He Said What?

A Sermon by David Bennett

August 17, 2008

Matthew 15: 10-28

         I’m guessing you all heard very clearly that part of this morning’s reading – the part when Jesus replies to the Canaanite woman’s plea for help with, “It’s not fair to take the children’s food and feed it to the dogs.”  That part.  Kinda makes you want to smack your forehead and ask, “He said what?”

         This is one of those passages in scripture I’d just as soon ignore.  You know, it starts out like so may other miracle stories in the Gospel you know the formula): someone needs help, they approach Jesus, and he satisfies their need.

         But in his story…he first ignores the woman and then makes a very denigrating remark about her ethnicity.  He said what?

         We know that Matthew follows Mark very closely as he constructs his Gospel.  Mark tells this same story, although his telling is much briefer.  Matthew turns the story into a three-fold denial by Jesus, much more dialogue; makes clear this is a very important event.  What is going on here, anyhow?

         Spending some time with this difficult story does help us make some sense of it.  The Sunday evening bible study group rode to our rescue when we looked at the lectionary passages last Sunday.  In fact, I wasn’t going to include the first part of the reading (Jesus’ interaction with the Pharisees and their arguing about the law).   But that little group of biblical scholars (or trouble makers, really) helped make the connected.

         The first interaction, arguing about the washing of hands, ritual cleansing and purity, is an interaction of the head.  It’s about legality and rules and traditions.

         The second interaction, even though it doesn’t seem to go as we would hope, is an interpersonal reaction.  It comes more from the heart than the head.

         Yeah, o.k., we’re still asking, “He said what?”  Now I’m asking, “Why?”

         Let’s keep trying.  Back to our story.  After the intense argument with the Pharisees, Matthew tells us Jesus goes away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.   Remember as we have worked our way through Matthew, Jesus has recently fed the 5,000, walked on water, healed the sick throughout the region (the Sea of Galilee).  And, on the side done some preaching and teaching.  Maybe he’s just tired.

         Tyre and Sidon are seacoast cities, way up north, outside the bounds of Galilee, far from the demanding questions of Pharisees and the increasing concern of Herod’s government.  Picture it – a quiet walk on the beach, enjoying the sunset over the Mediterranean, sleeping in late, for dinner – an extra piece of pita bread to go with the fish caught just that morning and a couple of those wonderful figs grown right across the street; just a brief break from the preaching, teaching, healing.

         And then this Canaanite woman interrupts the tranquility of the Jesus’ mini-retreat.  Not only does she interrupt him, she addresses him using the Jewish messianic title, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me; my daughter is tormented by demons.” 

Jesus’ cover is really blown.  This pagan woman must have met some of the Jews living in the area who told her of this preacher healer.  She must have been desperate to have approached Jesus in the way she did.

Incidentally, one commentator points out that this is the first time in Matthew’s Gospel that a woman speaks.  This is Chapter 15.  This commentator goes on to point out that in all of Matthew, there are only seven verses where a woman speaks and three of them are found in this story.  So Matthew clearly wants to make a very important point in the telling of this story.  There must be more than this pagan woman ruining Jesus’ quiet retreat from the world than her merely shouting out to him in public and confronting the norms of the day.  What is going on in this interaction which leads us to wonder, “He said what?”

First, she was a woman and women did not address men in public in first century Judea.  And, certainly not by shouting out across the retreat center lawn.

Secondly, she was a Canaanite, descended from the people already in the land when Moses and the Israelites marched in and took over.  They were pagans, unclean in the eyes of the Jewish people.

This pagan woman, shouting out to Jesus already has two strikes against her.

Perhaps this is why Jesus ignores her shouted plea.  This woman was way out of bounds.  By Jewish tradition, ignoring her was appropriate behavior.  But this is Jesus.  We expect more, don’t we?  So, still we wonder, “He said what?”

There is no real reason for Jesus not to grant her request.  He has healed Gentiles on at least two other occasions in Matthew’s gospel (the centurion’s daughter and the two Gadarene demoniacs.  He has healed other women (the ruler’s daughter, the woman with the hemorrhage, to name two).   Why would Jesus refuse to heal this woman’s daughter?  Why would Jesus call her a dog? 

Was Jesus testing her?   Was he teaching her a lesson?  Was he setting up the disciples to teach them something? 

Whatever Jesus’ motive, the woman does not give up.  She approaches Jesus, kneels and again she cries out, this even after being told that Jesus has come only for the lost of Israel. 

Jesus responds by calling her, let’s be blunt, a dog.

Picture the woman kneeling before Jesus, dust covering her clothing, tears welling up in her eyes, having just been called a dog, reminding Jesus that even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table.

Jesus seems to hear her.  He rewards her faith.  Tells her to get up and go home.  There she will find her daughter healed.

After first ignoring her pleas; after calling her a dog; Jesus relents and grant her request for her daughter’s healing. 

Still, we might wonder, “He said what?”  “Why?”

One member of the Sunday evening Bible Stud pointed out that there are two ways Jesus might have called one “a dog”.  The first describes a dog as a “scavenger” – a wild dog running around looking for its next meal.

The other word for “dog’ the one Jesus used describes a household pet.  A dog you would expect to be lying under the table – expectant and hopeful that crumbs would be falling.  So maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

         This may be true.  But, we’re still left wondering, “He said what?”

         Let me offer this – maybe Jesus wasn’t testing the woman, maybe Jesus wasn’t trying to teach her a lesson, maybe this had nothing to do with the disciples.  Maybe it was a test for Jesus.  Outrageous, impossible, no way in the world, you shout.  I wonder…

         Remember Jesus was a Jew.  Many times in the gospels he reminds folks that he has come to fulfill the law, to teach the Jews to live as the torah instructed.  As his ministry matured, his message of grace, forgiveness, life and hope became a message not only for “the lost sheep of Israel” but for the all the world.  Perhaps Matthew spends so much time in the telling of this story of the pagan woman because he wants to challenge Jesus’ narrow view of his message; to move him beyond what has been to what can be. 

         Jesus’ struggle to move beyond the limitations of his understanding, his struggle to move beyond the limitations of his society is word of hope to us in our struggle.  He begins by responding to this demanding pagan woman in the expected way…then it’s as if he hears himself and stops and says, “Wait a minute, I said what?  There is something wrong here.  This woman has great faith.” 

With new understanding he turns to the woman, praises her faith and sends her home to her healed daughter.

Jesus moves beyond narrow vision, beyond boundaries of exclusion, beyond societal biases to a broad vision of inclusion, to a new vision of what his, Israel’s, the whole of society, what we can be.

Jesus’ new vision, his willingness to create bridges rather than barriers, to welcome outsiders in, to offer unconditional love is hope and example to us all.

We thank God for sending this determined Canaanite woman to interrupt Jesus’ mini-retreat.  We thank God for sending this determined Canaanite woman to interrupt our lives.

Time and time and time again this outsider – made known to us in persons of many colors and many countries – confront the barriers that keep us safely on the inside. Those we exclude confront our fear to include those who are different.

A theologian once wrote that every church should have a picture or a statue of the Canaanite woman to remind the disciples of Jesus (that would be us) that God reaches beyond our limitations of love and acceptance, beyond our narrow vision, beyond our fears of the outsider; to remind us that all persons are children of God.

He said what?  He said, “You are a precious child of God.  You are loved.  Go, love as God loves.  Let it be so!