Exceptional?
Matthew 15:21-28[1]
My generation was raised with the promise that we could do
whatever we had it in our imagination to do, and we could be whoever we wanted
to be. It was a wonderful encouragement for us as we were growing up. I think
I’ve shared with you that in my youthful imagination, I saw myself becoming a
Naval Officer. Of course, I think what really drew me to that idea was the fact
that I really liked the uniforms. I don’t know if you are aware of this, but they
actually have to pay for their own uniforms! They get an allowance, but it
doesn’t cover the whole expense. They pay a great deal out of their own pockets.
Talk about bursting my imagination!
I think many of us may grow up with the notion that we’re
exceptional in some way. Maybe people don’t recognize it, but we’re convinced
that if we had the chance, we could do something great with our lives. We
believe we’re special, and that we have a “special” role to play in this world.
While I would say that each and every one of us is unique and we all make a
contribution to life that is irreplaceable, whether or not we get to make as
big of a “splash” in the world as we may want isn’t really in our control. As I
alluded to last week, I think that sometimes the truly “great” things we can do
with our lives may not gain us much recognition.
The Jewish people in Jesus’ day had been taught for
centuries that they were special. They were God’s “chosen” people.
Unfortunately, they turned that special act of God’s grace into a privilege.
They saw themselves as “exceptional,” and looked down on those whom they
believed were “beneath” them. And they believed that everyone who wasn’t Jewish
was “beneath” them. That attitude caused them to miss the fact that the whole
point of their being God’s “chosen” people was so that they might be a “light”
to all other people. What God intended as a calling, they mistook for a
privilege. And that led them to think that they were “special,” more worthy
than all the “others” they looked down on.
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 can be troubling to hear. 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 by
saying “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 the troubling part of this story because we
always assume that everything Jesus said was meant to be taken literally. But
if we take what Jesus said literally here, he responded to this woman who was
in crisis and who came to him in faith asking him to show mercy with some of
the harshest words he ever said to anyone! The only other time we hear of Jesus
being so harsh is when he cleansed the Temple. And in that case, his motivation
was that he was angry that the Jewish religious leaders had taken the one part
of the temple where God-fearing gentiles could come to worship the living God
and turned it in to a bazaar!
If we take what Jesus said literally, this story stands 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-fueled 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. So
much so that he feeds thousands of them in one sitting! He’s the one who has
mercy on the ultimate outcasts, lepers, and restores them to health. 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 in this story? Some think perhaps that
Jesus was “testing” this woman to make sure she had “enough” faith. But that
doesn’t fit. Everything about this story demonstrates her faith. She approaches
him by from the very beginning by calling him “Lord.” We might not think much
of that, but in Matthew’s Gospel only those who have faith call Jesus “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”! That’s something Jesus
never says about the disciples in Matthew’s Gospel! They were people of “little
faith.” I think this “foreign” woman had plenty of faith!
I think that the ones who were being “tested” in this story
were the disciples. You can tell by the way they reacted to the woman’s (likely
repeated) cry for help that they didn’t think she deserved his help. 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). Not much compassion there! I think we would be
right to assume that the Jesus hand-picked ministry apprentices carried all the
sense of entitlement that the rest of the Jewish people did. They were not only
God’s “chosen” people, these twelve were also the ones whom Jesus personally selected
to carry out his work. Surely that meant they were better than this “foreign” woman!
I think it’s pretty clear that they looked down on her as someone who was not
only beneath Jesus’ help, but also beneath even being in their presence! One
point of this story, where Jesus commends her for her “great faith,” was to
confront his own disciples for their prejudice against her.
What
does this have to do with us? Like the Canaanite woman in our story, the people
we think of as “beneath” us are often people of “great faith.” They actually
set an example for us, just like this woman did for Jesus’ disciples. We think
we’re helping them, but if we take the time to see their “great faith,” we find
that they’re actually helping us. There’s even a name for it. It’s called the
“reverse mission.” Anyone who has been to a “Third World” country has
experienced this. Those of us who have the means to help people in need find
that in the process their “great faith” challenges and inspires us. More than
that, they bring us face-to-face with our not-so-healthy attitudes about life,
about other people, and about ourselves, and in so doing they offer us the
opportunity to change. Our encounters with them help us become better followers
of Jesus and better human beings. They remind us that there’s no one we can
consider “unworthy” of God’s love, because God’s love is for everyone!
[1] ©2023 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/20/2023 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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