The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 15)
Genesis 45:1-15
Psalm 133
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
After a year of being here in the wonderful metropolis of Cleveland, NC – y’all have taught me a lot… I have learned a lot about the area, and the wonderful little towns that surround Cleveland…
Mt. Ulla (and after a year, I finally learned how to say that correctly), Woodleaf, Barber (which I have learned is now part of Cleveland), and even the greater surrounding areas… the larger cities of Mooresville, Mocksville, Salisbury, and Statesville...
Being here in the middle of everything, Cleveland is very unique and in some ways isolated or closed off. People outside of Cleveland, sometimes don’t even know where Cleveland is…
I ran into someone in Salisbury the other day – I actually had to explain where Cleveland was… Even within Cleveland, as small as it may be, there are different groups that are a bit isolated within itself.
I went to the Third Creek Presbyterian Church last Sunday for the installation of their new pastor Don McCann (did y’all know there were Presbyterians in Cleveland?)
It is so easy sometimes to draw circles in our travels so that some are inside and others are out. It may be around people of a different race or ethnic origin, different gender or gender orientation, age, educational background or abilities…
It is easy to look at that person with too many tattoos or too many body piercings, or that person who stutters or the one who didn't make it through high school and say “this person is just not like us.”
Our Gospel text for this morning speaks directly to "us" and "them."
Jesus has gone out of the land of Israel into the region of Tyre and Sidon –– he is a Jew that has just crossed into Gentile territory. Then a woman from the area comes to Jesus –– Matthew uses the word "Canaanite" rather than "Syro-Phoenician." Now, this term is loaded for Jewish people because the Canaanites were the pagans with whom the Israelites fought for centuries. The Canaanites were idol worshippers and didn’t believe in the one true God.
It was a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus. She came alone without a man to escort her… without a husband or son or father – this was totally unheard of in her culture. And she came to Jesus shouting loudly, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David."
This woman had three strikes against her –– she was not Jewish – She was a pagan Canaanite . She was a woman –– strike two –– and she presumed to speak openly to a man without a male intermediary. And strike three –– she was a pest, whose screaming and shouting behavior would possibly bring trouble to Jesus and His followers.
So, the disciples came and urged Jesus, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting at us." They clearly draw the circle –– Jesus and the disciples and Jewish men are inside – and this bothersome, Canaanite woman is outside.
What I find interesting is how much a man of His time and place that Jesus really was. It seems at first that Jesus agreed with his followers so he tried to brush the woman off. Because his mission was to Israel only. But, she confessed him Lord and Messiah, something many of the people in Israel would not confess.
She asked him for mercy and knelt down before him in a posture of supplication and worship. And she had faith that Jesus could heal her daughter of a tormenting demon.
But what did Jesus do when she wouldn’t go away? He called her a dog.
Did you know that in the Middle East, even today, people do not keep pet dogs? But we do! We shampoo them and trim them, buy them treats, and even dress them up for holidays. Ours is a world that is definitely far away from that of the Middle East.
In Islam, dogs are considered unclean and are reduced to scavenging at the edges of the villages and towns. It was the same in Bible times. The Jews called the Gentiles "dogs" and it was NOT a term of endearment but rather of derision.
It is the term used by Jesus for this woman, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to dogs." But she turned around and used the same phrase to say to Jesus, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
She had Him there. With that reply, she broke the circle and entered in. Salvation came to her and her possessed daughter not because she became Jewish or promised to keep the Law of Moses. Not because she became the only person in scripture to outwit Jesus.
Here in Matthew's Gospel she finds salvation through faith in Jesus alone. Jesus said to her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done to you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Gospel is not just for men, for Jews, or for people who conform to our expectations of them. It actually took the Church a long time to realize this. In fact, the first great controversy in the Christian Church was whether Gentiles had to become Jews before they could become Christians. Paul the great apostle to the Gentiles even argued that Gentile men did not need to be circumcised to be baptized.
Peter had revealed to him by God that the dietary laws commanded in the Hebrew Bible were no longer required. No person was to be called common or unclean. And - At the first Council of Jerusalem (about year 50 – revealed in the book of Acts) it was agreed that Gentiles could become Christians.
Paul, writing to the Romans, declares that Jews and Gentiles are both sinners and are invited to be God's people through faith in Jesus.
We are not saved by our gender or our status, our by our race or our educational level, or our good behavior. We do not find our self worth in what others think of us – but by being children of God and heirs to God's Kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
What our Gospel text clearly says today – is we are saved by faith in Jesus alone. And in our text we see how Jesus can set aside even clear Scripture teaching for the sake of people.
In the first part of our reading from Matthew, Jesus takes on the Holiness Code of the Old Testament. He and his disciples were accused of not washing their hands before they ate. Jesus argues that it was not what went in a person that defiled but rather the evil and malice that come out of the human heart.
If the rules and regulations hurt people, they could be put aside. Remember that the Sabbath was made for humans not humans made for the Sabbath. God's Laws are made to free not oppress and even Scriptural warrant can be set aside for the greater good of loving God and others.
In the second part of the same chapter, Jesus sets aside the whole system of salvation from the Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible cared about the Gentiles, and looked for the day when all the nations would come together in Zion.
God was to accomplish God's mission in and through the Jewish people only. This is what Jesus starts to affirm –– the Gospel is for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But the text does not stop there and in this passage, we see that the Old Testament scheme is set aside.
God's good news is for all people, not just some. Christ died for all people, not just for some. Forgiveness is for all people not just for some. The only condition is faith - which is itself a gift of God.
Others may be different from ourselves and often what makes them different is something we don't like – or something that is not like us. The Church has been guilty of keeping people out rather than inviting them in.
We are just human beings and fallen, sinful ones at that. We know what we like and we like what we know. Think of the disciples, they were the same way. Remember, the disciples were not God. Remember that neither the Church nor the rector nor the vestry is God either.
God is faithful and loving even when God's servants may not be. Only God draws the circle wide enough to bring everyone in into God’s loving embrace. Never let anyone or anything try to separate you from God's love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment