Changing Minds - Matthew 15 - Proper 15A

Changing Minds

Tony E Hansen

Sermon used upon Matthew 15: 10-28; Psalm 67; Isaiah 56: 1-8

Opening Prayer

Iowa State Fair has begun. Football preseason started. Soon, children will return to classrooms and so much more.

“…even the dogs eat the crumbs…”

Ever do anything out of desperation? Some tend to think that is what this woman does, but I sense there is more than just desperation because there is evidence in the woman’s persistence and her words. 

She is someone who isn’t thinking about herself but of someone else: her child. She is like most any mother who seeks good health for their child. In this she reveals a tenant of faith is not about me, myself and I. Faith is about doing things for those who cannot - even when the society tells us we cannot (or should not). 

She is Canaanite - she is not a Jew  She is outsider in a world that wants to step on and ignore Palestine and Lebanon in favor of Israel.  

A woman challenges Jesus as to what purpose and faith mean. Not as a creed, country or for some particular group of people but a faith and purpose that belongs to people. Faith that belongs to God.

This woman with her words “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table” invites the narrative framing that Jesus puts forth, but also dismantles the divisions by ethnic, religious and gender barriers at the same time. 

Commentators suggest this passage parts ways with a “nationalistic idea of Jesus” being for just one group of people. It also reveals how faith is more than just a creed or words. Instead of just uttering pretty words, Matthew wants people who actualize their faith by doing and by caring.

People like to twist that in todays world; that because of my faith, I am blessed and prosperous. That because I pray this way and in this building - this denomination, I am blessed. That is quite small. That is what Matthew might suggest is what defiles because that distorts God, or believers, into an exclusive club - or in terms of today’s Gospel, “evil intentions.” 

When in reality it is God that does the blessing, and this is not exclusive to time and place. God is working in this time and place, and if you look and see with the eyes and daring of this woman, you see this happening in real time and truly for all people. 

Yes it is not about hearing and reading the words, but what we do with those lessons - that Gospel.  Do we put it in a box and cover it up until next Sunday? Or, do we bring it with us into our lives and into the world - a world that needs it now - just as much as in the time of Jesus? We can pray for the well being of those in Iran as much as our neighbors that worship with us. We can welcome black, the indigenous, the homeless, and the queer - because God’s welcome is that big.

Jesus didn’t come for only those of Israel but from the words of Isaiah, Jesus came to “…Maintain justice, and do what is right…” God brings us a “house of prayer for all peoples” not just in a set of four walls and a roof. A house of prayer where all are invited and welcome - not just as a simple phrase but something with meaning and power that is beyond perspectives, ethnic upbringing or religion.

God’s mercy and love is poured out for everyone who call upon the Lord. That love doesn’t have a zip code or worry about which side of the tracks you were born or worry about which team’s jersey you wear - although we all know you should wear KC.  God’s love brings forth into this world through many different ways and many different people because God is just that big and that beautiful.

When people want to throw out excuses like scraps to the dogs, we are reminded that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall. That our faith is great because of God. When we believe and let God be this way, our faith, in turn, is great. 

We pray from the psalm, “Let the nation be glad and sing for joy, for you judge with equity…let all the people praise you. …our God has blessed us. May God continue to bless us and let all the hands of the earth revere God.”

Thanks Be to God, Amen.