Virtual Church
16 August 2020

 

My reflection this morning is to invite consideration of what happened that day as Jesus ventured into Canaanite territory. There he met a Canaanite woman who challenged his thinking.

The man Jesus raised in a cultural context that placed this woman as one unimportant, and not worth the time to engage with in meaningful conversation, finds himself unable to escape the persistent challenge from that woman to help her daughter and herself.

Culturally Jesus is not obliged to answer this challenge. The woman is a pagan: he is an Israelite. They are not equals on many levels. Following the honour code of his culture, Jesus ignores her.

Then we see change! The sense that Jesus has of who sits inside God’s realm, reinforced though his upbringing, is challenged, stretched, and enhanced by his encounter with this fierce and faithful woman.

The response Jesus makes in this setting enlarged access to the kindom of God: it becomes so much bigger than he had initially imagined and so much more encompassing than he’d dreamed.
This was good news then: it’s good news now. There is a place in the kindom of God for all.

I propose that we now include three things in our consideration. The first is that, at least at first, Jesus is not seen in a too gracious light. Accepting this can be a challenge. He’s not seen as caring, sensitive, compassionate to those outside the clearly defined in-group. Remember only a few verses earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus sends the twelve on their mission to ‘the lost sheep of Israel’ and instructs them to steer clear of the Gentiles and Samaritans.

Then, Jesus finds himself in gentile territory. He encounters – encounters deeply – the world of the Canaanite woman; and changes his view. That Jesus could change his view allows me to make like changes to my thinking.

The second is to further recognise that Jesus was human and responding in a human way. Perhaps we can sympathise with him as he’s badgered by a persistent, pestering woman, who would not let the matter drop.
The story reminds us that members of despised or oppressed groups have to be bold to be heard. The historical Jesus had to struggle to come to terms with the negative in his upbringing. He does: reinforcing the imperative for us to do likewise!

The third is to consider who is the hero (or should I say heroine) in the story. It’s not Jesus, but the persisting, pestering, hanging-on-in-there, bugging woman. This woman is not content to be ignored, because she is convinced her daughter deserves to be given the chance at living a normal, productive life. Her persistence, based on her faith in a God who can change things for the better, is rewarded. This is a mighty example to all who hangout for change in our world promoting the view that God’s grace is extended to all, not just a select, privileged group, and that where there are matters that call out for resolution that they are addressed compassionately, with the aim of restoring broken relationships and enhancing the mana of all.

Today’s gospel reading concludes sharply: Jesus grants the woman’s request and her daughter is healed instantly. Such immediate change is not something we experience so readily. Change, especially when it involves relationships, occurs only after there is much persistence and pestering.

The Jewish scriptures brought to us from the book of Genesis this morning attest to that. The story of Joshua being reunited with his brothers fits alongside today’s gospel. Joseph’s brothers must have been in a heightened state of anxiety when recognition came that the powerful man, standing resplendent in front of them was the brother that they had abandoned those many years before. How would he respond to them now? Was retribution in store? No, Joseph had a different plan. He asked first about his father and Benjamin his youngest brother. What a model to consider when we seek resolution of long-term broken relationships thrust before us as religious, cultural and socio-economic paradigms rage around us.

May God guide us as we consider the Word for today and lead us into a more peaceful, just, and compassionate world, where the place of all is valued.

Amen

- Rev. Ian Faulkner