Jesus Said the "D" Word!

 The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 15th Chapter

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Jesus used the “D” word! Just like the racist word that is so awful it only goes by it’s first letter in our day, calling someone the “D” word was in that same category in Jesus’ day. It was bad. Really bad. So, did Jesus have work to do? Did he, like us, need to grow in his awareness of his own bias, prejudice, and privilege? OR, was Jesus using the “D” word as bait to hook the Pharisees?

Of course we can’t know what Jesus was thinking but we can learn from both of these possibilities. It could be that the fully human Jesus was not fully enlightened when it came to his own bias and prejudice. After all, he grew up and lived in a time, culture, and faith that drew clear and exclusive boundaries and no one even pretended they were separate but equal. She was not Jewish, she was not from Israel, she was a woman… a huge part of the population would have easily concluded… she was a “D” word! If this is what was going on with Jesus in this story, it is still something we can learn from. Because even while Jesus was acting out of what he had learned, as all of us do, when he was confronted with his bias, he was open to begin to see the world in a new way.

If, living in his learned prejudice and privilege is where Jesus was at in the beginning of this encounter… If Jesus was drawing the circle of God’s love and grace in a way that excluded this woman and her child... then this lesson reminds us again that EVERYONE has work to do in widening the circles of inclusion we draw in this life. To do that work, Jesus was willing to hear the cries of a mother in pain. To really listen and engage in conversation. He was willing to stick with that conversation even when it got hard. It took time. It was hard. It was a process. But it was worth it. Because at the end we see the healing power of transformation that can happen when we open our ears and eyes, hearts and minds and begin to draw the circles we have always drawn in ways that include people we had never considered including before.

The other option is that Jesus knew EXACTLY what he was doing and used this situation as bait for the Pharisees to get them on the hook and then to reel them in to dramatically finish the argument Jesus had been having with them in this chapter. Point. Set. Match. The Pharisees, you see, were certain that only people like them… people born to Jewish parents and perfect followers of the Law, could be drawn inside God’s circle.  That Canaanite woman was not inside that circle because she had the wrong parents. Jesus and the disciples might have had the right sort of parents but they were failing miserably at following the law in the eyes of the Pharisees. Jesus had tried to reason with them earlier in this chapter but when that didn’t work, perhaps Jesus tried a different, more shocking approach.

Maybe Jesus treating the woman in the same way the Pharisees would, was Jesus dangling the bait.  “Oh, look” the Pharisees would say, “Jesus is finally coming around to our way of thinking.”  But then Jesus did what Jesus did all the time… First he dangled the bait…  “Woman, you're a dog"!  Then, when they bit, he set the hook!  "Woman great is your faith!”  The Pharisees had been caught!

Regardless of whether this was Jesus confronting his own bias, or Jesus hooking the Pharisees to try to get them to confront theirs, when people first begin to confront thier bias, privilege and prejudice, it can be very scary. Drawing a circle to include more people, we often worry might mean less for me! The fear of scarcity is a powerful fear. But as Christians we believe in a radical abundance from God. Even when the human math won’t work, we are reminded of what God’s math can do with just a couple of mackerel a some sesame seed buns! With reminders like that, we believe that God’s abundance is SO inclusive… SO wide… that it draws a circle large enough to even include even the likes of me and you!  And if that circle includes us, then who could be excluded!

The Pharisees had trouble with ALL. One glimpse of the news and you know the whole world still has trouble with a circle that includes ALL. The defacing of the Black Lives Matter sign on the Sheffield Green shows us that even in little ol’ Sheffield there are people who have trouble with the idea of drawing a circle that includes people who are different in any way. The Gospel message for today… the GOOD NEWS… is that Jesus has already drawn the circle of God's love so it includes us ALL!  Jesus lets all us dogs in!  His death and resurrection has thrown open the kennel door and let even the mangiest of us feast at God's Table.

So no matter if we read this lesson as Jesus himself being challenged to grow, or as Jesus setting a hook to challenge the Pharisees to grow, the message for you and for me is the same. We are called to do the work to see and to hear the people we have not previously been able to see or hear or include because of our bias, privilege, and prejudice. We are called to enter into difficult conversations and stick with them even when they become hard… Even when those primal instincts swell up and tempt us to be fearful of scarcity. We are called each day to draw the circle of who is “in” ever wider. And then we are called to move that work beyond ourselves, standing with, shielding, advocating, singing and eating, laughing and crying with, all those who the world attempts to draw outside of the circle. We are called to do this work, for as long as it takes until the demons of exclusion are cast out, until everyone’s child is healed, and the circles of this world look as wide and welcoming and inclusive as the circle God has drawn for God’s Kingdom.  Amen.