Jerk or Teacher? Matthew 15:10-28

A text – Matthew 15:10-28

¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹² Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 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 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

²¹ Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.” 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.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.

A reflection:

This week we have a Gospel story, a passage from Isaiah, and a Psalm, all of which show that all faithful people are welcome in the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter what they eat or who they have called God before this day. If they call upon God, they will receive blessings, will praise God’s name, and will extend the Kingdom to everyone they know. It’s all about the mission of God to the world God loves.  No one needs to hear this truth more than the insiders to whom Jesus speaks it.

Our gospel story today is one where we can see that, as a pastor friend of mine likes to say, Jesus is being a jerk. We hear his harsh and excluding words to the Canaanite woman. But such limiting words need to be heard by the insiders so that they can learn first-hand that Jesus does not live by those limits, that God does not place such limits. Maybe (just try this on for a second), maybe Jesus’s exchange of sentences is not so much between him and the woman as it is between him and the disciples. Maybe Jesus is just quoting chapter and verse of what they have always heard about Messiah – how he would come and basically beat up all of Israel’s enemies and puff up Israel over others. That’s pretty excluding, right? The disciples say to Jesus, “Send her away – she’s annoying.” Jesus makes this answer (to them), “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” They are thinking, “Right. Yes. Stop her.” She kneels and asks for his help. He continues the line of cruel thinking the disciples have begun, saying (to the disciples, as if to agree with their argument), “It’s not fair to give to the dogs what belongs to the children.” The disciples are nodding with Jesus’s words. But the faithful woman replies yet again that dogs get fed, too. Jesus praises her faith (he is often telling his disciples “Oh, ye of little faith!”) and grants her fervent “wish” on the spot. Surprise! Jesus is teaching them, “Your limits, my dear followers, are not God’s limits.”

Maybe Jesus is teaching his disciples here, albeit at the Canaanite woman’s expense. It is probably no less than the treatment the Canaanite woman was used to from Israelites. After all, to even be heard she has to come shouting her request. Maybe Jesus is teaching the disciples, yet again, that anyone who calls upon the name of God will be answered. Their faith will be recognized. They will be included among the faithful. Look for echoes of this idea in both Isaiah and this week’s psalm. Maybe this interpretation is too much of a stretch, my and others’ not wishing to see Jesus actually be a jerk to someone. Or maybe the limiting, excluding, cruel talk is directed at us, the ones who believe we are already inside the fold, showing us that we are not the only ones God wants at the banquet table. If Jesus can let a Canaanite woman into his following and demonstrate her great faith right in front of the disciples who would continue to get in her way, which of our neighbors whom we’d rather exclude is Jesus also going to grant eternal life with us at God’s great wedding feast?

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for your gift of eternal life and relationship with you. Help us to see that we are not to be the judges of others and that your love is big enough to include people we never imagined would be with us in Paradise. Amen.