Who Let the Dogs In?
based on Matthew 15:10-28
by Rev. Randy Quinn
I
don't know about you, but this is one of
those passages of scripture that I find difficult to read, let alone
to understand. And the more I have studied it and researched it, the
more difficult it has become.
Reading
it reminds me of the woman who was in a Bible Study several years
ago. When she read the story of Tamar in Genesis 38, she shrieked as
she slammed her Bible shut, "Who put that in my Bible?!" (I'll let
you look it up and see what was so offensive.
One part
of today's text in particular is difficult for me to hear. You all
know the derogatory way the name of a female dog is used to speak
about another person? Jesus essentially says that to this woman –
simply because she is not one of God's chosen people (Mt. 15:24, 26).
If that doesn't offend you at some level, then maybe you didn't hear
me. Jesus is calling her a name – a derogatory name based on the
commonly used word for a female dog. It's a word I won't even say in
church.
I guess
the best thing that can be said about his response is that the first
time she spoke to him, Jesus kept silent – as in "if you can't say
anything nice, don't say anything at all" (Mt. 15:23).
My
grandmother would have been proud (with intended sarcasm).
I don't
know about you, but that picture of Jesus is foreign to me.
Certainly, there were cultural and religious boundaries. Jesus
undoubtedly knew about those when he chose to go into the region of
Sidon and Tyre. This was foreign territory. He should expect to see
foreigners there.
Still,
his response to her puzzles me. It confuses me. And in some ways it
betrays my understanding of the God I come here to worship, the God I
choose to serve, the God I have given my heart to. In some ways this
text makes me angry at God for the way Jesus behaves.
Of
course, as I said, this is not the only place in scripture
where I find myself both puzzled and confused. The one that seems to
anger me the most, in fact, is the one found in Leviticus where it
says:
[N]o one who
has a blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who
has a mutilated face or a limb too long,or one who has a broken foot
or a broken hand,or a hunchback, or a dwarf, . . . since he has a
blemish, he shall not come near to offer the food of his
God.
Lev. 21:18-20a, 21b
I guess I
have known too many people with birth defects to believe that God
would maintain such a boundary between acceptable and unacceptable
people. Now, I don't want you to think I've taken this out of
context. I know this passage in Leviticus is speaking about who can
serve as a priest. But the line is drawn in such a way that too many
people I've come to know and love, whose pastoral leadership I have
come to appreciate, would be denied the right to serve if we followed
this scriptural line of reasoning into the church.
In his
book, Unexpected Guests at God's Banquet (Crossroad, 1994),
Brett Webb-Mitchell makes a case that Jesus has reversed the law at
this point.And
while his argument relies on inferences and implications rather than
any explicit comments or specific deeds, it is commonly accepted by
most Christians – including the official document of the United
Methodist Church, our Book of Discipline.
But if I
am to take scripture seriously – and I do – then I must also answer
the unresolved puzzles and resulting confusion over texts like the one
in Leviticus as well as this story of the Canaanite woman.
So let me
tell you what I think – at least what I think right now.
Jesus.
Let's
look at Jesus first. We all remember that he is fully human as well
as fully divine. His humanity is clearly presented in the beginning
of this text where we read that Jesus "left that place" and went to a
foreign land (Mt. 15:21). If you back up in the story a ways, you'll
remember that Jesus had been informed of the death of John the
Baptist. When he heard that news, he tried to get away from the crowd
(Mt. 14:13). But he was followed.
Here, it
seems to me, he is simply trying to escape to a place where no one
will recognize him – and because it is an unclean land he can
reasonably expect no one will follow him, either. Jesus, in his full
humanity, is seeking a place to rest.
I don't
know if you've ever felt that way before, but I think I have. I get
so busy with things that all I want to do is go away for a day or two
– I need a time and a place to think, to pray, to reflect and to
plan. (It's part of why I was so anxious for school to begin this
week – I needed some time alone.) And in those times when I try to
get away and am prevented from doing so, my worst behavior is
exhibited toward those who seem to get in the way of my escape. I say
things I regret.
Jesus is
interrupted on his journey away from Jerusalem. And he is a little
more than curt with the person who interrupts him.
I'm not
sure I like that image, but it is a reminder that Jesus is human.
Canaanite Woman.
But
consider the story from the perspective of the woman.
What
mother, what father, what grandparent cannot identify with her? Her
daughter is struggling and she is actively pursuing a solution. She
has undoubtedly tried doctors. She has tried home remedies. She has
tried everything and nothing seems to work. She is desperate.
The good
news is that the daughter, who is not named, has the best advocate in
the world on her side: her mother. Like the image of God as a
"she-bear" who protects her children, this mother will not take "no"
for an answer (Hos. 13:8).
She is
very much like Oksana Chusovitina, the 33 year old Olympic gymnast
from Uzbekistan. How many of you heard her story this week? This is
her 5th Olympic appearance under her third national flag!
She lived in the Soviet Union when she began competing; she competed
with the team from her homeland Uzbekistan after the fall of the Iron
Curtain; and now she is on the German team.
That's
because her son was diagnosed with leukemia in 2002. In an effort to
find adequate medical treatment, Oksana used her Olympic connections
and moved to Germany. Her son is doing much better now, and she says
she is competing again because it is what keeps her son alive.
Like the
Canaanite woman, she is doing everything she knows how to do to make
her child well.
Some have
even suggested that the Canaanite woman, in her dogged persistence,
with her faith, actually serves as a teacher to Jesus. This assumes
that in his human nature, he didn't realize what he was doing. It
wasn't because he was tired, but because he was so full of his Jewish
existence that he couldn't see how harsh his words sound to someone
outside of his own faith and race.
While I'm
not ready to rule that out, I suspect the truth is that he saw this as
one of those "teachable moments." He was trying to reinforce a lesson
he had been trying to teach his Disciples.
Disciples.
Let me
read the passage immediately prior to our text for today:
Read
Matthew 15:10-20
In
this passage, Jesus tries to explain the difference between what
is clean and what is unclean. He is telling us what I think is good
news, and that is that where we were born, who our parents are, what
color our skin is, what our physical or mental abilities are do not
make us acceptable – or unacceptable – before God. How we act, what
we say, who we include in the circle of God's love is what makes us
clean or unclean.
Jesus is
trying to teach his Disciples – and us – about the universal nature of
grace. In essence, he says it's what's in the heart that matters
most. He is suggesting that a clean heart can lead to clean living –
although clean living is not sufficient.
Here he
is in a foreign land where everything is liturgically unclean. He is
approached by a woman and I think he decides to intentionally act like
a respectable Jew – so he ignores her. When his Disciples see her
need and maybe recognize the universal nature of his message, they
plead with him to act (Mt. 15:23b).
He
continues the charade, though, and – maybe with a tongue-in-cheek tone
of voice or perhaps while looking at the Disciples – he says the woman
is not welcome at his table. Like a dog, she is to remain outside.
That, after all, is the common understanding of his people. She is
unclean.
Her
faith, however, is evident – even to the Disciples. She more than
proves the point of Jesus that the heart is what matters. Not her
genetic history. Not her birth defect. Her heart.
And in
ending his charade, Jesus speaks volumes as he removes the boundaries
that the law and society impose. As Paul would later say it, "in
Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek" (Gal. 3:28, Col. 3:11). The
boundaries defined in the scripture, boundaries intended to maintain
ritual purity, are broken down when the heart is made pure by the
universal grace of God.
Us.
The sad
truth of this story is that we aren't always aware of the times when
we treat others with the kind of disdain Jesus feigned for the
Canaanite woman. The sad truth is that we build boundaries and
barriers in our hearts; we hold prejudice in our minds. The sad truth
is that we don't invite dogs to sit at our dinner tables and we don't
invite skunks to our pool parties, either.
The good
news is that the boundaries and the barriers we build are overcome by
the grace of God. The skunks come anyway. The dogs leave the back
yard and join us at the table of God's grace.
Curiously, the story that immediately follows this one in Matthew's
Gospel is the feeding of the 4,000, a miracle that ends with seven
baskets full of pieces of bread left over (Mt. 15:37) – morsels that
might have fallen to the ground but can now be given and shared with
"the dogs of society," whoever they may be. Like it or not, we all
have our list of those we don't want invited to the table.
Democrats, Republicans, Spanish speaking immigrants, skateboarders,
bikers, single parents, rambunctious children, crying babies, people
who forgot their name tags – and people who refuse to wear the ones
they have. No matter who you might not invite, the story of the
Canaanite woman reminds us that all have been invited to God's table,
including you and me.
You see,
according to the definitions of the world in which Jesus lived, most
of us are more like the Canaanite woman than we are the disciples. We
live in an unclean land. We come from gentile families. We eat
unclean food. We are no better in their eyes than the dogs that eat
the scraps respectable Jews will not put in their mouths.
But we
are welcome to sit at the table because Jesus lets the dogs in – and I
suppose a few skunks as well.
Thanks be
to God.
Amen.
