Okay…let’s be honest. Jesus sounds like kind of a jerk here. At least for me, this is not the Jesus I expect to hear. I mean…he calls this woman a dog. Women have been called dogs…the b-word…often enough. This is just ugly.
But the thing is — he’s just saying aloud what the rest of them are thinking. This woman was not Jewish…she was a Gentile. That’s all Gentile means, by the way…it means you are not a Jew. So I’m guessing we’re pretty much all Gentiles here…and calling Gentiles “dogs” was a pretty common insult. Plain and simple – Gentiles were not considered children of God like they were. They were unclean…like a dog. They were not God’s chosen ones.
So…since Jesus was Jewish….and his disciples were Jewish. Other people…people who were not “like them” …Gentiles… simply didn’t matter. They weren’t part of their concern. They had plenty enough to concern themselves addressing the pain and struggles of their own community. To their way of thinking…they shouldn’t have to take care of her. She wasn’t their problem…and she should get help from her own people if she needed it.
That’s why the disciples react the way they do to her. There she is — making a racket, shouting, asking for help, annoying everybody. And they try ignoring her…but when that gets impossible, they just want Jesus to just send her away….to “Shoo the dog” that is being a pest. After all…Jesus “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. She should go back home. They have enough on their plate.
And I get that, if I’m honest. Most of us do. We have enough on our plate dealing with our own problems so often, that it’s hard to have the bandwidth for outsiders…for people who come in who are not “one of us”. Whether that’s people who are not part of our own immediate family…or who are not part of our church family…or who are not part of our cultural family. And, it is a difficult balance at times. Because many of us are carrying our own heavy loads, our traumas…scars from childhood, broken relationships, chronic health issues….crises in our own families…so we can only deal with so much. We’re tired.
And so we’d like Jesus to just send the other people away. We’ve got enough to worry about….without having to think about them as well. But this woman…she doesn’t go away. Instead…she refuses to be ignored. She demands to be seen. To be heard. To be recognized. Desperate for her daughter, she claims the leftovers of Jesus’ mercy…the crumbs. They may call her a dog, but she insists that she still matters. Her daughter matters. And she will not be shooed away.
And Jesus hears her. But not only that…he honors her. Only twice in scripture does Jesus tell people they have great faith. She is one of them. …the other will be a Roman soldier asking for healing for his beloved servant boy. It’s interesting, isn’t it…that Jesus honors the desperation of those who seek healing for their loved ones. Some of you know that road, don’t you? That feeling of desperation, wanting healing for your loved ones…for kids who are battling addiction or mental illness, for partners who are chronically ill. You know that feeling of being willing to do anything to help them…being willing to take any crumbs of mercy that might be available.
So this morning, I want you to hear what Jesus has to say to you. Great is your faith, beloved ones. Jesus hears your cries.
So in our story today, it’s true that Jesus sounds harsh…but isn’t that the way the world is, so often? The world is so often harsh. So often cruel and tribal. There are bigots and racists all around…people who only care about Christians, or who only care about Americans….people who fear and hate black people or Arab people or native people…people who look down on differently abled folks or trans folks or women folks. There are bullies and jerks of all kinds…as well as perfectly well meaning individuals, like the disciples, who don’t understand what the fuss is all about if we just ignore this woman…which is its own kind of cruelty. That is the world we live in.
But this woman challenges it all. She challenges the disciples. Challenges Jesus. Challenges us. Because she refuses to be ignored.
And we need her. We need her great faith to challenge us. We need to be challenged…to be reminded that God’s world has no tribes. No nations. No boundaries. God’s love is for all. God’s mercy is for all.
We need the people who disrupt our comfort zones, and remind us that our lives do not matter more than any one else’s. That other people’s children are just as precious as our own.
Yes, they are God’s beloved ones too.
But caring for all those others…It is hard. Most of us get overwhelmed by the scope of suffering in this world. And we live in a world that makes us all too aware of the pain of others around the globe…in a way we simply were not when I was little. 50 years ago, with just a half an hour a day of national and world news…we only had a glimpse of what people were facing who were not in our own communities. Now, the cruelties and injustice and suffering of people throughout the world are in our pockets 24 hours a day. And that bandwidth thing…not having enough bandwidth to take on caring for more people…it’s real. I had to quit facebook, because I just couldn’t handle it all every day. It was emotionally exhausting me. But acknowledging our limitations is different than saying it doesn’t matter. Acknowledging that sometimes we cannot help everyone is different than saying some people are dogs, who somehow are less deserving of help. Acknowledging our limitations is different than saying we shouldn’t help those who aren’t “one of us”. Friends…we are Jesus people….and so that means we are people who insist that all those who cry out for mercy…alll those who are desperate…all those who are sick and in prison, who are hungry and lonely…all those who are afraid and unsafe….are children of God deserving of help. Deserving of care. Deserving to be heard and seen and loved.
All people deserve food when they are hungry. All people deserve health care when they are sick or injured. All people deserve protection from abuse and violation. All people. No exceptions.
When Matthew wrote his gospel …one of his priorities throughout it was to remind a tribe of people (for him it was the Jewish people…but he could just as easily be talking to Christian people as well)…that they are not the only ones who matter. He wrote to remind a nation (for him it was Israel…but he could be talking to America as well)…that there are other nations that God so loves. In another chapter, Matthew will ask…when did we see you Lord? And God’s response is simply…among the least of these. Look in the places you want to ignore….at the people you want to ignore. Matthew includes the beatitudes, where Jesus announces that those who hunger and thirst for justice…those who are poor in spirit and mourn and suffer…they are the blessed ones. Over and over again, Matthew reminds us that we will find God among the people we think don’t matter. And this Canaanite woman is the same. Because, in her desperation, she shows us what God’s kingdom is really about. Mercy for all. Blessed is she for giving us the gift of her faith.
Yes…that is the good news. In Jesus there is mercy for all. For Gentiles…like you and me. And for all the people who aren’t like you and me. Blessed are they. Blessed are you. Amen.
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