A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church, Canyon Lake, TX.
The lectionary readings for the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost are here (track 2).
I remember the first time I ever had to preach on the first part of this particular passage – it was a children’s sermon. Imagine my trepidation as I figured out how to get from the bit about the biological functions of the body to the idea that the words we speak can either build up or tear down another person. I had to choose my words very carefully so as not to let loose a bunch of 4 to 10 year olds with what goes into the sewer before moving them along to the main point. Our words matter. How we speak about others shows the intent of our hearts. It is our words and actions toward others that either build up God’s Kingdom on earth or our own.
When Jesus calls the crowds to him, he is responding to an accusation by the Pharisees that he doesn’t wash properly before he eats and Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are the ones who have disobeyed God’s laws by creating legal loopholes which give the appearance of keeping God’s law while harming others.
Jesus then turns to the crowds to ensure they are aware that just because a rule or law comes from a religious leader doesn’t mean it’s from God. Jesus call the crowd and says, “listen and understand.” Learn for yourselves what God says. And before Jesus can continue, the disciples interrupt him, wondering if he realizes he’s offended the Pharisees. True to form, Jesus doesn’t offer a simplified answer to their query but parables that require them to think it through.
“Every plant that God hasn’t planted will be uprooted” & “If the blind lead the blind, all will be in danger.” The human constructed regulations designed to control and coerce for the benefit of human power will be disrupted by the law of God’s Love. We aren’t commanded to follow blindly but to work out what it is to follow God, to follow Jesus, in light of all that God commands and Jesus teaches. We aren’t to check our brains at the Kingdom Gates but to employ our whole selves – heart, soul, mind, and strength – in building up God’s Kingdom. And the proof of this ‘working out’ is the way we live God’s law – how we love in all that we think, say, and do.
We cannot hide the intent of our hearts with outward appearances. It doesn’t matter how good we look on the outside if we treat others with disdain, if we think ourselves better than others, if we do not seek justice for all people, even those we disagree with or don’t like. We can have the cleanest of clean hands but if we malign others with our words, if we ignore the needs of this world because we are too busy doing ‘church’ things, we are not clean at all.
With this lesson ringing in their ears, Jesus heads out for the cities of Tyre and Sidon – prosperous port cities, outside the center of Jewish activity, places full of ‘those people’ – Romans and Canaanites and all sorts of non-Jews and Jesus has an incredible encounter with a woman there. To put this in modern terminology, imagine a leader of one political party speaking in a city dominated by the other political party and one of the people in the audience speaks up: “have mercy on me.” What would happen in our day and time?
How we read the remainder of this story, depends on the lens we use. Do we see this passage through the lens of “sinners in the hands of an angry god” or “sinners in the hands of the loving God”? Do we believe that God loves us more than others or do we understand that God’s love is the same for all people? Are we looking to intensify division so we can be the group at the top of the proverbial food chain or do we want to be part of the greatest love story of all time? Are we more concerned with defending our ideologies and proving we are right than we are with showing others dignity, respect, and even just basic kindness?
When you read this passage how do you hear the tone of Jesus’ voice? How does the shape of your heart shape the words “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Isreal” and “it isn’t fair to give the children’s food to the dogs”? Is Jesus mocking the woman or encouraging her to stand for what is just and right?
And just who are these lost sheep and dogs anyway?
From the earliest of our identity stories in scriptures, from the very beginning of Genesis, people have been separated from the core group of characters. And even in these separations God protected them and worked through them.
Adam and Eve chose to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong and God expelled them from the Garden. But God didn’t abandon them. When Cain was banished because he murdered his brother, God protected him. When Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away, God provided for them and had big plans for Ishmael. Even when the entire people group of the Israelites was exiled into Babylon, God was with them.
When we see the world through the identity stories we have in scriptures, we see the big picture that all people are God’s. It is our own human choices that take us away from God. God doesn’t exile or excommunicate, we do.
God’s plan to reveal Kingdom life through particular individuals was never meant to exclude but to provide role models for all people. And no matter how badly we humans have messed up, God has continued with the plan to work with us in building up the Kingdom.
God’s plan for all of us isn’t about some day in the undefined future but to give us purpose for every moment of every day. Our purpose is to bring glory to God, to share the good news of God’s love, to maintain the justice of God’s Kingdom and do what is right. Our life’s purpose is to love well.
The lost sheep of Isreal are all the people we’ve decided don’t belong in God’s Kingdom or those who’ve decided for themselves they don’t want to belong. The labels we put on people to determine who’s in and who’s out are our words, not God’s Word. God’s word for all people is Love, unconditional, always faithful, live-giving, liberating love.
The Canaanite woman understood the equity of God’s Kingdom – all are welcome to be nourished by God’s word of love. She understood that at God’s table, all are equal. And there is absolutely nothing any one of us can do to make God love us or anyone else any more or any less.
I see and hear this exchange between Jesus and – I’d like to give her the dignity of a name: Donatiya is an ancient Canaanite name, I’ll call her Dona – I see and hear this exchange between Jesus and Dona not through lens of a God wanting to exclude but through the eyes of the God of Love. I imagine Jesus looking her in the eyes, urging her to boldly receive what she came asking for. He doesn’t dismiss her as the disciples try to do, he engages her in a conversation that reveals her unconditional, fierce love for her own child. She had more faith in God’s love than many Israelites. She is one of the lost sheep of Isreal and understands that God’s love is for all. She didn’t come with an entitled attitude but one of grace and gratitude. She came to receive, not to demand the invitation that had been offered by God to all the nations from the very beginning.
Dona knows the equity of God’s Kingdom, that we are all beloved children. This is the heart of God toward each of us; this is the Good News: “at our worst … at our furthest remove from God …, God’s [view] of us is always one of unwavering love.”* Amen.
*Taken from quotes by Brian Zahnd from “Sinners in the hands of a Loving God.”
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