Year A

Matthew 15:21-28

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

Crossing the Boundaries

Have you ever had one of those days when you said ‘enough is enough’; a day when you drew the line and said no more? I don’t care what else happens today…I’m done, I’m closed for business. Well, it seems Jesus had one of those kind of days in our gospel today. Jesus’ attitude and language in his encounter with the Canaanite woman is shocking, rather rude. Some recent commentators see this as a moment when Jesus is ‘caught with his compassion down,” and is confronted with his own prejudice; in a reversal of roles type of thing. That may be, but Jesus learns from an outsider “the need to broaden his ministry of hospitality to those outside the house or people of Israel.”

Here is a woman, who is simply seeking deliverance for her demon-possessed daughter. She had probably heard of this healing prophet and even though she was a gentile and an outsider, she took a chance. Yet we read, Jesus refuses to answer this woman pleading for help then, he denies that he has anything to offer “her kind,” and finally likens her to a dog before her deep faith changes everything in him and he decides to answer her pray after all. You see, earlier in the tenth chapter of Matthew we read of Jesus warning his disciples to stay clear of Gentiles, reminding them that they have been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The very word “Canaanite” would stir up memories of idol-worshipping enemies.

Jesus may have been having one of those days but when we investigate further, we find we can hardly blame him. He had just come from his own home town of Nazareth, where his family and friends doubted his authority from God and took offense at his teaching. To make matters even worse, he had just recently learned of his cousin, John the Baptist’s death, his beheading at the hands of Herod. He tried to find time to grieve but the crowds followed him and then he had to feed them all with five loaves and two fish. Things just started to calm down a bit, when there came a great storm on the sea and Jesus had to go rescue the disciples and Peter, bless his heart, wanting to cross the water to Jesus, sinks because of his fear and doubt.

Can we blame Jesus for being a bit off? Everywhere he turns he finds people in great need wanting something from him but remaining blind to who he really is. So Jesus draws the line and we question that picture in our minds of the kind, compassionate Jesus who loves and welcomes us. “Come unto me,” Jesus says, and the next moment, he is also the one who rejects this pitiful woman as a dog, as an enemy. This text is tough and we can’t really explain the harshness of this text by simply saying Jesus was testing this woman’s faith, or that Jesus was debating in his mind whether or not Gentiles were worthy to receive the gospel, or even that Jesus was using her as an example of humility for others to follow.

No, we cannot quite explain Jesus’ reasons. She was asking for a great deal from him. If he was the Son of David the long-awaited Savior of Israel as she addressed him, then Jesus, and the benefits of God’s kingdom that he brings, are for the people of Israel not for the Gentile outsiders. Yet, so many of Jesus’ own people reject him and here comes an outsider, a woman and an enemy who crosses that line. “Lord, help me, have mercy on me” she says, but can’t she hear? Jesus has told her no. But she doesn’t seem to have gotten the message. “Help me,” and with this request she crosses the line that separates the insiders from the outsiders.

“Yes, Lord,” she says when he calls her a dog, a name that Jesus’ fellow Jews routinely gave to Gentile pagans, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Even the outsider, the enemy should benefit from God’s mercy and when she says that, something happens and changes in Jesus and his eyes are opened. “O woman, great is your faith,” “Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter is healed instantly. The line that was drawn that separated Jesus and this Gentile woman is gone and we, who know the rest of the story of the Gentiles who in huge numbers will later come to make up the church, are not surprised, but Jesus has come to a new understanding of who he is and what he has been called to do.

Jesus gave up his own understanding of what God was calling him to do, to a new vision of God’s kingdom. To a vision that caused Jesus to open his arms wider and wider until they nailed those opened arms on a cross.  Like Jesus, our boundaries are constantly being pushed over our lines. God calls us to push old boundaries, to embrace outsiders and we may say no…I’m not going there, enough is enough, but the call of God is insistent, as insistent as the Canaanite woman who would not give up. God keeps calling us until we finally cross the line and when we do, we discover the blessings that come when we open our arms wide and come to that new understanding of what our faith calls us to and to do.

How will we know those blessings unless we step out in faith? The Canaanite woman believes that she and her daughter should benefit from God’s mercy and help. So she is willing to break down the barriers, and breaking through the barriers dramatizes her faith and this is what Jesus calls faith. We can learn much from this woman’s faith. “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” What about us and our faith? Are we willing to step out and break down the barriers all around us? Hate, mistrust, unbelief, lack of mercy and love for neighbor…we are called to show God’s love and mercy with Jesus as our model.

It’s not easy, we see Jesus struggle with the vision God has for God’s kingdom but when we do we come to that new understanding, when our eyes are opened it is God who waits for us on the other side. It is God who will say to us “well done, good and faithful servant.” So when we look that Canaanite in the eye, we may get mad or scarred, or decide I’m not going there….remember today’s story. Remember how Jesus was called to cross the line and open his arms wide to show God’s love and mercy.