"Gentile Dogs" a sermon based on Matthew 15:10-23 Trillium United Church, Mono Mills, Ontario

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth."

The disciples said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?"Jesus answered, "Every plant that God has not planted will be uprooted. Let the Pharisees alone; they are blind, leading the blind. If one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what make a person unclean; to eat with unwashed hands does not male someone unclean."

Jesus left there and went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that region came up and spoke to him - "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." He did not answer her at all. His disciples urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us."Jesus said to her "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she knelt in before him, saying, "Lord, help me."

Jesus answered, "It is not fair to take the food for the children, and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Jesus said to her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.
*************************************************************************
In the reading of today’s story, it is critical to remember that the culture Jesus was born into was heavily governed by religious rules, particularly the purity laws; slaves were a normal part of life. We know that he values his culture’s tradition and practices. We also know that he sees the leadership as corrupt, and ingrown. So he sets out to initiate reform, in the tradition of prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah. Against the misdirection and mismanagement of the community by the traditional leaders, he begins to gather and empower new ministers and leaders from among the overlooked lay folk. But it isn’t going quite the way he would like it to, and there is a lot of resistance.

So we find Jesus explaining to the disciples flaws in the rules of purity and cleanliness - that what goes into the body through the mouth simply comes out again. Whether meat is properly killed or not – what is now called ‘kosher’ – doesn’t matter. He says that what comes out of the mouth defines a person. Whether or not one’s hands are clean is less important than the things one says. But he is still speaking in the context of the Jewish purity laws and social structure, even though it was a multi-cultural and multi-religious time. Not everyone around Nazareth, or Jerusalem, or anywhere else, was necessarily a Jew. They were an occupied country, and did business with people from all over the known Mediterranean area.

So again, he goes off on his own, a bit of a retreat by the seashore, trying to escape notice and find some time for himself. He doesn’t want to be dealing with people. Yet even on retreat he is found - by a Gentile woman who was “unclean”. She is a mother, with a sick child. Somehow she gets past the disciples, right up to Jesus.

In reading this text, we today simply don’t understand the enormity both of what the woman does, and what Jesus does and says. First, she is a Canaanite, a foreigner, not of the same religious society or community. Second, she is considered “unclean” by the Jews, under their strict laws about ritual purity. Unclean means untouchable. Third, everyone around was aghast at the sheer nerve of a woman approaching a man at all, let alone asking for help. We hear the story today, and it just flows right on past. We focus on the healing, without understanding anything about the context at all. In Jesus’ time this was absolutely jaw-dropping behaviour. Women did not speak to men in public; just for approaching him and speaking first, she could have been branded as a prostitute, possibly stoned. The disciples want her sent away. She’s not one of them; she’s a pagan, and dirty into the bargain because she doesn’t follow the purity laws.

You can almost feel the indrawn breath of the people around, and see Jesus just ignore her. But ignoring her doesn’t work. So when he finally does respond, it is a rude, and completely racist remark. Remember, Jesus was born into a particular culture, and he was very much a man of his culture and his time, despite his changing insights about ministry and teaching. He says that it is not fair to feed the dogs, before feeding the children. On the surface, for us, it would seem simply a cryptic statement. That’s because we can’t read the original language. What Jesus really says is “My work and words are strictly for the children of Israel - of the one true God - not for Gentile dogs.” He literally tells her she is not worthy of the teachings he offers, and he uses a racist epithet common among the Jews.

She is painfully aware of the meaning of the word ‘dogs’. In fact the word Jesus used would be better translated as “Dirty mutts.” She has a sick child, and ignoring all conventions, still she cries out “Lord, help me, help my child. Have mercy!” She would go anywhere, cross any boundary, for the well being of her child - even into a place where she knows she will be unwelcome, treated with disdain, insulted and possibly harmed.

It is almost possible to hear Jesus’ voice, see him turn to her and say those words. And from the woman, "But sir, even the meanest mutts under the table get to eat the children's crumbs." In other words, "I know I`m not much and am certainly not special nor deserving, but surely there must be a little bit - which is more than enough, for people even like me and my daughter." You can almost hear the penny drop, see Jesus’ eyes widen, his posture change as he realises that this outsider in so many ways has grasped something important, and has brought his attention to something important. There is a long moment of silence. I have a vision of Jesus sitting there completely speechless, unable to think of a thing to say. With this simple statement, she puts Jesus in the position of having to re-think his judgment, and his sense of call to ministry. and she remains the only person in the Bible to ever get the better of Jesus in an exchange.

Feminist theologian Mary Ann Tolbert suggests that it is the shameful request of the woman (it should be coming from a male), and the totally unconventional behaviour, which makes Jesus attempt to dismiss her with such disdain. Then he is faced with the fact that a Gentile woman has just hammered home to him, albeit gently and with grace, the very point he had been trying to teach his own disciples - what comes OUT of the mouth is much more important than what goes in. Race, status of birth, language, religion – none of those things is important. How we speak to people, and how we speak of people, how we treat people – is important.

And Jesus is brought face to face with his own cultural bias, and yes, racism.

One of the questions I want to ask all of you today, is where do we locate ourselves in this story? Are we Jesus, the disciples, or the woman?

In a sense it’s hard for us to do this - after all, we were born here, are and have been members of the community. We are the church, we know the traditions, we know the practices. But along the way, original vision and sense of mission can be lost, or can get twisted into something far more sinister, but done in the name of God who surely agrees with their point of view. Jesus realises the religious leaders have done exactly that, and without even thinking about it, he has been taken up by the same racism – differentiating himself from the foreigners and the ‘unclean’, seeing the Hebrews, his people, as somehow better, superior to everyone else. Women didn’t approach men, outsiders were anathema, the Hebrew community kept itself separate and nationalistic, superior to everyone else in their minds, because of their laws and their faith.

And that happens, when we let entitlement rather than grace become most important. It happens when fear of difference and change becomes our motivation, rather than the law of love. It happens when we forget that God has created everyone equal, no people or group superior to any other. It happens when we forget that God’s law is love.

I’ve wrestled with this, this week – with tears, some of the time. Should I preach it, should I not, will someone be offended or upset. I’ve wrestled with my own identity – as a white person, born into a largely white culture and place, but also as someone immersed in another culture and language to the point where I’m also not white, not exactly. But here’s the thing. If we believe in following Jesus, who able to see his own prejudice, and change his understanding; if we believe in a God of love who created everything and everyone, we have to address it, but even more we have to stand up.  

I am sure that not everyone will agree with me; but I can stand here and say with conviction that no one group is superior to another, that a God of love does not condone hatred and anger, that racism needs to be confronted and addressed – gently, with care and with love, but it cannot be allowed to continue. We who preach a God of love cannot then turn around and announce that only we are right. And it’s hard, because I believe that sometimes racism is not so much taught as absorbed. When we are with people who all believe the same thing, we don’t even think it might not be right. My husband says that, growing up in Japan, certain racist attitudes towards Koreans were just a part of the entire Japanese culture, and he realised in university that he too thought in the same way. But he did something about it. He joined the Korean club on the campus, he joined in demonstrations to allow Koreans born in Japan to get citizenship; we both demonstrated against the requirement that Koreans carry identification and permits at all times.

I hope you will understand today, that this is very hard to preach – it’s taking a risk, but it’s also personal and painful. I simply cannot believe that today, in 2017, we are once again facing such hatred, such violence, such anger – and such incredible fear. This hurts, but it cannot be avoided either. 

The good news for me – today we hear a lesson about Jesus *learning* something, of Jesus being forced to look at himself and make change. He was human, he was part of his culture and his time, and he realised he had to do some thinking. And then going on from there with a new self-understanding, and a new understanding of his ministry. Open, inclusive, loving ministry no matter who it may be. This is what we are called to be, as people who claim Jesus as mentor, leader, teacher. Open, inclusive, loving, and not afraid to confront hatred and prejudice, with love. May it be so.

“Called to Ministry?” Matthew 14:13-21 August 6, 2017 Trilium United Church

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”  Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

 “Bring them here to me,” he said. He directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Every so often, the lectionary plunks us down in the middle of a story without the preamble. But we need the preamble to see how other things happened.

So, back to Verse 8. Herod had wanted to get rid of John, but didn’t know how.  He had made promises in front of the dinner guests, one being that he would give Salome anything she wished, if she would dance.

‘Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that her request be granted  and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.’

So we’re looking at a story which has its roots in the death of John, Jesus’ cousin.  Until now, in my reading, Jesus has been mainly teaching. He’s called people to follow him and he has been teaching them about a vision of a different world, a different way of being. He believed in a peaceable realm – and I’m not sure he had thought of actual practical ministry.

 John the Baptist was seen by many, even Matthew, as the Messiah . John had many followers.  He was a fiery leader, a religious zealot, and his followers were more along the line of insurgents. Jesus didn’t  share John’s vision, but was still working out his own. And it’s necessary to remember that the Jews were under the thumb of both Rome, and their own religious leaders in collusion with Rome.  No one was happy. The period of Jesus ministry was a brief time of relative peace between a couple of very violent uprisings.

Jesus hears about the death of John, and goes away by himself. He wants to be alone, he wants to think. Maybe he realises that someone has to step into the void created by John’s death.  “He withdrew by boat to a solitary place.” This was his family, his cousin – even if he and John had a different idea about how the social change they both believed in – the oppression they lived under – should come about.

Jesus needs to grieve, he needs to think. The people need to grieve, too. The text says that ‘having heard’ that Jesus had gone away, they followed him. Why? Why couldn’t the people just leave him, give him some space? we might ask.  Or are they some of those ‘ weak in spirit’, ‘ poor in spirit’, who are also grieving  - who have seen this act of Herod as the final straw.  But he’s too big to overthrow, too cruel to endure? What can they do? So they follow Jesus, because they can’t think of anything else to do.

Jesus has pity on them. Compassion for them. But those words aren’t strong enough. I think Jesus is struck by similar grief, and understands them. One of the commentaries I read suggested “gut-wrenching” response is better. Matthew shows how Jesus first reacted to John’s death, then the crowd also reacted, and now Jesus is internally torn for the crowd because he shares their gut-wrenching pain. 

Now, a zealous revolutionary could have used this moment to rally troops. 5,000 men plus women and children, angry or bewildered over the death of John the Baptiser would make a great start to an army to storm Herod’s palace. Instead, it becomes a story of a call to ministry, a story of feeding – physical and spiritual feeding in the face of incredible cruelty.

So the disciples come to Jesus and suggest that as the day is getting on, the people should be sent home, as they will need to eat. Jesus gets a little testy with the disciples.

Jesus says “They have no need to go away – YOU feed them.” I love this line. For all his teachings about the realm, about mercy and compassion, the disciples are still not thinking.  Or perhaps I should say they think if they just wait, the realm, the kingdom, will arrive. “All we have is five loaves and two fishes.” they say.  Jesus points out clearly that the location of abundance is right where they are. What if the mantra of Jesus’ followers were, “The place of abundance is here”? What if that were our mantra? The place of abundance is right where we are?

Matthew doesn’t make a miracle story out of this. Jesus blesses and distributes the bread and fish to the disciples, for them to feed the crowd, to the crowd eating, and twelve baskets of leftovers. There is no explanation of how the five loaves and two fishes fed so many, and with leftovers, just the before-and-after enumeration that it happened. Matthew just gives the bones of the actions. I don’t know if that is good story-telling or an attempt to focus on things other than the miracle-moment.

So what happened? How can we know? Is the multiplication of the food the point, or is it back where Jesus says the place of abundance is right here, and then puts the onus for feeding squarely on the followers. YOU feed them. Now, this is filling in gaps, but probably, when they set out to follow Jesus, they took some food with them.

They see food being passed, and little by little people share till there’s more than enough. I’d guess those disciples had more than five loaves and two fish – think about it. Twelve men, some with spouses, children and assorted family. To me it’s more that they don’t want to do anything, it’s easier to send the people home.  I’m stretching a point here – in Corinthians, we see Paul chastising the richer followers for eating their own food before coming to the community meal, because poor people’s food wasn’t that good. What if the disciples knew there was food among the people, but they were poor and maybe the food wasn’t that good. Send them home to eat their own food and we’ll eat ours. Jesus says the place of abundance is  here.

So here’s a contrast – John and Jesus both had ministries, but John was more ‘out there’ in both his style and his rhetoric, and he had a strong following.  I think Jesus call was a gradual revelation – which is how it is for most of us. Then he’s confronted with disciples who listen to his teaching, follow with him as he goes about. And there’s this moment – where they say to Jesus ‘Send them home, it’s getting dark and they will need to eat.’, and Jesus – in one of those Aha! ministry moments, realises two things – someone has to step in now that John is gone, and that there are many, many people who need ministry, and that is what they are called to, not just him. He’s not just telling them to feed the crowd where they are, he’s telling them that being called to ministry is more than listening and going with him. The call to ‘follow me’ means more than just trailing along.

And what does that mean for us? Churches today continue to work from a sense of scarcity, not from a point of view of abundance or ministry. “We only have this much. We only have five loaves and two fishes.” What about ‘Here’s what needs to be done. Here’s what we do have. How do we spread it around?’

So part of what I see as my role here is the joint call to ministry we have in this church. We aren’t oppressed by Romans, but in many ways the world has changed to the point where truly following that call to ministry which is part of all our lives, becomes much harder. So, as we go on together, what ministries are critical? What would we want to see happen in terms of ministry? Of course there is work to be done which takes funding – but that’s to contribute to possibilities for ministry. How do we feed those who need both literal food and spiritual food? Do we need them coming with us, in the door, or do we offer ministry which feeds and empowers others – and trust that seeds are planted? So many questions, but the questions we must ask in this new stage of life. What are the ministries we think are important, in this day and age, given the social and political world around us. Who are we, for this place and this time? What about our faith is needed in this place and this time?

And whatever the answers to those questions, we have Jesus who said “You can do it. The place of abundance is here.” May it be so.