This reflection was delivered at Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, South Dakota on August 16, 2020
Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.” 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.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
REFLECTION
by
Norm Wright
+In the Name of our loving friend and brother, Jesus+
The story of the Canaanite woman is one of three events in Jesus’ ministry as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels that gave Jesus reason to pause and recalibrate his views on Gentiles. The first is a Roman Centurion who came to Jesus asking that a loved slave be healed. The second is this story, and the third is the story of the ten lepers who Jesus heals and the Samaritan leper who turned back to thank Jesus. Of these three, this story seems have given Jesus the greatest reason to pause.
Pause is a term I use to describe those moments when we find ourselves challenged by an event that causes us to take notice of what we are dealing with or confronted by. It may involve a period time in which we may have to deal with our demons, our doubts, and our uncertainties; a period of soul-searching that often leads to transfiguration; a new way of seeing things and, perhaps, a new way of being seen.
I write a blog called “The Faithful Agnostic” in which I did a series posts on transfiguration called “Tales of the Mystic Journey” in which I take a deeper look a certain characters in Scripture like Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Peter, and Paul in the light of their transfiguration experiences. In each of their stories, one can identify moments of pause that led to a literal transfiguration. For instance, Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sara, Jacob becomes Israel, Joseph is transfigured into an Egyptian prince which rendered him unrecognizable to his brothers. Jesus’ disciple Simon becomes Peter, and Saul becomes Paul. In all of their stories there are distinct moments of pause - some event or events that changed them, their outlook, and how they were seen and understood by others.
In today’s lesson from Matthew, Jesus and his disciples cross the border into what is modern day Lebanon, Canaanite turf, a people depicted in the Hebrew Scriptures as the original settlers of what is modern day Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. In the Hebrew Scriptures they were depicted as idolators and the historical enemies of the Israelites. We don’t know why Jesus and his disciples decided to enter that territory. Perhaps it was to find some time away from the crowds that followed him or to take a breather from the constant debate Jesus was having with the religious authorities in Judea. Jesus finds out, however, that his fame is known beyond the borders of Galilee and Judea.
We do not know who this saintly woman is. Her only identity given is that she is Canaanite. This by itself would have been considered a mark against her as far as the disciples were concerned. Another mark against her was that she was loudly addressing Jesus in public. Women were not expected to address men in public; a social costume that continues to exist in some middle eastern cultures. So when this loud, idolatrous woman shouts at Jesus, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.,” the disciples want nothing to do with her and they asked Jesus to send her away, and that is exactly what Jesus does, or tries to do.
We need to pause with the image of that situation in our minds.
We have been trained to give Jesus a pass whenever we encounter something in the Gospels that doesn’t look or sound Jesus-like. We are tempted to excuse it or explaining it away as some editorial comments in the gospels do; as “Jesus did such and such in order to test so and so” or “Jesus did this in order to fulfill prophecy.” There are no such editorial comments made here, and this story doesn’t permit us to easily give Jesus a pass, which makes it all the more powerful.
That Jesus attempted to send this woman away shouldn’t shock us; after all, back in Chapter 10 of Matthew, Jesus sent out the twelve disciples with explicit orders not to go among the gentiles or in any Samaritan towns; specifically saying, “Go rather to lost sheep of Israel” [vs. 6]. In essence Jesus was simply following through with that order. In fact, Jesus tries to sending her away by repeating what he told his disciples, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman doesn’t take that for an answer. Kneeling in front of Jesus she earnestly pleas, “Lord, help me.” Jesus then brazenly insults her, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Calling a person a dog in those days was about as demeaning and dehumanizing a comment one could make. A declaration that conveyed, “You’re not worth the bother.”
We need to pause with that scene for a moment.
We need to hear what this woman heard; in the way she heard it and let it sink in as if it was said to us, personally; as if, Jesus called any one of us a dog in the sense he used it in this story.
How would any of us take that? What would we think of Jesus, and what might our reaction be?
We also need to pause and ask ourselves, “What kept her there, kneeling at Jesus’ feet? Why didn’t she leave after being treated so rudely and publicly humiliated?”
One might say sheer desperation. True, but it is her response to Jesus’ insult that I think reveals her super-power to stay put; her tenacious love that wasn’t about to give up on hope when she was so close to the cure for her daughter’s condition. It also revealed her determined faith and her determinate heart in which “No” would never be an acceptable answer to her daughter’s need, so she responds to Jesus’ insult with a yes:
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
I am convinced that was not the answer Jesus was expecting; much less, hoping for from her. You can’t call someone a dog and then say, “Oh, just kidding. Come back. Your daughter is going to be fine.”
No. That is not how Jesus, who said,” Let your yes be yes and your no be no,” works. [See Matthew 5:36-38]
I am convinced if she would have left, this story wouldn’t have made it into the gospels, but this Canaanite woman didn’t leave. She stood her ground and took Jesus by surprise. In that surprising comeback, Jesus paused and took a deeper look at this woman. Looking deeply into her eyes, I believe Jesus saw something recognizable; the image of his Father, our Father - her Father looking back at him through her pleading eyes, speaking to him through her longing voice.
In that brief moment, Jesus knew what he was dealing with because it resonated with his experience of having dealt with his own demons in the wilderness. It resonated with that love that would not let him go. He recognized in her a determinate heart like his own, a heart that could only accept the yes of God’s love. Jesus saw something he didn’t think he would see outside the boundaries of his native land, faith.
In that transfiguring moment, this idolatrous, Canaanite woman of faith gave Jesus a new perspective of God as the non-discriminating, unconditionally loving Father of all; a vision that he would carry with him to the cross and prompt him to forgive all. Her answer demonstrated a deep faith that exceeded most and so Jesus unabashedly said to her, “Woman great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Pause.
This Canaanite woman understood pause. Her life was put on hold because of her daughter’s affliction. Her tenacious love for her daughter developed a determined faith and a determinate heart that was ready to say “Yes” to any opportunity that would transfigure the course of her daughter’s life and her own; in whatever form it came, even if it came in the person of an annoyed and didn’t-want-to-be bothered Jesus. Her tenacious love and faith brought down the boundaries and barriers that existed between them as traditional enemies, and she gave Jesus a healing moment from the weariness he felt, a respite from the wariness of the same old mundane expectations as her determinate heart reached out and touched his.
Pause.
During their exodus from Egypt, the children of Israel spent 40 years of wandering in the wilderness so that a whole generation would pass away as a mean to put an end to the Israelites being slaves to the slavery they couldn’t see past. In that pause, God transfigured their offspring into the Chosen People God intended them to be; a people capable of seeing things differently, of seeing themselves differently; a people who put their trust in God as they started the new life God promised them when they crossed over Jordan into the Canaanite land.
We’re in a pause for the past three years, maybe longer.
Pauses can last a long time or they can come in short, momentary jolts that lead to transfiguration. When transfiguration occurs, we may not feel all that different but we may start seeing things differently, and we may appear differently to those around us; as in, there is something about them that is different. Scripture’s advice on pauses is to be like this Canaanite woman: to be patient, to watch (to be on the lookout for opportunity in whatever form it may come in), and to pray earnestly.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Gracious friend, like this Canaanite woman we come to you on bended knee seeking your help. Do not turn us away in our time of need, but hear us, help us, grant us the determined strength of her faith and transfigure us according to your will. Amen.
Until next time, stay faithful.
Norm
No comments:
Post a Comment