11th Sunday after Pentecost

August 16, 202

“Love Wins”

Saint Matthew 15:10-28

15:10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand:

15:11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."

15:12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?"

15:13 He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

15:14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit."

15:15 But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us."

15:16 Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding?

15:17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?

15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.

15:19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.

15:20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."

15:21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.

15:22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon."

15:23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us."

Message

Love Wins

In the Rodgers and Hammerstein 1949 musical, South Pacific, the issue of racial prejudice is sensitively and candidly explored in such songs as “You’ve Got to Be Taught.”

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

In the early 1950’s “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught" was subject to widespread criticism, judged by some to be too controversial or downright inappropriate for the musical stage.  Sung by the character Lieutenant Cable, the song is preceded by a lyric saying racism is "not born in you!  It happens after you’re born..."

Rodgers and Hammerstein risked the entire South Pacific venture in light of legislative challenges to its decency or supposed Communist agenda. While the show was on a tour of the Southern United States, lawmakers in Georgia introduced a bill outlawing entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow."  One legislator said that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life."  Rodgers and Hammerstein defended their work strongly. James Michener, upon whose stories South Pacific was based, recalled, "The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in."

Jesus was taught by his own tribe that ‘the others’ – Canaanites were dogs.  Although the Torah proclaims love of neighbor and welcoming the stranger – that proclamation got distorted through the filters of prejudice and hate.

Jesus was taught, carefully taught to ‘hate all the people your relatives hate.’  The disciples are explicit in their prejudice:  “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.”   Jesus also responds with a response conditioned by his culture and upbringing.  His initial response to the pleas of mercy by the Canaanite woman is:

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Why such prejudice against the Canaanites? 

The Jewish culture at that time had definite ideas about relationships with Gentiles – non-Jews.  God’s chosen people were set apart through specific laws and customs – circumcision – observance of Sabbath and food laws.  Most importantly – worship only of the Lord, the God of Israel.  God’s people were not to have anything to do with foreign religions.

Canaanites are not just any Gentiles.  They were the native people of the Promised Land.  They worshipped BAAL – fertility god of Palestine.  They were the people pushed out of the land by Israel.  They were despised enemies of God’s people.

Yet, God’s people were called to be a ‘light to all nations.’  Isaiah along with other prophets constantly reminded the people:  “My house will be a house of prayer for all peoples.”  God chose a people to bring about justice and peace and inclusivity – not to create a chosen elite.

Throughout history is there any religion that has not been distorted?  Even Christianity promulgated oppression of women, slavery, and prejudice.

So, Jesus too was on a learning curve.  Jesus, too, had to overcome cultural distortions of his faith.  And thanks to the Canaanite woman, Jesus has a change of heart.

This unnamed woman cries the Greek words:  kyrie eleison – Lord, have mercy.  Although a foreigner she speaks the worship language of the faithful.  She cries for mercy – trusting in a merciful God. 

Her cries reflect the tradition of the Psalms where God’s people plead for mercy anticipating God’s gracious response.   Psalm 67 appointed for today:  “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.”

She comes to Jesus with a heart full of trust.  She trusts that God’s mercy will have the last word.

Calling her a ‘dog’ is a real put down – both a racial and gender slur.  Calling someone a dog in this context is not ‘cute.’  Jesus is not referring to her in a kind manner – like she is some sort of cute puppy or lap dog.  So she absorbs the put down.  She takes it in and responds with dramatic irony:

“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”

Her answer cracks open the prejudice.  Her answer breaks through the distorted faith.  Her answer changes the heart.  And Jesus responds:  “Woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done to you as you wish.”

Previous to this incident Jesus has just talked about the heart.  It is the heart that matters.  Not pious religious talk, not purity codes, and external laws.  Blind obedience to laws and rules can lead to falling into a pit.  No! Jesus proclaims it is what is in one’s heart that matters – for from the heart proceeds good or evil.  Unwashed hands do not defile, but unwashed hearts do!

Don’t let the irony pass you by.  Matthew is making a point here with Jesus and the early church.  Jesus just spoke about the heart and now his heart – defiled by cultural prejudice rejects this woman.  Yet, unlike the religious leaders of his time – Jesus has a change of heart.  He breaks through religious and cultural prejudice to a place of healing and justice.

The tribal boundary is broken and the woman is humanized and touched and the racial barriers broken down.  God’s mercy is intended for all nations.  God’s love is not just for a chosen few.  God’s people are to be a means to God’s inclusive grace.

But notice that the barriers of prejudice are broken with a change of heart.  That is what it takes is a change of heart.  When people know people of other faiths or other races – when relationships begin and we know people as people and not as tagged by race, gender, or sexual orientation then those barriers come down.

Jesus saw beyond the cultural distortions and barriers and recognized a person of faith in this woman. 

Matthew is a Gospel written in the context of the early church – a church that was simply trying to find its identity.  Matthew points the church toward an inclusive mission to the Gentiles. 

The decision of the early church to set aside Jewish practices and include outsiders made it possible for us to be here in worship today. 

God’s people today are called to a change of heart – a change of heart that makes us able to discern the cultural distortions in our practice of the Christian faith today.  Whenever the Christian faith is used as a tool to exclude ‘the other’ – is it not being true to the boundary breaking new heart of Christ.

Isaiah reminds us that God’s house is a house of prayer for all peoples.  St. Paul in the Second Reading reminds the early Christian movement that “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.”  In other words the new Christian movement does not preclude or exclude sisters and brothers of the Jewish faith.  Read Romans 11 and see how Paul argues for God’s inclusive grace for both Jew and Gentile.

The Biblical witness challenges us not to presume that we know to whom God will show mercy and to whom God will refuse to show mercy.   We need to know our place.  God’s intention is for all to be saved.  God will work out that desire in ways beyond our understanding. 

In his recent book Love Wins: A Book about Heaven and Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Pastor Rob Bell tells this story:

“Several years ago we had an art show at our church.  I had been giving a series of teachings on peacemaking and we invited artists to display their paintings, poems, and sculptures that reflected their understanding of what it means to be a peacemaker.  One woman included in her work a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, which a number of people found quite compelling. 

But not everyone.  Someone attached a piece of paper to it.  On the piece of paper was written ‘Reality check.  He’s in hell.  Really?  Gandhi’s in hell?  He is?  We have confirmation of this?  Somebody knows this?   Without a doubt?  And that somebody decided to take on the responsibility of letting the rest of us know? 

Of all the billions of people that ever lived will only a select number ‘make it to a better place’ and every single other person suffer in torment and punishment forever?  Is this acceptable to God? What kind of God is that?

What we discover in the Bible is so surprising, unexpected, and beautiful…the good news is better than that, better than we can ever imagine.  The Good News is that love wins. ”

[Excerpts from book and online presentation by Rob Bell.]

That is the good news today for both the Canaanite woman and for us:  Love Wins!  Mercy Wins!  The last word is that God - in spite of all the human distortions and cultural contortions of the Gospel – God will ultimately be merciful.

God’s loving will will be done!  And isn’t that what we pray for and want for ourselves and this world?

Amen