Matthew 15:21-28
Dear Friends, It is very hard for us to grasp how deeply the Jews at the time of Jesus cherished their role as the Chosen People of God to the exclusion of all others. It penetrated and permeated their reality with a clear vision and an acutely guarded set of protocols that defined all social interaction with the Gentiles. The Jews cherished their God-given position of privilege and uniqueness among all people.
The early Christian Church struggled for two generations to break loose of this bondage of exclusiveness. Down through history, the Church, and all societies, have continued to manufacture a various expressions of this elitism.
Today’s story from St. Matthew’s Gospel is as relevant as the latest headline on the evening news.
Over the centuries, Christian voices have produced some incredible fantasies to explain away Jesus’ harsh language addressed to the Canaanite woman. It still stands for what it is: a statement of the blind prejudice of His times. I especially like those who claimed it was protocol not prejudice.
History is filled with protocols that came from laws that simply hid the prejudice of the time behind a legal façade. In Ireland in 1710, a law said all government and military leaders must receive the sacraments of the Church of England. This was the first of a set of Penal Laws that led to the oppression and poverty of the Irish for over two centuries. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court declared separate but equal was acceptable under the law. This led to the segregation system that attempted to dehumanize the African Americans for decades with “white only” and “the back of the bus” set of protocols that were considered legal and righteous. With the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 women finally changed another protocol and won the right to vote. This was a great step in the struggle that continues to this day for equality for women.
When this embattled mother confronted Jesus, she was showing the way for the oppressed of all human history. Her action and her words are a simple declaration of her dignity no matter what the protocols and prejudice of the day has to say to the contrary. In one of the most moving gestures in all of the Gospels, she kneels before Jesus in total vulnerability and begs for help. Her wit turned around Jesus’ words of remoteness. Yet, in the end, it was her faith that moved Jesus to expand his mission as he embraced her pain and healed the poor child.
Jesus saw and heard this declaration of human rights and began a journey toward inclusiveness that continues for us today. God’s grace and God’s love are for all. It makes no difference how deeply and expansively the cultural, legal and theological norms are used to prop up the walls of separation and isolation.
In her simple and brilliant response to Jesus, the Canaanite woman was speaking for all of us. We are the children of God. After three confrontations, Jesus saw the light and celebrated her truth expressed in her faith. Her daughter was healed. All of us continue the healing every time we go beyond the accepted protocols and legalized prejudice and embrace the humanity of the “outsider.” It makes no difference if the excluded is the illegal, the Muslim, the gay and lesbian or maybe just a mother-in-law or father-in-law.
In our day, and all through Christian history, we have used labels in the name of righteousness to hide hatred and all manner of discrimination and dehumanizing activity. Anti-Semitism has been proclaimed and practiced throughout history in the name of the Christian religion. In American history, we have constantly created a hostility toward immigrants in the name of true Christian faith. Today, racism and all manner of hostility toward immigrant hide behind an honorable label of Christian nationalism.
Today’s Gospel message invites us to move beyond the simplicity of labels to the reality of God’s presence in every human being.
The human heart has a seemingly unlimited capacity to divide us in “us” and “them”. Today’s Gospel message is an invitation to move away from the common sense interpretation of reality to the wonder of the gospel message Jesus models for us today. Through the power of love for the outsider we hold the potential to transform our broken world into the wonder of God’s kingdom.
The early Christian Church struggled for two generations to break loose of this bondage of exclusiveness. Down through history, the Church, and all societies, have continued to manufacture a various expressions of this elitism.
Today’s story from St. Matthew’s Gospel is as relevant as the latest headline on the evening news.
Over the centuries, Christian voices have produced some incredible fantasies to explain away Jesus’ harsh language addressed to the Canaanite woman. It still stands for what it is: a statement of the blind prejudice of His times. I especially like those who claimed it was protocol not prejudice.
History is filled with protocols that came from laws that simply hid the prejudice of the time behind a legal façade. In Ireland in 1710, a law said all government and military leaders must receive the sacraments of the Church of England. This was the first of a set of Penal Laws that led to the oppression and poverty of the Irish for over two centuries. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court declared separate but equal was acceptable under the law. This led to the segregation system that attempted to dehumanize the African Americans for decades with “white only” and “the back of the bus” set of protocols that were considered legal and righteous. With the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 women finally changed another protocol and won the right to vote. This was a great step in the struggle that continues to this day for equality for women.
When this embattled mother confronted Jesus, she was showing the way for the oppressed of all human history. Her action and her words are a simple declaration of her dignity no matter what the protocols and prejudice of the day has to say to the contrary. In one of the most moving gestures in all of the Gospels, she kneels before Jesus in total vulnerability and begs for help. Her wit turned around Jesus’ words of remoteness. Yet, in the end, it was her faith that moved Jesus to expand his mission as he embraced her pain and healed the poor child.
Jesus saw and heard this declaration of human rights and began a journey toward inclusiveness that continues for us today. God’s grace and God’s love are for all. It makes no difference how deeply and expansively the cultural, legal and theological norms are used to prop up the walls of separation and isolation.
In her simple and brilliant response to Jesus, the Canaanite woman was speaking for all of us. We are the children of God. After three confrontations, Jesus saw the light and celebrated her truth expressed in her faith. Her daughter was healed. All of us continue the healing every time we go beyond the accepted protocols and legalized prejudice and embrace the humanity of the “outsider.” It makes no difference if the excluded is the illegal, the Muslim, the gay and lesbian or maybe just a mother-in-law or father-in-law.
In our day, and all through Christian history, we have used labels in the name of righteousness to hide hatred and all manner of discrimination and dehumanizing activity. Anti-Semitism has been proclaimed and practiced throughout history in the name of the Christian religion. In American history, we have constantly created a hostility toward immigrants in the name of true Christian faith. Today, racism and all manner of hostility toward immigrant hide behind an honorable label of Christian nationalism.
Today’s Gospel message invites us to move beyond the simplicity of labels to the reality of God’s presence in every human being.
The human heart has a seemingly unlimited capacity to divide us in “us” and “them”. Today’s Gospel message is an invitation to move away from the common sense interpretation of reality to the wonder of the gospel message Jesus models for us today. Through the power of love for the outsider we hold the potential to transform our broken world into the wonder of God’s kingdom.
