August 14, 2011
God’s Dogs
- Matthew 15:21-28
- Dr. Teri Thomas
Many of you had the opportunity to meet my friend Winnie Amolo, the student who is visiting this summer from Kenya with the Umoja Project. When Winnie had been in Indianapolis about four weeks I asked her what her greatest surprise had been about life in the States. She became very animated and reported that someone had taken her into a pet store. “You sell lizards in pet stores,” she exclaimed. “We kill them!” “And the way you treat your dogs…better than family.”
Isn’t it the truth? I know a lot of folks whose dogs are family members, not pets. You can almost watch it happen.
The puppy comes and there are clear rules and boundaries. The dog sleeps in a crate, isn’t allowed on the carpeting, is not allowed to beg or be fed from the table. The dog is a dog. Families are humans.
Then he snuggles and whimpers and before long is sleeping in the bed. He sits under the table
and just lays his head on your lap and gets a morsel from your plate. He gets sick or injured and loses his appetite so human food replaces his normal fare.
Gradually, the boundaries disappear and he changes your understanding about the distinction between dog and human, between pet and family, he changes the table rules, he changes the house rules. The dog changes you. Dogs can change us. Just ask Jesus.
Jesus had a run in with some scribes and Pharisees about the law and tradition and what God really wants of us. Jesus is undoubtedly worn-out and the Pharisees and Scribes are more than a little ticked off. So Jesus decides it is the better part of wisdom to leave the area.
He crosses the border, leaving the area of the Israelites and enters foreign territory of Tyre and Sidon. This would be the land of the gentiles, the land of the pagans, the land of those who would not be expected to believe any of the stuff Jesus has been teaching. And before Jesus has time to catch his breath there is a woman screaming at him.
Now according to Matthew, this is a Canaanite woman. But by the time Matthew is writing no one is called a Canaanite anymore. It is an old fashioned designation and only reason Matthew would use it is to make perfectly clear that this woman is an enemy. She’s bad news. She is an unclean, unwanted, idol worshipping pagan with a demon possessed daughter. There is absolutely no reason on earth that Jesus should pay any attention to this woman. The differences of ethnicity, heritage, religion and gender are enough. But on top of those she is violating all the social norms and her behavior is unacceptable.
Jesus ignores her. You know that strategy. Ignore her and maybe she will go away.
Well…how’s that one working for you Jesus?
She does not go away. The woman is not simply asking. She is shouting, screaming, shrieking.
Finally, the disciples have had enough. They’ve been trying, with no success to get rid of her. So they ask Jesus to send her away. Maybe if you tell her to get lost she will take the hint.
Now lots of folks have trouble with the idea that Jesus would simply ignore a mother pleading on behalf of a child in need. That isn’t the way we like to think about Jesus. So some try to excuse him saying he was over-worked and burned out and not really himself. Others believe he was simply testing her faith.
But the problem is, that ignoring her is the nicest thing he does. Now he says to the disciples, I am not here for her. I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I’m sorry, the rabbi is not seeing anyone right now; please come back tomorrow during business hours. I’m sorry, you’re not a member of our congregation; I’m afraid I only do this for members.
She is an outsider and Jesus is not going to help. Or at least he thinks he isn’t.
The woman keeps screaming and yelling and finally gets in front of him. She kneels before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He sees her face, her pain, her suffering. He sees her tears and her anxiety. He can tell how she worries for her daughter, how she will do anything at all to help her.
And Jesus simply says, "It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs." He calls her a dog. It is a common slur that Jews used for gentiles in those days. It was an insult, a put down, a ‘put you in your place’ slap across the face. I think I would give up at this point.
But the Canaanite woman is feisty and stubborn. And it isn’t about her, the life of her daughter is at stake. She picks up his words and throws them right back: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Game. Set. Match.
Jesus answers, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish."
But she hasn’t made any confession of faith. There’s no sign she’s been born again. She simply spoke the truth. Just a day or two before the children of Israel were fed – 5000 men, besides women and children. Fed with a few loaves and a couple of fish. Twelve baskets of food were left over. Surely there’s enough for me and my daughter.
When God’s lavish grace sweeps across the table it cannot be contained. Some will fall on the floor. Some will land on the dogs under the table. There is more than enough. There is always some left over. Give me that of Son of David.
Jesus’ response sounds jubilant. “Great is your faith” I hear triumph and some relief, in that declaration of Jesus. At last here is someone who gets it! Someone finally understands the Kingdom of God where there is more than enough. Someone finally understands God’s banquet where all are welcome. Someone finally gets what I have been trying to say. The wrong person,
of the wrong culture, in the wrong place, speaking with the wrong accent. It should be all wrong, but it’s actually all right.
After this encounter Jesus goes on to feed those who had not yet been fed. He spends more time with the outcasts and the lost.
Every generation still sees some people as “other” and puts them under the table. We could make a long list of people we see as different – different race, different customs, different orientation,
different religion, different life-style.
Being a faithful people is all about changing the rules for the dogs
and in the process getting changed ourselves!
It’s about who gets to be at the table,
it is about who we consider to be family,
who is worthy of God’s grace,
and it is about the relationships we have with them all.
In God’s realm the dogs are family
and there is a place for all of them at the table.
Thanks be to God.
Amen