The first Bible I ever had for my own was a children's picture Bible, and I've seen it around, so I think it's still in print. It was a white Bible, hardcover, and on the front was a picture of Jesus smiling with his eyes closed and holding a sheep right up beside his face, kind of nuzzling it against him. It had similar pictures throughout, with that same Jesus illustrating different biblical stories.
That's the picture of Jesus I grew up with. A white guy with long brown hair and a nicely manicured beard hugging sheep and smiling.
One of the things I would do in church to pass the time was flip through that Bible, and look at the different pictures on the different pages. I saw a nice, clean Jesus feeding lots of people, Jesus walking on the water, I think I even saw Jesus flying up to heaven as the disciples watched from the earth.
Those pictures were the first thing that I can remember that captured my imagination in church. I learned some of the stories in the Bible from those pictures before I could read that well.
But I never saw a picture about the story for today.
I would have been pretty surprised to read about my clean, sheep-hugging, laughing, smiling Jesus telling this womanthis Canaanitethat what she wanted was out of line because she had the wrong accent, came from the wrong place, or her skin was a little different color.
My childhood Jesus didn't refuse people what they wantedhe gave it to them with a smile and a hug, and everyone involved was clean and whiteeven the sheep.
So, why is this dirty story in our Bible? Why does this story seem to taint my clean, white Jesus with the dirt and grime of human apathy, racism, and nationalism?
Is it true, that Jesus was testing this woman's faith to make sure she deserved the miracle he was about to grant her, like so many scholars seem to suggest?
Or could it be true, that Jesus was having a bad day, that he was tired and worn out from the constant demands on his time and his energy, that he needed some down time, and so he lapsed into some kind of funk and in this story, we get a glimpse of his true colors, like so many other scholars seem to say?
Could it be that Jesus is not the hero of this storybut the woman, who persevered in spite of being rejected three times? Could it be that she succeeded in changing the mind of the Son of Davidthe Son of God?
Is it possible that Jesus made a mistake in this story, by refusing to grant her this request, and that he was eventually shamed into acting on her behalf?
In shortI don't know.
All of these explanations and more have been given to try to have this story make sense.
But I don't find any of them really convincing, because none of those explanations take into account the rest of the Bible, and the Jesus we see there.
This is the first lesson that the story of the Canaanite woman has to teach us. That one part of the Bible cannot be understood apart from the rest of it! You can't `explain away' the interaction that Jesus has with this woman as some kind of dirty fluke in his otherwise clean and white reputation.
Matthew had some very good reasons for including this story exactly where it is in his gospel. And 2,000 years of Christian tradition have kept it right where it is, in all it's controversial glory.
It is not our job to explain it away. It is our job to try to understand why it's there, and why that's important for us today. J
And so I have to force myself to take this story seriously enough to be uncomfortable with the idea that Jesus woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or was putting this poor woman through some kind of test to see if she was `good enough' to receive his mercy.
Taken by itself, this story looks like it tells of a racist, bigoted Jesus who is stingy with his favors and who is finally shamed into acting on this poor woman's behalf because of her persistence.
But obviously, this is not the Jesus Matthew is trying to describe.
In the previous chapter, (Matthew chapter 14), we read about Jesus feeding five thousand men plus women and children. It is assumed this is taking place within Israel. It is a picture of abundance and celebration as the community around Jesus receives what he has to offerwhich is a miraculous provision of food. It makes you remember God providing manna for the Israelites in the wilderness.
And to the first century Jew to whom Matthew was writing his gospel, it would have been truly good news to read about a Messiah who was again providing for the needs of this holy nationproviding food again for the chosen people of God.
And then we see Jesus walking on water. Again the imagery of the Old Testament is brought to our minds as we remember the crossing of the red sea, where judgment was poured out on the Egyptians and again the Holy peopleGod's chosen oneswere brought through the chaos in safety.
And so, Jesus walking on the water demonstrates that he is willing to do that which has never been done…but also that he is in control of the mystery of nature itselfand that it does not control him.
Again, Wonderful news for God's chosen peoplethe Jews, who were the people Matthew was writing for when he wrote this gospel. The same God who brought them through the red sea in the Exodus had now sent a messiah who had that same power over the mysterious forces of nature. All for the benefit of Israel.
And as we begin chapter 15, we hear the words of Jesus declaring that it is not what goes into a person that makes them cleanrather, what comes out of the heart. He offends some Pharisees with this teaching, but that's really OK, because most of us who are reading this for the first time aren't Pharisees, we're just regular Jews in the first century who sometimes eat without washing our hands anyways, so this story is making Jesus look pretty good, too. He's basically saying that it's OK if we don't wash our hands before we eat all the time. He's basically saying what we know alreadythat all the ceremony and the rituals that the Pharisees have come up with don't really matter to God. What matters is the attitude you have in your heart.
Do you see what's happening? Have you followed me to this point?
Matthew is writing in a way that is gaining our trust, one story at a time. He's letting us know that this Jesus is the real deal for Israel. He's come as the Messiahthe Christ! He is God's anointed one who has power to feed in the desert, bring through the sea, who is more concerned with your heart than your ceremonies--
Then comes this story about the Canaanite woman…A fly in the soup, so to speak.
Taken as it stands, right where it is in the gospel of Matthew, with no tricks and no hidden meaning, this story of the Canaanite woman's faith drops a bombshell on the reader, and marks one of the most exciting and important turning points in the entire ministry of Jesus.
I'm not overstating that.
After this bombshell of a story, we read about another miraculous feedingthis time four thousand people plus women and children, in gentile territorygentiles! What kind of Messiah is this? Other Canaanites! Other Dogs like this woman are fed!
One is understandable(after all, that woman just wouldn't leave Jesus alone!) but feeding four thousand plus women and children in the same way that you fed the Holy house of Israel just one chapter earlier? That's just Offensive! WE are the chosen ones. NOT THEM!!
If you get nothing else from the sermon this morning, I want you to get this. That in this story about the Canaanite woman's faith, Jesus is intentionally taking apart, piece by piece, any reason we might have for treating one group of people differently from any other group of people. Whether they're Canaanites, whether they're Muslim extremists, whether they have mental illness, physical handicaps, or whether they're immigrants regardless of their legal status.
If you are bothered by the attitude Jesus has towards Canaanites, it's important to look for where that attitude comes from.
And it's just as important to identify where you have a similar attitude in your own life.
I looked for where this attitude towards `Canaanites' would have come from for the Jewish people Matthew was writing for, and for the people Jesus would have been interacting with.
And if you go about an inch or so to the left in your Biblesin the book of Deuteronomy, you can find it in chapter 7.
Deuteronomypart of the Torahthe foundation of the law of ancient Israel. If nothing else, the commandments and the laws for life found in the pages of this section of scripture were sacrednot to be tampered with.
And it is here in Deuteronomy in the sacred Torahthe five books of Moses upon which the entire Jewish society was builtthat we read...
``When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nationsthe Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than youand when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy …This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.''
Deuteronomy 7:1-2, 5-6
In other words, Israel's entire identity was built on the conquest of this land where Jesus walked. It is because of the crushing of seven nationsthe Canaanites includedthat Israel had a place to call their own. And Israel is commanded by the Most High God to show themthe Canaanitesto show them no mercy.
It specifically says that in Deuteronomy chapter 7. `show them no mercy'.
And I think that's important to keep in mind to understand what's going on in the passage we're looking at this morning.
Because this woman is a Canaanite. One of those people to whom Israel is commanded to show no mercy. They were inferior. God said so when he gave Israel this landright? Show them no mercy!
YouIsraelare my chosen peopleYou and Not Them.
And this Canaanite dogI mean womanshe approaches Jesus and asks him for that which was forbidden`` Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.''
How would any self-respecting Jew respond? Lower himself to her level and engage her in conversation? I think not.
The only honorable response was to ignore this woman and her plea.
And when you get right down to it, it seems like this story has played itself out in more recent memory. Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King. John Perkins.
These were Canaanites of our time and our nation asking for mercyfor equality where there was none. And because of their persistence the world began to change.
I was not there thenduring the civil rights movement, or the plea of this Canaanite woman, but I am here now, and I can hear the pleas of those who fear tomorrow, because the electric or the gas will be shut off today.
I am here now, and I can see that you or someone you know is depressed, uncertain about the future, or struggling with an addiction or an illness that's getting harder and harder to cover up or deal with.
I am here now, and I can tell that immigrants all over the country are seen as inferior people because they're living in OUR country, taking OUR jobs, using OUR resourcesam I right?
I am here and I believe that Jesus took that way of thinking upon himself to leave us with no excuse.
Jesus was persuaded and we should be also; persuaded to act against our better judgment when mercy is requested. For it is not what goes into a person that makes them clean or uncleanbut what comes from the heart.
In Deuteronomy we read about seven nations that were forced from the land before Israel. There were seven groups of people who were to be shown no mercy.
And after this story of the Canaanite woman, Jesus feeds four thousand people plus women and childrenpeople just like her, with seven loaves, picking up--reclaiming seven baskets full of broken remnants.
Can you catch the symbolism this morning?
The first action of Jesus after his encounter with this woman was to heal and feed those nationsshowing abundant mercy to those whom God had commanded to destroy completely.
For the only true way to get rid of your enemy is to make them your friend. In this way, Jesus fulfilled his mission not only to Israel, but to the ends of the earth.
I realize that this week many of us will resume a schedule that includes school days on either side of the teacher's desk. With the first day of school comes a perfect opportunity to practice what I preach. J
Every school (last time I checked) has cliquesgroups of people that form around an interest or a nationality or a general `status'. And I don't think it's just the students. Who are the Canaanites you work with or go to school with every day? How can you be more like Jesus as you begin a new school year, and you interact with people who are very different than you, who you might believe are inferior in one way or another?
How will you follow in the footsteps of Christ into a new year and a new group of people, people you might not know and people you might not even like?
Others of us, for shom not much changes as others head back to schoolhow can we allow ourselves to be persuaded as Jesus was, to change his mind and his attitude, ushering in the Kingdom of God?
It might start by spending some time alone this weekalone to reflect on what attitudes towards others that you have, that Jesus seeks to reclaim and redeem for His mercy.
May it be so.
Amen.