Title: “Dogging Jesus”
Scripture: Matthew 15:10-28
8/14/05 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
Sometimes I try to imagine what it must have been like being Jesus. Though we know he sought out time to pray, the Gospels make it seem like he rarely had a moment to himself much less have a good nights sleep. There were crowds to be fed, confused disciples dogging him for answers, ill people that sought him out for healing and religious leaders confronting him on his behavior.
Today's reading is a good example of what a day might look like for him - he goes from being challenged by the Pharisees about his lack of religious piety to challenging them back on their lack of heart and is then confronted by his disciples for being rude. He stops to teach the crowd about the purpose of the religious law and then decides to take a long walk away from all those issues and runs into a Cannanite woman who screams at him to heal her daughter. “Whew! What a day!”
It helps me understand why he first tries to send the Canaanite woman away from him - “Give me a break, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”, he replied, “I don't have the energy for stray puppies in need of attention!” The man is trying to create some kind of boundary for his ministry! He had walked that far because he wanted to get away from it all and now here was this foreigner demanding his attention!
Not only that but Jews were not fond of Canaanites; they were considered worse than Samaritans. They were pagans and the Jews had displaced them and sent them off to Palestine when they arrived on their land. They were considered unclean and were not God's chosen people.
Jesus had enough people to deal with; he was not ready to step out into Gentile territory on top of everything else. It's not easy to see this side of Jesus - he's not supposed to say “no” much less make some derogatory comment about not feeding the unwanted dogs. (In researching this comment I found that most scholars saw it as an unfriendly but not uncommon metaphor and the woman's response as quite remarkable and a reflection of her strength.)
But this unnamed woman is desperate - she did not care how tired Jesus might have been or whether she was considered outside of his purview, her child was sick and her response did not let him off the hook. Let's face it, you just can't stop a momma or pappa bear when their baby is in need! Give it up Jesus, you are going to have to give her some attention!
Scholars believe that this story is significant to Matthew's audience because the early church at that time was shifting from being mostly Jewish to Gentiles entering and wanting to follow Christ. There was much-debate as to the proper place of Jewish law in the early church if Gentiles were going to be part of the community. This story of the Canaanite woman spoke to them of that struggle - that even Jesus had struggled with it too, but had realized God's word and love would not be limited to Jews alone. In the Canaanite woman Jesus saw that a Gentile's faith in the one God could be as deep and true as his own people.
It is not easy to expand our worldview and our way of doing things, we create an understanding of how things are and then proceed to believe it is set in stone. Jesus saw himself sent by God to tend to the lost sheep of Israel - he had not thought of tending to anyone outside of that circle until the need was standing right in front of him.
Sometimes when we are faced with this kind of situation we will do everything we can to ignore the intrusion - turn a blind eye to it. Sometimes our human response is to fight. Whether we are talking about a neighbor, family member or another country - we will go to battle with an “outsider” to protect our “way of life”.
Have you ever found yourself fighting inside yourself or with others over issues or things that seem so important yet afterwards you are left wondering, “what was that all about?”
We can react so quickly.
I have worked with couples that fight over who does what in the household, those fights are often a cover up for deeper issues that are being ignored. I'll tell you a really childish story about myself to make my point here. Back in 1988 my first marriage was brand new, I was 30 years old but had been living on my own since I was 18, so I was used to a fair amount of personal autonomy. We all know that that changes with marriage.
One day I had made homemade chocolate-chip cookies and had taken a bite out of one and set it down to come back to, to finish in a minute. When I returned to get my yummy cookie - it was gone. David had eaten it. I was furious. You have never seen someone get so mad over a chocolate chip cookie! David was shocked. After I came back to my senses I realized that of course I was not fighting over a chocolate chip cookie - I was grieving the loss of my personal autonomy.
A number of years ago our church fought over cutting down trees or paving our parking lot. Those arguments were a cover up for other issues - church leadership and priorities were shifting. It didn't help that I had barely started here as pastor and was a wimp on top of everything else! The whole experience was a painful birthing process towards compromise.
The United Church of Christ held their annual national meeting called “General Synod” in Atlanta last month. Over 3,000 people were in attendance from around the country and though they did not “fight” per se, they certainly debated some hot issues. One of my colleagues that attended summed up the issues in this way: We debated the three “M's” - marriage, ministry and money. Each time the UCC gathers in this way we work together to try and clarify where we are called by God to put our passions and commitments - where we are called to “fight” and why.
Earlier in today's scripture Jesus challenges the Pharisees to really think about what it is they were fighting for. He accuses them of fighting over religious rituals rather than caring about behaviors that destroy life and relationships. Jesus is challenging the Pharisees to consider what they are really fighting for - and then he finds himself faced with a similar question as he encounters the Canaanite woman. I imagine Jesus finally asking himself: “What is really important in this situation?”
I am sure you are all aware of the mother sitting outside the gates of President Bush's ranch in Texas. She is wanting President Bush to reflect on what we are fighting for in Iraq. She lost her son in the war and she wants to talk to the man that took us there.
It struck me how much she is like the Canaanite woman in today's story. She is not Condelissa Rice, Rumsfield or Rove - she is not a foreigner but she is not in the inner circle and so far President Bush has refused to talk with her, but she is not leaving. She is a sad and angry “momma bear” and she wants some answers.
Jesus was a busy man - everywhere he went someone was dogging him about something or other. In a short time he realized that the Canaanite woman was fighting for something he needed to pay attention to, and with God's help he could find the energy and the compassion to quit resisting her and reach out in love.
President Bush is not Jesus - though I am sure his days are very full too and it must be terribly hard to get a good nights sleep, but I sure hope Mr. President stops long enough to talk with her. We need our leaders to not lose touch with the power of personal contact.
What are we fighting for - over - against? What are we resisting? What is really going on here? These are good questions for us to ask ourselves individually - corporately - nationally - internationally. Sometimes fighting is our quickest response but not necessarily the most honest or the most fruitful. Amen.