"Eyes to See"
Sermon Presented August 17, 2008
Matthew 15:10-28
People can do the same thing - day after day and year after year and not think anything about it. It's routine! It's the way we've always done it - the way we've always worshiped, the way we've always cleaned house, the way we've always eaten, the way we've always thought. And then, something happens to challenge that activity or belief or thought and whammy! We see a new perspective that suddenly makes more sense. The blinders come off! We have new insight - an epiphany moment - that causes us to turn around 180 degrees!
This happened with Jesus and his disciples in this morning's text. Jesus was so convinced that he was called to minister only to the Jews - his own people - that he initially turned away from a woman in need because she was of a different race - a Gentile. But then, he did a 180 degree turn! Let's look at the setting for this teaching.
According to Matthew, prior to the events of our text, the religious leaders question Jesus as to why his disciples break the tradition of the elders by failing to wash their hands in the ritualistic manner of the Jews before eating. Jesus throws the question back at them - asking them why they don't obey God's commandment to honor their parents. He calls them hypocrites for messing with God's laws to make their own lives easier. Jesus isn't afraid to confront the actions of these religious leaders. Now he meets a woman who isn't afraid to confront him. I'm reading Matthew 15:10-28.
The disciples are concerned that Jesus is offending the religious leaders. They have taken the pulse of the crowd like the best political strategists and decided that Jesus needs to change his message so as not to offend those in power. Just a little flip-flop is all that's necessary! The disciples want peace without confrontation! "Just be more careful, Jesus! Soften your message so as not to offend." However, Jesus tells them not to worry! It's God's problem and not theirs. The religious leaders are blind guides leading the blind! No one will get any place with that kind of leadership!
And as much as we might want to deny it - parent, minister, friend, or teacher - we are concerned about the possibility of leading someone astray. My mother always said: "Hindsight is 20-20 vision!" As we gain understanding, we know that in our humanity there were times when we were guilty of "blind" leadership. But when we finally see - when we understand - it's important to share our new insights - our mark of fallibility - with those we have affected negatively - not as a "know-it-all" but as a humble person admitting a mistake.
Jesus' statement that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person and not what goes into the body through the mouth, doesn't make sense to me. We all know that things that go into the body through the mouth can defile us by affecting the health of our body as well as what's in our hearts. Things that we put into our bodies can corrupt us and cause us to speak harmful utterances and do harmful acts. By drinking too much alcohol, using illegal drugs, eating the wrong kinds of food or inhaling smoke or polluted air we can do great harm to our bodies and to others who bear the brunt of our actions. Our unwise acts of putting the wrong things into our bodies can harm us and others. The subject isn't as simple as the waste from what we ingest being flushed down the toilet.
However, what Jesus wants to emphasize here is that the evil intentions that come from our hearts are what causes us to sin, while eating with unwashed hands doesn't defile. The idea is good, but another analogy might work better for a 21st Century audience.
After Jesus explains his belief about the laws of ritualistic cleansing, he leaves the area and heads for the district of Tyre and Sidon - an area inhabited almost entirely by Gentiles. If, as he says, his mission is to the Jews, what is he doing in the Gentile territory now know as Lebanon? I don't know.
However, what happens there paints a portrait of Jesus that is contrary to all that we understand about him, and it's one we don't like. We may be like Peter, who says in verse 16 - "Jesus, Explain yourself! What do you mean by that?"
The Gentile woman who confronts Jesus there believes he can heal her daughter and is persistent in going after him. In fact, she is the answer to Peter's previous question. Now we have an opportunity to see the personal and spiritual ramifications of how blindness affects people's lives. This Phoenician woman defines faith for us and Jesus shows the need to cross cultural boundaries to minister to all of God's people - not just those who are like us. Jesus' concept of his mission expands in this encounter as the blindfold lifts.
The mother won't be dissuaded in her quest. She kneels before Jesus and continues to plead for her daughter's healing. Jesus' reply makes me sick! I hate this part of the story! I can't believe he was so unsympathetic that he said: "It's not fair to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs." Now if I had been that mother, I would have thrown him an angry retort and left in tears, with my child in the same condition as before. But her child was healed because she was not like me!
As a word of explanation, at that time, the term "dogs" was typically applied by Jews to non-Jews. And when Jesus calls her people "dogs", she accepts this familiar nomenclature and responds accordingly: "Then treat me as well as you treat a dog. Even dogs get the crumbs the children drop." With these words, Jesus heals her daughter.
I believe that this Gentile woman was instrumental in Jesus' formation. Just as Jesus taught others, he also learned from them. I believe this unnamed woman taught him something he needed to understand. Through her quick thinking and wit, she caused him to reconsider his refusal to grant healing to her child. She reminded him that both children and dogs could eat the food from the table, and that both Jews and Gentiles deserve God's favor.
Too many people think of Jesus exclusively in divine terms. We forget that he was also human. He was sometimes tired, angry, hungry, sad, or ravaged with pain. Luke 2:52 says: "Jesus increased in wisdom and years and in divine and human favor." You can't increase in wisdom if you have ALL wisdom. You can't increase in favor with God if you already have perfect union.
Even though Jesus taught others, he also learned from them. Some people ministered to Jesus by providing food and lodging, but the woman in our text became his teacher. She helped him cross cultural boundaries to minister to those the Jews considered to be outside of God's fold. She helped to open his eyes and move beyond the traditions of the elders to new understanding.
Through this story, we see that discipleship means a willingness to go beyond our boundaries - into the inner city, the nursing homes, the lives of the lonely, frightened, and ill. We are called to leave our comfort zones with the assurance that God will be with us!
We are like the disciples - trying to figure out what discipleship means! We make mistakes of interpretation! We lose sight of what's really important when we argue over theological issues. Jesus calls his disciples and us to great change! He calls us to move beyond the ritualistic boundaries we set, see the big picture, and then step out in faith.
In the current Christian Century magazine (August 26, 2008), there is an article titled Three faiths, three friends - the story of a Jewish rabbi, a Sufi Muslim teacher and a Christian minister in Seattle. (This is not the beginning of a joke!) Their three congregations have been working together under the direction of the Three Amigos, as they are called, to cross the boundaries of understanding between their different faith traditions.
Because these three faiths come from the tradition of Abraham, they are able to link their faiths in surprising ways. They are learning to connect with another faith without taking on its identity. The Three Amigos are leading their congregations to find new understanding of how to share God's love as they cross previously forbidden boundaries. (pp. 22-24)
In that same issue, there was an article about George Dardess, an English teacher in Rochester, NY who decided to learn Arabic after watching the television coverage of the U.S. dropping "smart bombs" on Baghdad during the Gulf War. Because Dardess knew nothing about Iraq or its language and didn't want to continue to live in ignorance, he began taking Arabic lessons at a local mosque. He was the only Christian in a class with 30 Muslims, mostly Bangladeshi and Pakistani immigrants. During this time, he built friendships as he learned the language by studying the Qur'an and Muslim prayers.
After 9/11, his knowledge became an urgently needed resource and he began giving workshops on Islam for churches and ecumenical groups. He also wrote three books on the topic. By crossing the boundary between the two faiths and cultures, he gained and gives new understanding. (Ibid. p. 25)
Our text challenges the prejudices of readers - both then and now. It invites us to place ourselves in the position of the other. It invites us to open our minds and hearts to new truth. It invites us to a renewed faith. Our boundaries are limitless when we have eyes to see.
08/17/2008
