Meditation on Matthew 15:21-28
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Pastor Karen Crawford
Aug. 20, 2023
Every community needs at least one person like a woman I met in Renville, MN—someone who would give the shirt off their back if someone was in need. Her name is Lori. She can be tough and gruff and blunt. But she has a heart of compassion.
She is the founder of a community non-profit called CIRCLE: Creative Integration of Resources for a Cohesive Life for Everyone.
People give to the Circle Boutique (its thrift shop) furniture, appliances, toys, blankets, dishes, lamps, Christmas decorations, and other things that make a home. The CIRCLE Clothing Pantry provides, along with garments, coats, gloves, hats, scarves, and boots—necessities in Minnesota winters. Clothing is free to families and individuals in need, as are the coats. The organization offers other support—Santa’s Closet, Back to School supplies, mentoring, and job coaching. CIRCLE provides community service opportunities for schools and churches and for people who are court ordered to complete community service hours.
I met Lori not long after I began pastoring a Presbyterian Church four miles outside of Renville, population 1,251 back then. Family farms were the rule, not the exception. Some dated back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when their Northern European, German-speaking ancestors moved to the area seeking a better life. Farming has changed over the years. Fewer hands are needed because of modern mechanization. Now, three crops in rotation cover the black soil of the prairie every spring, summer, and fall: corn, sugar beet, and soybean.
Quite a few of the churches in Renville, including ours, supported CIRCLE. All of us agreed in principle with what she and the organization were doing. None of us on our own could do quite what Lori managed to do in a couple of storefronts in the center of town, though I remember she was often struggling to pay her rent. God always provided some way. Visiting her one day to drop off donations, I noticed she had a shower stall in the back. She told me that she charged $1 per shower to those without homes. She provided soap and towels. Many of the people who used the shower were migrant farm workers, hired for the sugar beet crop. They slept in tents or pickup trucks; they couldn’t afford to stay in the cheapest truck stops or motels. None of the locals offered to house them. They were predominantly Spanish speakers from Texas and Mexico, but some were simply backpackers passing through, looking for temporary work. Many residents viewed them suspiciously, as outsiders. Sadly, when the crops were harvested, some residents were relieved when they moved on and didn’t encourage them to stay.
Lori, in contrast, used to have barbecues for the workers, going out and serving hamburgers in the tent communities.
She says of the nonprofit: “Our belief is that everyone has resources to offer, and everyone has needs. CIRCLE’s mission is to establish quality relationships for the purpose of friendship, support, stability and community. You can get stuff anywhere but not always with a positive caring relationship. … We value the creation of caring communities by welcoming all, valuing all, supporting all and learning from all.”
Reading today’s gospel passage in Matthew, I am thinking that this community where Jesus and his disciples are ministering probably needs an organization like CIRCLE. There are many people in need. The problem is compounded then—as it is now—by prejudice. Some people will find help. Others will not.
The woman who approaches Jesus and the disciples seeking healing for her daughter is a Canaanite. She is an outsider, though you could say she is a member of the indigenous population.
Ancient Canaan was an area that may have included parts of modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. We don’t know much about Canaanites, except that there was much diversity amongst them. They were made up of different ethnic groups. In the Old Testament, God promises the land of Canaan to the Israelites escaping captivity in Egypt. A series of wars are fought against the Canaanites and other groups, which lead to the Israelites taking over their land.
The Canaanite woman believes in Jesus and trusts in his power. She calls him “Lord” and “Son of David.”
“Send her away,” the disciples implore Jesus, “for she keeps shouting at us!”
At this point in the story, if I hadn’t already read the rest of the passage, I might have expected a totally different plot. Remember when the disciples shoo away the mothers seeking Jesus’s blessing for their children? Jesus scolds them and holds the children up as model citizens in the Kingdom of God. Remember when the disciples are tired after a long day of ministry and want Jesus to send the crowd away to get their own food? Jesus says, “You give them something to eat.”
So, when we hear Jesus saying these things and doing what he does—we are horrified. Aren’t we? First, he ignores her request and says nothing, as if she isn’t there. After the disciples tell Jesus to send her away, he says to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” She’s not one of them!
Then, she kneels at his feet and begs, “Lord, help me.”
This still doesn’t move Jesus! “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs,” he says.
This leads me to wonder why this passage is in the Bible at all! It portrays Jesus in an unfavorable light.
Then it comes to me. Maybe shocking us is the point. Maybe Jesus is trying to address the prejudice of his time and our time by revealing what all the other people in his community believe about Canaanites—that they just need to go away. They are enemies. They are not even people.
But then, he has a change of attitude, as the disciples watch and listen. Is it really a change or does he reveal, finally, what has been in his heart all along? We’ll never know.
It could be that the one who is fully human and fully God is learning what it means to be, as the people declare in the gospel of John chapter 4, “the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
The Canaanite woman doesn’t give up. Jesus is her daughter’s only hope. She doesn’t argue her worthiness or equality with the “the lost sheep of Israel.”
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table,” she says.
“Woman, great is your faith!” Jesus says. “Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Instantly, her daughter is healed.
Dear friends, what do we do with today’s gospel lesson? How will it move us? What does it mean for us to believe that God is a God for all people, even the people who make us uncomfortable or angry and demand to be heard, like the Canaanite woman?
How, then, shall we live and treat others, when it so hard to like EVERYONE, let alone love them? How can we get along with people who don’t share our views, values, and beliefs? How do we see people who seem so different from us as being just like us?
And yes, how do we bear witness to an all-inclusive faith in which everyone has a place at the table in the Kingdom of God?
None of us are worthy enough for God’s redemption. All of us would be like the Canaanite woman, begging for mercy and to be treated like the stray dogs eating crumbs under the table, if it weren’t for our Savior’s self-giving love and suffering work on the cross. Because of God’s Son, we are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace!
You and I, we are going to have to rely on God’s grace and love for us as we try to reveal that grace and love to others. We are going to have to trust in the words that the Lord speaks to Paul, struggling with a thorn in his flesh in 2 Cor. 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
It will mean being honest with ourselves and seeking God’s help and healing for our broken places. For all of us are wounded. All of us have experienced trauma, including a worldwide pandemic. We carry hurts, always hoping that no one will see and judge us for our weaknesses. It’s by being honest about our weaknesses that we will experience spiritual healing, growth, and unity.
May we learn to be comfortable enough and feel safe enough in our community of faith to be our true selves, praying that God’s mercy will flow in and through us. And that when a change of heart is needed, like it was that day the Canaanite woman was shouting at the disciples, the Spirit will do this transforming work.
May we come to believe that God can work through imperfect people to help other imperfect people. For this is our calling! May we learn to trust in the sufficiency of God’s power perfected in weakness: to bring clarity and order in times of confusion and chaos; wisdom to those who seek it; and wholeness and peace to those who feel broken and anxious.
Friends, never forget that you and I serve the Lord of the lost sheep and unworthy, the One who desires all to be found and be made whole, holy, and redeemed.
Let us pray.
Holy One, Good Shepherd of the lost sheep, thank you for your love, mercy, and grace for sinners. We believe that, no matter the situation, your grace is enough, for your power is perfected in our weakness. Thank you for your redemption in Jesus Christ and your welcome for all people who desire to come to the table in the Kingdom of God. Strengthen our faith. Lead us to serve and care for our communities as you reveal to us our unique gifts, talents, passions, and resources. Heal us and knit together our church family in a spirit of shared mission. Grant us wisdom and peace. In the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Redeemer, we pray. Amen.
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