08192020 – Matthew 15. 21-28
Civility…Good manners…Chivalry…
Gallantry…Respect…Consideration…
Couth…Pleasantness…Gentitlity…
Using our filters…as best as we are able…
Compassion and mercy need to rule…
Empathy, understanding, concern, pity, tender-heartedness, gentleness…are certainly all “good things.” No one will deny this. For SURE “our world” needs MORE civility, not LESS.
It should be WHAT we expect.
We should EXPECT nothing less.
But it is NOT always EASY.
Sometimes, it is downright difficult.
Buttons get pushed. People sometimes like to pick. There will always be petty nuisances…annoyances and irritations…sometimes they seemingly abound.
We allow them to “GET” to us…and unfortunately, WE “react.
It can happen. It does happen. To all of us.
It happens often during stressful times and in not so stressful times..
Perhaps, it is even happening more and more during these “pandemic days.”
People are under “all kinds of stress.”
Plates are full and running over.
There is a lot going on…for a whole lot of people…more than USUALLY meets the eye. Nerves are raw. Minds are full.
There are many things BEYOND our control.
Our Gospel text for tonight is yet another variation on “a common theme for Jesus.” It was one of his favorite “TALKING POINTS.”
We must try harder. We must attempt to do better. We must keep striving.
We must try to take the higher path or at the very least, strive to.
Jesus says that ritual and religious actions MUST ALWAYS be trumped by compassion and mercy. Love is SUPPOSED to rule. This is what the “ongoing battle” with the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees was all about.
Yes, there is the law. But…
There is also the SPIRIT of the law.
There is THE reality. But love is always to WIN the day. We may lose some of the “minor skirmishes,” but we keep our eye ON THE PRIZE. The BIGGER BATTLE, as it were.
This is precisely what the many, many arguments about the Sabbath Day were all about. Yes, God rested. And, it was a BIG DEAL! Up until “that time” there was no such thing as a “time for rest” much less a WHOLE DAY! It was big stuff.Yes, it is a HOLY day.
Yes, it is a day of REST.
Yes, it is to be SET ASIDE.
Yes, it is to be SPECIAL, HOLY, and SET APART.
BUT…does that mean that you DO NOT show compassion. Does that mean that YOU DO NOT show love. Does that mean there are NO “other considerations?”
So, a Canaanite woman, a foreigner, a pagan, a heathen, a “Canaanite dog” is “how they were actually described…”
comes before Jesus.
She does everything right. She is respectful. She is humble. She even grovels…and kowtows…She comes seeking a “favor”…a “miracle”…a “healing”…she comes seeking the “seemingly impossible”…for which she has no RIGHT to ask.
She knows she has everything working AGAINST her. She asks anyway. She is a woman. She is of the WRONG religion.
She is not considered “WORTHY” of either his “TIME” or of his “HEALING POWERS.” She asks anyway.
And while ORIGINALLY Jesus plays along with “the standard party-line”… he ultimately…he eventually…he does…does the “unthinkable.” Jesus does the “implausible.” People were “abhorred” by his actions and by his words. He does the “inconceivable,” the “incredible,” the “unbelievable” and the “unimaginable.” He does what is right.
He heals the daughter of a foreigner.
He crosses BOUNDARIES. He crosses CULTURES. He ignores GENDER lines.
He reaches over RELIGIOUS boundaries.
He says he “sees,” he “senses” MEGA FAITH, no greater faith than this – has he seen ANYWHERE!
Why does he do it? Because in the end, it is RIGHT! Because love wins out. Love trumps bigotry. Love supercedes hatred. Love is bigger than our petty prejudices and jealousies. He sets an example…for each of us to strive for…to reach for…
Keep striving. Keep trying. The struggle is real. Amen.