, when I pray over scripture, I
frequently put myself in the story. I’m in the scene. I find that I get a
deeper understanding of Jesus and of me, when I imagine that I’m in the story.
For example, I’m watching Jesus explain that it’s what’s in the heart and comes
out of the mouth that matters.
But the story of the Canaanite woman is different. I’m
not eager to put myself in the place of the unnamed woman. I don’t want to
envision God ignoring my plea. I don’t want to think about Jesus’ followers
suggesting I should be sent away because I’m pestering them. I don’t want Jesus
to argue with me that he didn’t come to save me. I get exhausted thinking about
having to make this persistent plea, about repeatedly asking for help. I don’t
even want to watch this exchange.
But after thinking long and hard, I think there is good
news here, in precisely what I don’t want to see. Sometimes it is exhausting to
appeal to Jesus. Isn’t that somehow how our prayer life with Jesus is? Don’t we sometimes pray to Jesus and we don’t
get an answer? Never have I prayed and immediately received divine intervention
such as, “You betcha, Carter. I’m on it right now!” But we continue to pray because that’s what
we do. Jesus hears it all, just like he heard the woman. If it doesn’t seem
like Jesus is responding to your prayer, pray again. And again.
We can see more good news if we look at how Jesus
responds after his disciples chimed in. In response to her initial plea, Jesus’
disciples wanted Jesus to send her away because she was yelling. She was making
a scene, making demands, different from them. They appeal to Jesus that he
should send her away. I’ve been in situations where I’ve made a scene. Where
I’ve made demands. Where I was different. Where the system, the institutional
Jesus followers wanted Jesus to send me away. But Jesus did not send her away,
and he did not send me away. There are times when, in our appeal to do the
right thing, the institution, other Christians, other people of faith, are
uncomfortable, and want to send us away. But not Jesus. If Jesus’ own disciples
could not convince Jesus to turn this woman away, no one should be able
dissuade us from appealing to Jesus.
The last bit of goodness I can glean from this part of
the story has to do with the iterative nature of her petition and Jesus’
response. To be honest, I don’t want to argue with Jesus, and I don’t want to
have to be persistent. I want my way. I want my prayers answered when I
initially ask, in the manner I initially ask. But from this story, we see that
sometimes prayer and petitions are iterative – we have a conversation with
Jesus and in the dialogue there is movement. We learn from this story that we
need to be persistent in our petition and prayer.
The woman overcame four distinct difficult roadblocks
that could have deterred many – probably would have deterred me. First, Jesus
ignores here. Second, the disciples suggest that she be sent away. Third, Jesus
says he didn’t come to save her, and finally, Jesus makes his comment about
giving food to the dogs. She persists through all four of these roadblocks. And
in return, Jesus commends her faith and heals her daughter.
This Gospel tells us to persist. To pray, and pray again,
and again, and again. To be persistent despite criticism or discouragement from
institutional insiders. Jesus won’t send you away. Jesus won’t ignore you.
God’s response may be different, or later than you expected, but you are not
ignored and should not give up.
Today is my first Sunday with you good people of St.
Matthew’s. As a deacon, I am called to bring the needs of the world to the church,
and bring the church out into the world to meet those needs. I have a priest
friend who said that if deacons had a motto it would be that they comfort the
afflicted and afflict the comfortable. There is rarely a scripture reading that
I don’t see this as evident – identifying the needs of the world, and bringing
the church out to meet them. Today is no different.
This unnamed Canaanite woman was not praying on her own
behalf. She was not persistent because she needed something. She was persistent
because of the needs of someone else. This week, I believe we have seen that
our petitions, prayers and voices are needed around the issues of race,
extremism, and violence.
Today’s readings outline a vision for the world God
intends. A place where we do what is just and right, where God’s house is a
house of prayer for all people, where God’s gifts are irrevocable, where prayer
and petition on behalf of others is met with God’s grace. But this past week
doesn’t feel like that place. The horrific events in Charlottesville, or the
terrorist attacks in Barcelona Thursday, or the terrorist attack in Ouagadougou
in western Africa last Sunday that killed 20. These attacks come from the
defiled and hate-filled hearts of religious and racial extremists.
It’s easy, more comfortable and convenient to distance
ourselves from these hateful evil intentions and places. These events happened
on other continents, with people different from me, from white supremacists on
the other side of the country. But even though that’s all true, it’s also true
that God’s house is a house of prayer for all people, and we, God’s people, are
called to prayer, petition and action.
To be clear, racism and religious intolerance is a
problem in our entire nation, and in our community. In Eugene, there have been
more hate crimes reported through July 2017 than all of 2016, and this doesn’t
consider hateful speech which is largely protected. Crimes committed motivated
by racial or religious intolerance or hatred happen in our community. If you do
not fear for your safety or the safety of your family, you are not having the
same experience as people in our community who are targeted by racial or
religious intolerance.
What to do??
First of all, we need to acknowledge that we all have
bias. We all jump to conclusions based on someone else’s race, religion,
orientation. To be clear, bias is not a problem because it is universal. It is
a human condition and it exists in all of our hearts. It becomes a problem when
our individual bias is unchecked or unknown, and results prejudice or hate.
When it results in defiled actions or speech to come out of our mouths and
hearts. We cannot prevent those unclean, unholy words and actions from
happening, if we are not honest with ourselves about the bias in our hearts.
Start there.
Second, like the Canaanite woman, we need to speak up and
speak out when we see or hear hate or bias. You may think it’s not your
business to jump in, but it is and here’s why.
For those of you who have had children or cared for other
people’s children, those loving children don’t always behave perfectly. When
they’re ill-behaved, you correct the behavior, lest they believe their behavior
is acceptable. To remain silent now, in both big and little ways, allows hate
to continue unchecked. It allows the ill-behaved child of God to believe their
actions are acceptable. We are all children of God, and we need to help those
in need, those who are persecuted or subject to hateful speech or actions, and
we need to help correct the behavior of ill-behaved children of God, especially
if they are unaware of the impact of their behavior and actions.
Finally, and here’s a collective call to action, we need
to be in conversation with each other about our individual and collective bias,
about our concepts of race and religion, about how to be a house of prayer for all
people. From that place of solid, loving community, we can continue to have
conversations in our wider community. Talk to our neighbors, get to know faith
communities that look and worship differently than we do. I’m not exactly sure
what this looks like, but I know conversation is key. I invite you to pray and
talk with me later if this is something that piques your interest.
God, grant us the grace and strength to persist. To only
speak love and light, to call out when others are speaking or acting from a
place of hatred in their hearts. To fearlessly search our own hearts for any
bias and evil intentions. And help us to learn to be that house of prayer for
all people, where those who are cast out are gathered and loved in your
community. All this we pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
