Unworthy?
Matthew 15:21-28[1]
We have all kinds of ways of drawing lines
between “us” and “them.” It’s tempting to add “these days” to that statement,
but I think in fact the human family has always had plenty of ways to draw
lines between “us” and “them.” I’m sure there was a time when that was purely a
matter of survival. But that time has long passed for most of us. Yet we
persist in seeing those who are “too” different from us as “others” and perhaps
even “enemies.” It seems to me that we do that most in uncertain times. Especially
when influential people use their voices to stoke our fears and anxieties and to
convince us that they’re the only ones we should trust with power. This happens
at all levels and on all sides of the lines we draw between “us” and “them.”
Part of the problem with this mindset is that
when we label someone as “other” or as an “enemy,” it opens the door for us to
devalue their humanity. That’s true in times of war. It’s almost impossible to
put someone into battle and expect them to actually kill other human beings
without convincing them that their “enemies” don’t deserve to live. But it’s
also true in other aspects of life. I find it troubling that our political
discourse takes this approach. The attitude these days seems to be “If you
disagree with me, you’re not worth my time.” At least that’s the tone of what I
see and hear on social media, and again, it’s on all sides. But even more
troubling to me is the fact that we bring this mindset into our religion as
well. If someone’s religion makes them too “different” from us, we tend to
dismiss not only their faith but their humanity as well. That means they’re not
even worthy of our friendship, let alone our love!
Unfortunately, this attitude toward people who
hold different faiths has infected people of all religious persuasions
throughout history. “We,” whoever we may be, are most worthy of God’s love
because we worship “the right way.” “They,” whoever they may be, may be loved
by God, but they don’t really deserve it because they don’t worship “the right
way.” This attitude may show up as a preference, or as a sense of superiority,
or even as stated doctrine! Unfortunately, the various declarations of God’s
love in the Hebrew Bible convinced many Jewish people that they were “special”
in this way. They missed the fact that what made them special was that they
were “chosen” to extend God’s love to “all the families of the earth” (Gen
12:3). Like many people through the
ages, because they believed they were “special,” they concluded that those who
were different were not only “beneath” them but not even worthy of God’s love.
This is important background for our gospel
lesson for today. When you read it as a straightforward story and assume that
Jesus meant what he said to be taken literally, it’s disturbing if not
downright offensive. We’re shocked when this woman, who was a “foreigner” from
“Tyre and Sidon” in gentile territory, came begging Jesus for mercy and he
ignored her request. Or at least so it would seem. When she fell on her face
and “worshipped” him, he responded, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel” (Mt 15:24). And when she persisted in her faith, and continued
to ask for his mercy, instead of helping her he said, “It is not fair to take
the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mt 15:26)!
We overlook this disturbing story because, if
we take what Jesus said here literally, it would mean that he responded to a
mother who was desperate to save her child and who came to him in faith with
some of the harshest words he ever said to anyone! That makes this story stand
out like a sore thumb. How could Jesus have been so uncaring, so unkind, so
downright mean as to respond to her heartfelt and faith-filled request for
mercy by saying she didn’t “deserve” it because she was a “dog”? That just
doesn’t fit with what we know of Jesus elsewhere. He’s the one who looks at the
crowds who were “like sheep without a shepherd” and has compassion on them.
He’s the one who forgives the thief on the cross and invites him, even as he
was dying, to join him in paradise!
So what’s going on with this story? Some think
perhaps that Jesus was “testing” this woman to make sure she had “enough”
faith. But I’ve never believed that fits this story. Everything about it
demonstrates her faith. She approaches him from the very beginning by calling
him “Lord.” She also falls on her face and worships him when she asks for his
mercy. And in the end, Jesus declares that she has “great faith”! We should remember that last week we heard
Jesus calling Peter, who would become the leader of the Apostles, “you of
little faith” (Mt 14:31). By contrast, he said to this woman, “you have great
faith!” I think the woman in this story had plenty of faith!
I think that the ones who were being “tested”
here were Jesus’ disciples. You can tell by the way they reacted to her that
they didn’t think she deserved Jesus’ help. As she was crying out it didn’t
take long for them to get fed up and ask Jesus to “Send her away, for she keeps
shouting after us” (Mt 10:23). I think we would be right to assume that the
ministry apprentices Jesus had handpicked to carry on his work also carried all
the entitlement that so many religious people had in that day, and have claimed
for themselves throughout the ages. I think it’s pretty clear that they looked
down on this “Canaanite” woman as someone who was not only beneath Jesus’ help,
but also beneath even being in their presence! “Send her away!,” they said. The
point of this encounter was to confront Jesus’ disciples for their prejudice. That
means that the seemingly harsh words Jesus said were not meant to be taken
literally, but rather he was speaking somewhat ironically in order to teach his
disciples that their notions of God’s mercy were too limited. I’m sure there
were plenty of other people in their world besides this mother whom they deemed
“unworthy” to even be in Jesus’ presence, let alone to receive his mercy and
compassion. They needed to learn better![2]
One of the lessons I’ve learned from studying
the world of the Bible is that we humans haven’t changed much. We may have
technology that changes our lives, but our fundamental nature hasn’t changed
over the millennia. We still draw lines that divide those of “us” who are
“worthy” of God’s love from the “others” who are “unworthy” not only of God’s
love but even of our attention. This Scripture lesson confronts us by reminding
us that God’s mercy cannot be limited by the lines we draw to exclude people we
consider to be “unworthy.” Right after this episode, while he was still in that
“foreign” territory, Matthew tells us that Jesus healed everyone who came to
him. I can’t imagine that he first checked to make sure they had the “right” to
God’s mercy. He simply healed them all (Mt 15:30). Jesus knew in the depth of
his very being that God’s mercy has no limits. In God’s sight we’re all worthy
of God’s love simply because God loves us!
[1] ©
2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/16/2026 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Some take a very different approach. Interpreting Jesus’ words literally, they
believe that this encounter was actually a test for Jesus to “free” him from
limited notions of his mission and from patriarchal attitudes toward women. Cf. Sharon
Ringe, “A Gentile Woman’s Story,” in Letty M. Russell, ed., Feminist
Interpretation of the Bible, 67-68. However, Gene Boring, “Gospel of
Matthew,” New Interpreters Bible IX: 337-38 rightly criticizes her for
reading too much of an ideological agenda into the situation. As he observes,
the story is about the sexism and racism of the Gospel readers (and I would say
the disciples).
