Delivered by Amy Higgins on August 20, 2023

Scripture: Matthew 15:21-23

A woman sat in a movie theater behind an elderly man who sat in the front row with his dog. The movie they were all there to see was a romantic comedy. In the romantic moments the dog would cry and in the funny moments the dog would laugh his head off. The dog did this all through the movie. When it ended, the woman tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. Your dog actually seemed to enjoy the movie.” The man turned to her and said, “It is amazing. He hated the book.”

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” Today, most people, with some exceptions, treat dogs well. For some, their dogs are no different than any human family member, while others may not have as strong an emotional attachment but still take great care of their pets. In Jesus’ time, dogs were not as commonly revered as they are today. Some people may have had dogs as pets but, most dogs were considered spiritually suspicious and left to wander about to scrounge for scraps to survive. Now, we have evolved beyond such superstitions, although not to the point of taking our dogs to the movies, but we do make sure, by whatever means necessary, that both our children and our pets are fed.

The passage does not tell us why Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And we do not know how the Canaanite woman knew to address Jesus as “Lord, Son of David.” The Canaanites had been displaced by the Hebrews and yet this woman, this Gentile, addressed Jesus in a rather Jewish way, clearly knowledgeable of Jesus’ mission and power to heal. And although she does not appear to be your average Gentile, the disciples still only see her as just that, the other. She is not one of them. She is an outsider even though it is Jesus and the disciples who are the foreigners there.

Even Jesus responds to the disciples’ request to send her away by saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” And in so doing, affirms her status as a Gentile among the Messiah and his disciples. And although he rebukes her, she still falls before him and cries for his help. But Jesus takes his rebuke even further, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” He calls her a dog. Jesus calls her a dog. He calls her spiritually suspicious, unworthy. It is easy to be taken aback by the harshness of his words. They are insensitive, discriminatory. Is this not the same Messiah who healed lepers and blind men? The same teacher who said not to judge lest you also be judged? Was Jesus truly discriminating against this woman for her ethnicity rather than affirming her for her belief? Or was he giving voice to the disciples’ prejudices to allow the Canaanite woman to become the teacher? Whatever the reasons, it is one more way Jesus sees for himself, and shows us, what it is to be human and the difficulty to accept and to be accepted.

There is a theme throughout Scripture and human history. Mystics and scientists, sociologists and theologians seek to explain it. It is not the only theme but, it is a common thread through human existence and even that of the world. There was a oneness that preceded creation. Then the waters of the heavens and the waters below the heavens were divided. Land and heavenly bodies were divided. Living creatures were divided. Man was created from the oneness of the earth but, was divided when male and female were created. And man was further divided when consciousness, self-awareness came into being. Our human struggle is a division that seeks to be reunited. Each one of us is a body of dividing cells seeking to be reunited with God’s divine embrace. And yet, how often do we fail to seek God’s embrace in another because we have not deemed them worthy to receive bread?

The lectionary includes verses 10-20 which, immediately precede the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew’s gospel. Many find including the Pharisees’ admonishing the disciples for eating with unwashed hands and Jesus’ explanation of that which defiles as being out of place in a discussion of the Canaanite woman. But, as Jesus explains, it is not what goes in the mouth that defiles but what comes out of the mouth that defiles because what comes out is of the heart. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” But it is not the fallen crumbs that defile even when that is their intended purpose.

“Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel….It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” You do not belong. You are not worthy. This is from the heart. This is what defiles. It is intended to defile the recipient of the insult, the rebuke but, it defiles the bully. In verses eight and nine, as Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their rebuke of the disciples, he says Isaiah’s prophesy about them was true. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” This could be said of the disciples prejudice toward the Canaanite woman. This can also be said of us. Does what come from our hearts fall like crumbs to the floor? 

Whether we carelessly drop our crumbs like childish disciples or callously throw them like oppressive Pharisees, we do so by an arrogance of abundance, a taking for granted what is not deserved even by those with a seat at the Table. Are we the ones dropping the crumbs? Yes. Are we the ones asking for crumbs? Yes. Do we deserve crumbs? Yes. And so does everyone no matter what divisions we may create. As the late Swiss theologian, Karl Barth said in his sermon simply titled All, “The one great sin from which we shall all try to escape this morning, is to exclude anyone from the ‘yes’ of God’s mercy.”

If we could go back to Jesus’ time, how many of us would the disciples try to send away? Better still, who do we ask Jesus to send away in our time today? The barriers to the path to God are ones we put up, the biggest being our inability to believe others, and sometimes even ourselves, are worthy. But no matter, God invites ALL to the Table. “Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:8)