31^st August 2014

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 17th August 2014

Lessons - Psalm 67; Romans 11:1-2a, 13-16; Matthew 15:21-28

'A Canaanite woman cried out: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of
David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." But Jesus was silent.'
(Matthew 15:22,23a).

Matthew tells a story that embarrasses and offends us. A distraught mother, desperate to have her demented daughter cured, calls out to Jesus for help. But Jesus is rude, unhelpful, dismissive. At first he ignores her plight. He seems to agree with the disciples (vv 23b,24) that she should go away and stop bothering them. Then he refuses her request on the most prejudiced grounds. She is not a woman of true faith but a pagan foreigner.

Jesus is blunt. 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' (v24) 'It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' (v26) It is hard to imagine a more bigoted, insulting and racist outburst!

It is not surprising that many have tried to soften Jesus' words. E.
Schweizer says that dogs were household pets not greatly despised (The Good News according to Mark, p 152); F. Filson suggests that Jesus was kind in explaining that his work was with his own people (The Gospel According to St Matthew, p 180); Martin Luther says that he was testing the woman's faith (The Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol.II, p 149). Mark, where we also find this incident, is closer to the mark by reporting Jesus saying, 'Let the children first be fed.' (Mark 7:27)

What does it mean that the person who embodied the boundless mercy of God for all can speak so harshly to a pagan woman who cries out for mercy? It seems to be out of character. How can his derogatory description of a non- Jewish woman as a dog be squared with his love for outcasts, like Samaritans, lepers, tax-collectors, criminals, prostitutes, the poor and others deemed to be 'unworthy' of God's grace? It is not consistent with what we know of Jesus' entire ministry and mission.

There is no simple answer. But, as always, putting things in context is vital. Three points are pertinent:

(1) Immediately before his encounter with the woman, Jesus is embroiled in a dispute with Jewish religious authorities about rules governing food (15:1-20). He calls them 'hypocrites' (15:7) and 'blind guides' (15:10) who only 'honour God with their lips' (15:8). So, what he says to the woman cannot mean that he regards Jews are religiously superior to her.
Many of them reject him. In stark contrast with their lack of faith in God's presence in him she, an outsider, shows 'great faith'.

(2) Before that, in the midst of the storm that represents the severe trials faced by the Church, Jesus' disciples, including Peter, are shown to be 'timid', 'afraid' and of 'little faith' (14:22-33). They do not trust him to defeat the violent forces that threaten all that is good in life. Only after he has quelled the storm do they acknowledge him as 'the Son of God' (14:33). In stark contrast with their lack of faith, she is faithful.

Those who should have known better - upholders of God's law and those closest to the One who embodied God's mercy - are shown up by a pagan woman whose faith in Jesus is so strong that she demands to take her place with them at, not under, the table of grace.

Ironically, therefore, this despised non-Jewish woman - not the Jewish disciples or Pharisees - recognises that he is the Messiah of the Jews.
Before seeing the results of his power over the demonic forces that have ruined her daughter's life, she says, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.' (15:22) As so often in the Gospels, a person regarded as a sinful outsider sees who Jesus is and pleads for compassion!

(3) What is different about this episode is Jesus' initial reluctance to help the woman because she is not a Jew. At the time of Jesus, there was deep hatred between Jews and non-Jews. This sometimes spilled over into relations between Jewish and early Christian communities. While some 'Jewish Christians' believed that Jesus had come to deliver God's 'chosen people' from their non-Jewish neighbours, some 'Gentile Christians'
thought that Jewish influence should be reduced. The issue was strongly debated in the early Church. As we read in Romans 11, Paul argued that Jesus fulfilled God's gracious plan for 'the nations' without diminishing the place of Israel.

The background is important for understanding Jesus' 'harsh saying'.
Despite Jewish leaders and crowds being largely responsible for Jesus'
death, the Gospels insist that God did not abandon 'his people'. In the ministry of Jesus-the-Jew they saw God's unshakeable love for his wayward people - the 'lost sheep' (v24). God did not desert them in favour of those who caused Jewish people so much suffering. Jesus reaches out to them (as to Peter in the storm) even when their faith is weak or misguided.

It is easy to forget this. The Church has often ignored the Old Testament or thought of Jews as being inferior to Christians or as being solely responsible for Christ's death. The inexcusable mistreatment of Jews by Christians over the centuries could have been avoided if the Church had seen this episode as a sign of God's profound love for his 'chosen people'.

Nothing in Jesus' ministry should make us forget that he comes as Messiah of the Jews. He embodies God's reconciling love for Israel and, as such, he also embodies God's love for the pagan, non-Jewish world.

In this episode we are invited to see, in the person of Jesus, the love of God for a particular people - chosen and wayward - which also encompasses 'all people' - chosen and wayward. The patient love of God for all is evident in the fact that Jesus does not abandon the 'chosen people' who do not have faith in him or the 'chosen' disciples whose faith is weak or misguided.

Therefore we must not let his jarring statement that 'it is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs' distract us from what Matthew is telling us about Jesus in this story (and the whole story). God neither abandons the Jews nor 'all nations', as we see in Jesus'
instruction to disciples at the end of his gospel (28:19,20).

Despite his commitment to Israel, Jesus does not finally reject the plea of this Gentile outsider. She turns out to be everything that a member of the 'chosen community' is called to be - a person of 'great faith'. Unlike stern Jewish leaders, who see him as a troublemaker, she sees whom Jesus is. Unlike timid disciples, she sees whom Jesus is before he quells the storm in her life. Despite Jesus' harsh words, she acknowledges God's compassion in him. She enables us to see that Jesus' gracious mission to Israel includes the pagan world!

Elsewhere in Jesus' ministry, outsiders are praised for their 'great faith'. God's love is not restricted to Israel. Here, though, we are reminded in the strongest way of his deep and abiding love for the 'wayward people' whom God has 'chosen' to be a beacon of hope in a world where sin and evil threaten to destroy God's good-and-gracious purposes for humanity.

Here too we see that, in Christ, the 'Son of David' who goes the way of the Cross and triumphs over evil, God's love for Israel also embraces the pagan world. It remains for us to see that we, too, as 'chosen' and 'wayward' members of the Christian Church, are so loved by God that we are called to follow the example of the pagan woman. Thus, we are encouraged to persist in believing in God's healing mercy when affliction, hatred, persecution and death threaten to overwhelm us and destroy what is good, right and life-giving.

Prayer: Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generation for evermore. Amen (Ephesians 3:20,21).

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Rev Dr Max Champion is the minister of St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is a member of the Council of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.

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