Semicontinuous - Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
Complementary - Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Psalm 67; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
(What are semicontinuous and complementary readings?)
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Holy One of Israel, covenant-keeper, you restore what is lost, heal what is wounded, and gather in those who have been rejected. Give us the faith to speak as steadfastly as did the Canaanite woman, that the outcast may be welcomed and all people may be blessed. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
By this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has revealed his Messiahship through teaching and his miraculous power over disease, demons, and broken creation. And yet, Jesus is constantly under attack from the religious authorities who want to kill him. The Pharisees and scribes are concerned with maintaining the status quo and, as a result, their power. The first story in this passage continues their skirmish over the law of Moses and its interpretation.
What makes a person pure and impure in the eyes of God? The Pharisees rebuke Jesus when the disciples eat without observing the regulations of hand-washing. Jesus rebuffs them by showing the hypocrisy of those same leaders who are willing to put God’s commands aside in order to uphold human traditions—their further regulations that they require to keep the law. It is not what persons eat that defiles them, says Jesus, but what comes out of the mouth because those things begin in the human heart. Evil thoughts, slander, hatred, greed, and other sins arise from within, revealing an individual’s character. Jesus shifts the focus of holiness from rituals for their own sake to the transformation of the heart which makes the rituals meaningful. The failure to wash hands does not defile, the evil thoughts and intentions that lead to sin is what debases a person.
Jesus always emphasizes the need for something more than appearances. In the Sermon on the Mount, he states that anger is the root of murder, lust is the root of adultery and love extends to one’s enemies. God’s kingdom is not so much concerned with appearances and looking holy in practice, but with the person’s inner life from which the actions emerge.
In the story of the Canaanite woman, Jesus’ teaching on purity in the stuff of the everyday comes into focus. Jesus has traveled to Gentile lands outside Jewish borders (to Tyre and Sidon), where he meets a woman from Canaan, a woman who would have been seen by many Jews as both ethnically and religiously unclean. Matthew intentionally labels her as Canaanite to remind us of the ancient enemies of Israel, recounted in Joshua and Judges.
As she shouts, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David,” the woman identifies Jesus in a way the religious leaders and crowds seem incapable of. Jesus reminds her that he is called to the House of Israel alone, a disturbing comment for us today. Through his ministry, Jesus offered clear hints that he was the Messiah for the world, but the focus of his ministry was his own people. The Apostle Paul picks up on this when he says that the gospel is proclaimed to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles (Romans 1:16-17). It’s not that Israel has exclusive privilege over the message, but since the Good News comes through Israel, they have the right of first hearing.
Jesus then uses the image of children and dogs, language which has often puzzled readers. But rather than conclude the conversation, the woman replies with humility, wit, and incredible faith. She does not disagree with Jesus, but reminds him that dogs receive the crumbs that fall from the table. She is asking only for crumbs of mercy to heal her daughter. Even the smallest bit of Jesus’ mercy is enough.
Jesus commends her for her faith. In Matthew, Jesus often rebukes his own disciples for having too little faith; but the woman, an outsider, provides an example of what God desires. Her daughter is instantly cured. God’s saving power is so much greater than we anticipate.
This story foreshadows where Matthew’s Gospel is headed. And although Jesus’ earthly mission has been to Israel, God’s ultimate purpose has always been to bless all the nations. The Gospel begins with Gentiles, the Magi, coming to worship the infant Jesus. It ends with the risen Christ sending his disciples to make disciples of all nations. The Canaanite woman’s faith is a sign that God’s kingdom will open its arms to all tribes, nations, and languages.
These two stories belong together. True holiness is a matter of human heart rather than a matter of ritual and ethnicity. The teaching then is immediately demonstrated in the faith of a woman who was considered unclean. Matthew has placed them side by side to demonstrate that God’s kingdom is not entered by means of an official temple, ancestry, or social status but by humble faith in Jesus Christ.
PRAYER: God of the foreigner and outcast, your arms reach out to embrace all those who call upon you. Teach us as disciples of Christ so to love the world that your name may be known throughout the earth. Amen. (Revised Common Lectionary)
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