Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost - The Portrait

The Gospel - Matthew 15:21-28

Homily by the Rev. Dr. David Smith

The Portrait

At first reading, this story is quite a shock.  Our lifelong impression of Jesus' nature is somewhat assaulted.  We always fashion him to be soft spoken and kind...concerned about the welfare of all people with no consideration of background, ethnic origin, economic status, political prowess.  But this event flies in the face of our preconceived notions.  It almost sounds like he is being a snide, stuffy, bigot. 

Jesus and his men have left the home turf.  They have ventured outside the boundaries of Israel.  This is like walking down a dark alley on a Saturday night in a part of town you know you should not be in.

But apparently Jesus reputation preceded him.  The people had heard of him and they too came to see what he was all about. The invasion of his privacy is quaintly illustrated with the relentless approach of this woman.      

Her daughter was sick.  Some demon she said. "Have mercy on me, O Lord Son of David, My daughter is severely possessed by a demon."  Despite her request, we are told Jesus didn't say a word to her, and the disciples were quite rude, "Send her away."  

And then Jesus too chimes in and says, "I was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel."  In other words, he was more concerned about his own people than the foreigners.  He was more interested in Jews than Gentiles. 

It's not that he didn't have compassion on this woman, but rather if his efforts were to have any effect at all, then in his mind positive things were more likely to happen in Israel than with the people of Tyre about which one Jewish historian wrote, "Of all people they have the greatest ill feeling toward us."

But the woman would not be denied. She pursued.  "Lord help me”, she said. But again, Jesus puts her off and offers the line, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."  Or in another way, "what I am about and what I do is currently for my own people.  I must feed them first, I have to take care of them first, and if there is anything left over maybe it will come to you." 

Now the whole mood of the event changes and it changes because the woman is as quick witted as Jesus in this exchange.  "Yes," she says, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table."  With this response, Jesus grants the woman her request.

What happened in those few words that changed Jesus' mind?  Nothing very complicated really.  Nothing other than Jesus seeing in this woman a living portrait of what he hoped would occur with his people.  In her he saw all the qualities he wanted us to have.

First, the love this woman had for her daughter cannot be denied.  For her to approach Jesus on this matter was very bold.  It should have been the father, as the patriarchal head of household; custom would have him coming to Jesus and asking for the favor.  Maybe pride and cultural distance kept him away.  But the mother couldn’t care less about any of that.   Her daughter was sick and something had to be done. 

It was the love for her child that reflected God's love for all of us...It was love that made her approach this stranger and even accept his silence, his apparent rebuffs yet continue to appeal.  She would not be denied, and there is nothing stronger or nearer to God than love.

Whether Canaanite or Israelite...Love is not bound to or defined by any single religion.  It is the breath of God in the human soul, and shown vividly in the life of this woman.

Secondly, Jesus became aware of her deep faith.  "O Woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."  For this woman, there was no culture, there were no Canaanites there were no Jews. There was no hatred...only her certainty that Jesus could do the things about which she had heard.  That's all that mattered...she believed. 

There was a prominent Christian leader in China in the 1930's named T.L.Koo.  Koo said that when the Japanese sent their planes over China, he and others had to go out into the field because they had no bunkers in the city. 

When the air raid siren sounded, they knew that in 10 minutes the planes would arrive.  Dr. Koo said that in those short ten minutes he lived through the experiences of a lifetime.  A feeling of utter helplessness swept over him. 

The usual things with which people surrounded their lives lost their significance.  Most felt that if they had money in the bank they would be secure.  He used to pride himself that he was a university graduate with an advanced degree. But he realized there was very little that money and education could do as he lay there in that field waiting for planes and bombs. 

Everything was stripped away and Dr. Koo found himself saying, "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."  That was all that mattered. 

When the floods come, fences are submerged, and all that matters is our faith in God. 

In this woman Jesus saw the portrait of a believer.... love and faith.

And there was one more quality that Jesus admired in this woman, and that is persistence.

She was not to be denied or discouraged.  She would not be ignored, she would not be put off, and she would not be insulted.  Her sights were set and they would not be changed. 

It was Euripides who wrote, "To persevere, trusting in what hopes he has, is courage in a man.  The coward despairs."

There was no giving up or cowardliness in this woman, only persistence. Unlike some whose persistence can be pesky, the persistence of this woman possessed a quick wit and cheerfulness.  "But even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master's table.”

Her retort must have brought a smile to Jesus.  We can almost hear him say, "You won't give up will you?"  We can see her smile in return and say, "No sir I won't.  I know you can do something about my daughter if you will."

This woman brought to Jesus something he could not find in his own people.  A gallant, audacious love, a faith that could not be denied, an indomitable persistence springing from an unquenchable hope, and a cheerful, quick wittedness that could not be dismayed. 

There standing before him was "the portrait of a believer."  "O woman, great is your faith.  Be it done for you as you desire."

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

Amen.