Matthew 15:10-28
August 20, 2023
For the past couple of months, I’ve been going to the YMCA most Wednesday nights to play basketball. I play with a group of women who range in age from 18ish to my age-ish, and our level of skill, experience, fitness, and competitive-ness vary equally widely! It’s great exercise, and a TON of fun!
Before I joined this group, I hadn’t really played since high school. Let me do that math for you–it had been 36 years since I had run up and down a court with a basketball in my hands. !!!
When I started playing again, the basic elements were familiar–running, dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, etc. But wowee, were they rusty! In fact, I’ll share with you just for fun, the first two times I played, as I was running, I fell. Not because I bumped into anyone or anyone bumped into me. I just fell down. My legs just gave out. Twice that happened!! 🙂 Thankfully, I was able to get up, brush off my pride, and keep going.
In those first couple of outings, I realized pretty quickly that [in addition to being terribly out of shape!] I needed to tweak my old skills a little bit, adjusting how I played to allow for the fact that I was playing with different teammates, that there were different expectations, and most importantly, that I have a different body now than I had 36 years ago!
Sometimes we have to do that, right? Make changes to our ways of doing things that have been familiar for years, because we find ourselves in a different context, whether due to the passing of time, the acquiring of new information, exposure to different ideas, etc.
For example, people used to do their shopping entirely in person; today many of us do much of our shopping online. As another example, remember way back years and years ago, when meetings–including worship services!–used to only take place in person, when people were all in the same room? And now, well, can you say Zoom?
Obviously, I could go on and on with examples of changes that have taken place in the world as time has marched on, as we as humans have learned new things, as former ways of doing things have become outdated and no longer useful, as we’ve outgrown our understandings and beliefs. We simply do not stay forever locked into the same ideas, knowledge, practices, etc. It’s not the nature of life! To be alive is to grow and to change.
In fact, as long ago as 535 BC, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, is credited with saying, “Change is the only constant in life.” We all know that. Which doesn’t mean that we like it! But we know that to live is to change. It’s when change ceases that living stops and death comes.
So what does this have to do with our Gospel text for today??
Before we get there, one more detour. For the past four months or so, a group of us have gathered here and via Zoom nearly every Tuesday morning to discuss a book called How the Bible Actually Works, subtitled In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers–and Why That’s Great News. It’s written by Dr. Peter Enns, who, among other qualifications, has a PhD from Harvard in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, is a Professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University in PA, and is a member of the Institute of Biblical Research. In other words, he knows his stuff!
The main message of the book is that as people of faith, it is our sacred responsibility to seek wisdom in both the understanding and the living out of our faith. And by that Dr. Enns means doing our best to understand who God is, how and where and in whom God is at work in the world, and what it means to be people of faith, in the context in which we find ourselves. And that seems to be the key piece: in the context in which we find ourselves. [Selma, Jennifer–is that a fair summary?]
And he gives example after example…after example!…of how first the Hebrews, throughout the Old Testament, and then both pre- and post-resurrection followers of Jesus, throughout the New Testament, did this themselves. Throughout the Bible, both the Jewish and then the Christian understanding of who God was and how and where and in whom God was at work and what it meant to be people of faith changed. And it kept changing.
That’s not to say God changed. Hear that again: That’s not to say God changed. But based on their context and what was happening in their lives and in the world around them, first the Jews and then both the early disciples of Jesus and the post-resurrection followers of Christ, had to reimagine who God was and reinterpret how and where and in whom God was at work and what it meant to live as people of faith. Time and time again, they reimagined and reinterpreted, allowing their faith to remain relevant and meaningful…
I think Dr. Enns might say that Heraclitus’s notion that change is the only constant holds true not only for life, but for faith, and would perhaps support a slight modification of that ancient quote, making it instead: “Change is the only constant in faith.”
Okay, well, maybe he would change it to say, “God is the only constant in faith. But change in our understanding of who God is and how and and where God is at work and what it means to live as people of faith, is a distant second!”
But it is absolutely another constant. Living as people of faith must include a willingness to change our understanding of our faith, to consider new ways of understanding who God is and how and where and in whom God is at work, based on the context in which we find ourselves. It’s when that willingness to change ceases that our faith stops growing, and death comes to our spirits.
So, now, finally, and briefly, to our Gospel passage. And actually, I want you to hear a little more of this passage than we heard Nathan read–which was the lectionary passage for this morning. That started at verse 10 of chapter 15 of Matthew’s gospel. I actually want you to hear the 9 verses leading up to that, because verses 10-20 are Jesus’s response to those first 9 verses.
So, if you’ve got it in you, listen as I read verses 1-28 of chapter 15…with some very slight modifications for length!
And as I read, I invite you to consider that the three main “players” in this passage, not counting Jesus–the Pharisees and the scribes, the disciples, and the Canaanite woman all seem to be trying to figure out who Jesus is, what he’s about, what he’s doing…and who is the God he’s claiming to represent… WIth that in mind, see if you can listen for a willingness to change their understanding of who God is and how and and where God is at work, first in the Pharisees and the scribes, then the disciples, and finally the Canaanite woman.
Here we go:
Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” [Jesus] answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? …[For] the sake of your tradition, you nullify the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said:
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “…Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”
But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “…Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.
Okay, we’re going to start with the Pharisees and scribes. And we’re going to give them the benefit of the doubt–which they may or may not deserve! But let’s practice being generous! 🙂 Let’s allow the possibility that they might have been trying to figure out if God as they knew God was at work in Jesus. And if God was possibly working through Jesus, then how was God at work in him?… because Jesus seemed to be breaking the Law left and right, flagrantly violating so much of what they held dear, so much of what they had learned was the right way to do things, so much of what had been comfortable and familiar to them–and what they understood that God had commanded them to do–for thousands of years!
Does it seem, in this passage, that these particular Pharisees and scribes were willing to consider a new understanding of who God was and how and where and in whom God was at work and what it meant to be people of faith?… Not really, right? In fact, they seem much more interested in holding on to what’s familiar, clinging to what’s comfortable, keeping God locked in the box they’ve made for God…
Do these religious leaders seem at all willing to consider new ways of understanding who God was and how and where and in whom God was at work, based on the context in which they found themselves? I would say, in a word, no.
What about the disciples? The long and the short of their understanding at this point seems to simply be a state of confusion! They seemed willing to change their understanding of who God was, willing to consider a new way of understanding how and where and in whom God was at work–but they clearly needed help getting there! They seemed at least willing to open the lid of the box that the Pharisees and the scribes had God in, and peek inside… Their one word, if I had to choose, would be “Maybe?…”
And what about the Canaanite woman? She knew she was an outsider, and she seemed to recognize that that meant her daughter was outside the reach of Jesus and his healing power… And yet…she seemed to believe in a God that was bigger than that! She seemed to not only be willing to consider a different understanding of who the Jewish God was and how and where and in whom that God was at work, but she found the capacity within herself and her faith to act on that understanding! To claim the truth and power of that different understanding! This woman, this foreigner, this outsider, seemed to know that the time and place were right for no longer clinging to the Pharisees’ “NO,” for not only allowing the disciples’ “maybe?” …but for recognizing a new understanding of who God was and how and where and in whom God was at work. She boldly and courageously embodied the word, “Yes!!”
The religious leaders that day tried hard to keep God in a box of their making, a familiar, comfortable, manageable box. Could they reimagine and reinterpret God and their faith from within their context? NO.
The disciples were willing to crack open the lid of that box and peek inside. Were they willing to reimagine and reinterpret God and their faith from within their context? MAYBE…
The Canaanite woman blew that box wide open and let God out, letting go of ideas about God that were no longer useful and that kept God small, and embracing new beliefs that pointed to an expanded way of understanding who God was and how and where and in whom God was at work. Could she reimagine and reinterpret God and her faith from within her context? YES!!
So…where do we see ourselves among those characters? In our context here and now? Are we like the Pharisees, clinging to ways of understanding who God is and how and where and in whom God is at work that are comfortable and familiar…and perhaps outdated? No longer useful? Are we invested in keeping God small and in a box?…
Are we like the disciples? Willing to consider different ideas about God but confused about how to get there?
Are we like the Canaanite woman? Embracing and embodying new, expansive beliefs about God and our faith? Acting from and living into a place of courageous YES! ??
I suspect we’re each a little bit of all of those things…
My prayer is that we will all move more and more toward the YES, considering how we might let God out of whatever box we’re keeping God in, and opening ourselves to more expansive understanding of how and where and in whom God is at work…
My prayer is that we will each become more and more willing to change, so that our spirits might continue to live and grow and be more and more fully alive!
May it be so. Amen!
Rev. Deborah Beloved Church (aka "Pastor Deb") 