Year A

Matthew 15: (10-20) 21-28

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Breaking Down Barriers

She was a woman from the region of Canaan and a gentile. Her name is never mentioned, but the gospel writers, Matthew and Mark, do give a brief account of one of the most important events in her life. They tell about the first time she met Jesus. They share the first time she realized the depth of God’s love for her. I’m sure she first heard about Jesus in the marketplace. His fame as a healer and teacher was spreading far and wide so that when he went to the district of Tyre and Sidon and appeared in the marketplace, the crowd must have been excited. It’s possible she heard comments like “Jesus is the Messiah.” Or that he teaches about God like no one they had ever heard before, or that “he casts out demons.”

A demon had been haunting her daughter for many years so she goes to Jesus hoping that he will heal her mentally ill daughter.  Yet, she has three strikes against her as far as the insiders are concerned. She is a woman, a gentile, and an outsider whose ethic lineage could have been any of a dozen local varieties, but it certainly was not Jewish.  Jesus’ disciples knew that Israel’s Messiah had not come for people like her. They were the favored ones by God who gave them a law to follow and judges, kings, and prophets to lead them and proclaim God’s message. It would be natural for them to build walls to isolate themselves from other peoples and the “harmful” influences which diverted attention away from the One God. Their desire to keep a pure faith led to an attitude of intolerance of others.

So we hear the disciples say to Jesus “Send her away.”  This woman keeps shouting at us about her daughter. The disciple’s rejection of this woman does not necessarily shock us. We can explain their actions, but what really shocks us is Jesus who seems to be harsh and exclude. He says to the woman, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dog” Can this be the same Jesus, the one who said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest?” It is, and when we look at the scriptures, there are dozens of texts that say Jesus was not intolerant of others. Think of his visit with the Samaritan woman at the well in the gospel of John. They were even more despised by the Jews than were the folks from this woman’s background.

Or remember Jesus’ tenderness with the Roman Centurion in the gospel of Luke whose servant was dying. Jesus praised the man for his faith, and treated him as a colleague and friend. So Jesus’ conversation with this woman is unlikely to have arisen from a deep ethnic prejudice on his part. He was the one who had originally initiated this journey into a foreign territory, so he must have known what he might be getting into. Instead, it seems his remark to the woman has two targets, one, the disciples who carry with them the attitudes of their day, including the racial prejudice that came with their understanding that they were chosen by God, and the hierarchies that were taught throughout the cultural.

When Jesus voices the disciples judgements it probably took them by surprise because they knew that Jesus did not limit his behaviors to the conventions of his day in other respects. Over and over he does the exact opposite of the norms of his day to show God’s way. Prejudice may feel right in the mind and in our emotions, but when it is voiced it has a way of sounding hollow and small. This is why the walls we build because of our prejudices fall when we take time to get to know those different from us. The other reason why Jesus might be using these harsh words is as a challenge to the woman to acknowledge Jesus as the one sent by God to heal the world. He isn’t just a spiritual shaman or a medicine man but the Messiah promised by the Hebrew prophets for all the people. She knew she didn’t deserve to be helped by the Jewish Messiah. She had worshipped a different god but obviously she believed that this God’s mercy overflows to others even to others.

Hence her response “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” It was then that Jesus looked at her and it must have been as if his eyes penetrated into the depths of her soul. She experienced his acceptance and knew that he was her Lord. Jesus knew it also he says to her, “Woman, great is your faith!  At that moment, her daughter was healed and she knew God’s unconditional love, and her faith was born. Despite all the religious laws and traditions that said she was unacceptable, God loved her for who she is; a radical love that disregards color or religion or bloodlines.

Paul in his letter to the Romans today addressed this same issue of fractured humanity. The Roman church, at the time of Paul’s writing was facing an identity crisis prompted by the shift from the mostly Jewish synagogue to a mostly Gentile church. Paul argues that our ethic and culture differences don’t disappear instead they become a symbol of God’s inclusive reconciliation. Isaiah says, “Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” God’s relationship with Israel becomes the very means by which God reaches out across the boundaries. A reality of inclusive reconciliation, that Paul urges his audience to enact within the church. God’s gift of grace which is God’s to offer and God offers it, it seems to all people, is a gift and a call to discipleship which is irrevocable.

God’s healing and reconciling work calls those who belong to him to participate in it. And Jesus demonstrates for us in today’s gospel this message of love and inclusivity that it is not based upon one’s credentials in background, race or color, but rather one’s response to the call for faith in God through Jesus Christ. “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” “Woman, great is your faith.” This is what is recognized in God’s way; a love that sees only the heart. Let us break down barriers which divide us. Let us seek the way of Jesus in being more inclusive as we work to further God’s kingdom, today and to eternal life.