August 14, 2011

August 14, 2011

Pentecost + 9

Morning Prayers

Like the Canaanite woman, let us shout to the Lord for mercy and offer prayers for all in desperate need.

For the people of God in every place.

Lord, have mercy.

For all nations and their leaders, for those who serve, and for mercy, justice, and peace in the world.

Lord, have mercy.

For students and teachers, and all those returning to school.

Lord, have mercy.

For travelers and those on vacation, and for safety from violent storms.

Lord, have mercy.

For dogs, and all domestic and wild animals.

Lord, have mercy.

For the sick and the suffering, prisoners and their families, foreigners and outcasts, and

all in danger and need.

Lord, have mercy.

For those who rest in Christ and for all the dead.

Lord, have mercy.

For our city and those who live in it, and for our families, companions, and all we love.

Lord, have mercy.

God of infinite love, who heals those who call on you, have mercy on us sinners and grant our prayers for all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Matthew 15:10-28

¹⁰ Jesus called the crowd near and said to them, “Listen and understand. ¹¹ It’s not what goes into the mouth that contaminates a person in God’s sight. It’s what comes out of the mouth that contaminates the person.”

¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended by what you just said?”

¹³ Jesus replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be pulled up. ¹⁴Leave the Pharisees alone. They are blind people who are guides to blind people. But if a blind person leads another blind person, they will both fall into a ditch.”

¹⁵ Then Peter spoke up, “Explain this riddle to us.”

¹⁶ Jesus said, “Don’t you understand yet? ¹⁷ Don’t you know that everything that goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what goes out of the mouth comes from the heart. And that’s what contaminates a person in God’s sight. ¹⁹ Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, sexual sins, thefts, false testimonies, and insults. ²⁰ These contaminate a person in God’s sight. But eating without washing hands doesn’t contaminate in God’s sight.”

²¹ From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. ²² A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” ²³ But he didn’t respond to her at all.

His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”

²⁵ But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.”

²⁶ He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.”

²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.”

²⁸ Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then, her daughter was healed.

ᚒ

“Even the Dogs...”

Everything seems to be run by opinion polls, these days. I knew a state legislator in Louisiana who would never answer a question on a particular issue unless he had polling data. He was a terrible legislator and leader, but he kept getting elected!

Look at the public opinion polls for our national servants, and it looks pretty bad for them. Presidents never seem to have positive job approval ratings about them according to the polls—and I don't care which President you're talking about. None of them ever get really high marks.

Congress, bless their pointy little heads, are always lower in job approval ratings than the President—again, no matter who's in charge of the House or Senate.

And so, my interest was piqued this week when I saw a poll by a group called Public Policy Polling which sought to gauge Americans' views on God's job approval rating. Yes, they took a poll on God. Well, you'll be happy to know that God has a higher opinion rating than either the Congress or the President. Seems 52% thought God was doing a good job in running the universe.

71% thought he did a good job in creating the world, though only 50% thought God was doing well in managing nature and natural disasters.

Everybody's a critic.

It occurred to me that Jesus never acted based on opininon polls—and his favor was up and down all the time.

Take today's lesson. Jesus begins by alienating the Pharisees. To be fair, he never had a high approval rating from them. And then he goes off into foreign territory and upsets a Canaanite woman—calls he names. These incidents are related—and not just by Jesus' low approval rating.

Jesus ticks off the Pharisees by going after one of their favorites things—ritual purity. In the world of the Pharisees—and don't think ill of them, they were just trying to be most religious people—like us? Anyway, in their world, you remained pure by eating only the right things—no shrimp, no pork (those are the high points)--and preparing them the right way and preparing to eat the fight way. You had to wash your hands in just the right way—in several places in the Gospels, Jesus is confronted concerning his disciples failure to wash their hands properly before eating. Now, this wasn't about washing up like we do—they had no sense of microbes of any kind. Any deviation from these was considered an abomination. While technically, that would only affect going to the temple, for the Pharisees all of life was to be kept as holy and pure.

But Jesus blows his approval rating by declaring that it doesn't matter how or even if you wash your hands or even what you eat. It isn't what goes into a person that makes one acceptable to God, but what comes out of a person.

It isn't how you wash or what you eat that defines what kind of person you are, what kind of life you live. If your life demonstrates God's love by what you say and do—that's way more important.

And then, Jesus makes his way into the regions of Tyre and Sidon and encounters a local woman who is insistent that Jesus heal her daughter. She's so disruptive that the Disciples try to get Jesus to get rid of her.

Jesus answers her—which gives her instant standing—or if you look at it terms of honor and shame (which proper society was based on), he sunk to her level. Imagine that! An unknown woman from another culture addresses the Rabbi as Son of David (and by extension King). A woman. And a foreigner all rolled into one. A double whammy.

Jesus, despite her addressing him as Son of David, pushes her to the outside margins by declaring he is only there for Jews. What was his approval rating with that woman in that moments? What do you think his job approval rating was with the Disciples?

She persists.

He replies that it would be wrong to give the children's (Jewish people) food and give it to the dogs.

Dogs. Jews called Canaanites dogs because, like dogs, they'd eat anything.

Take a second and think about what Jesus is saying to this woman. He is calling here a female dog—and the word for female dog in his time would ring about the same as our word for female dog would in ours.

And she responds, not with hatred, but with great wit—and in Jesus eyes—great faith. Even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table.

And Jesus tells her she has great faith—a phrase that Jesus is stingy with. He tells the Disciples that they have little faith 3 times in Mathew—but never great faith about anyone but this woman.

And while Jesus' job approval rating went up in her eyes, I bet it went down in others who saw this spectacle.

But this incident is a beautiful illustration of the teaching Jesus has just made. Outwardly, this woman has nothing about her that is "clean." But she has two things in her heart that make her right with God: her unwavering, nagging, persistent care for her daughter; and, her unwavering, nagging, persistent trust that Jesus can cure her daughter. And these two things cause Jesus to undergo a change of heart himself.

So what about us? What can we take away from this passage?

It seems to me that we can become pharisaic about our faith, as well. We can think that because we go to church regularly, attend Sunday School, give to the church that we are pretty good people. But we can do all these things and still be rotten to our neighbors and our family. Does being a Disciple of Jesus Christ make a difference that the people we encounter in the world can see?

Does being a Disciple force us to look beyond ourselves our own kind to include the outcasts—the Canaanite women of the world? Who would those outsiders be? The kid on your block that just doesn't fit in? The foreign born couple that live on the next street? The single mom who's at wits' end just trying to keep her family afloat? The Gay folks who are just kind of invisible in our town?

It seems to me that how we treat those around us matters more than what we do in here. Because I bet that what matters more than our approval of God is God's approval rating of us.

What do you think?

Offering Invitation

Jesus told the woman she had great faith. We, too bring our great faith, made even greater by our gifts.

Offertory Prayer

Like the woman in Canaan, many in our community have their world consist of fear, despair, and loneliness. We pray that as we present these gifts they may be used so your presence may be felt and comfort given to all of those who need your loving hand. Amen.

Benediction

Mat the God of creativity be with you on the smooth paths;
Companion Jesus be with you in the storms;
Awakening Spirit be with you at all times.
Amen.