Preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church
As I thought about this passage
during my personal prayer time, a prayer from the third hour kept coming to
mind. So I began to think about how these two texts might be connected. Here is
the prayer:
Jesus, grant us your servants fast
and constant comfort when discouragement overwhelms our inmost spirit. When our
souls are troubled do not withdraw from us, nor be far off when we are confused
and doubtful in the midst of all the trials and tribulations of life. Rather,
stand by us always, yes, come close to us, O you who are present everywhere,
come close. And just as you promised to stay with your apostles, so stay with
us who love you, so that ever united with you we may sing the praises of your
all Holy Spirit.
The 3rd hour is about the Holy Spirit which
explains why the prayer ends as it does. But for me the phrase that connects to
the Gospel passage is: “Stay with us who love you.” To love Jesus, what does
that love look like?
At every Eucharist just before we
approach to receive communion we hear the words of invitation: in faith and
love draw near. This is precisely what the Canaanite woman in the Gospel did.
In faith and love she drew near. Her appeal to Jesus is for her daughter’s
sake. But then notice what happens. She is rebuked by Jesus. He tells her that
he has been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. But she persists in her
petition. Then Jesus goes a step further and says “it’s not right to take the
children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” What’s going on here? To modern
western ears this sounds like verbal abuse.
In the Arab world, then and now,
dogs are not seen as pets the way we often view them in the West. They run in
packs and can be dangerous as they scavenge for food. Even those dogs that are
used for hunting, herding or guarding are not house pets. Some of you may
remember Susan Coulter-Miller who lived nearby for a few years and attended
church here. She subsequently spent a tour of duty in the Peace Corps in
Jordan. She lived with a family and worked hard to show them how to accept a
dog into their family as a pet. She wrote about her experience in our
Newsletter. Unfortunately, when she left Jordan, her experiment ended and the
dog was out of the house. This is the cultural reality that Jesus was living in
so when he referred to the Canaanite woman as a dog it was unmistakably
pejorative.
St Matthew is spreading the Good
News among his own Jewish community and the picture painted in this Gospel passage
plays an important role in that work. Matthew’s hearers and readers were fully
aware of the negative nature of the image he is presenting. It is stark and it
is intended to be that way. Jesus affirms the common view that he has come only
for the Jewish community and certainly not for Canaanite outsiders. But this
woman persists in a way that even the hardest heart could not dismiss. “Even
dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master’s table.” As with so many other
Gospel stories, persistence is rewarded. Jesus recognizes her faith and grants
her wish. Her daughter is cured. By so doing, Jesus has shown his community
that even people they may equate with dogs can be welcomed into the community
of believers. And indeed, expanding the community is the message in the Isaiah
passage also.
So one valuable message delivered
by this passage is the invitation to be open and to embrace all who seek to
join the community of believers. And
yet, I think there is another message here as well. It is the faith in, and
love for, Jesus that this woman exhibited. Her faith proved to be the critical
factor for Jesus. He says to her: “you are a woman of great faith.” He uses her
demonstration of faith to justify his healing of her daughter. Her faith was so
strong that even Jesus’ rebuke could not budge it. This is also the faith we
see in the martyrs through the centuries. Having limbs severed, eyes gouged
out, being burned at the stake or beheaded, none of these atrocities shook the
faith of the martyrs. They didn’t budge from their faith and love of Jesus; no
matter what abuse came their way. So her
steadfast faith and unwavering love of Jesus is the additional message for us;
and as with St. Matthew’s community, the openness to accept all who seek this
path to salvation. This is not only the
gospel message but the epistle message as well.
Would that our faith and love of
Jesus could be as strong as that of the Canaanite woman.
