Jesus Said the "D" Word!

Matthew 15:10-28

Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

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.

Did you hear what Jesus just called that poor woman?  

He called her the “D” word.  

In the U.S. that would be like calling someone a…  well… I can’t say THAT word in church!  In Ireland, from what I’ve learned, it would be like calling someone a… well, I can’t say that word in church either!  

Let’s just say that what Jesus called that poor woman was one of the most vile, nasty slurs you could call another person in that culture.  So what was Jesus thinking?  

Maybe what he was thinking, was that if he wanted even a chance to get through to these hard headed Pharisees, he was going to need to change tactics.  

He was going to need to get clever… get tricksy… get cute.  

Maybe what he was doing was baiting a hook with a nice, juicy slur that the Pharisees’ just couldn’t resist.  

You see, at the beginning of this reading, Jesus had argued with those same Pharisees about hand washing… 

and he had gotten nowhere.

 

The argument hadn’t really been about soap and water.  It had been about who is drawn inside God’s circle and who is left out.  

The Pharisees were certain that only people born to good Jewish parents and who followed their version of the faith could be drawn inside God’s circle.  For the Pharisees, this Canaanite woman had the wrong parents.  She had NO chance of EVER being drawn inside God’s circle.  

Jesus had tried to talk reason,  “It’s what comes out of you that God really cares about”, he told them.  

“It's how you love God and love your neighbors that really matters.”  

But it was like talking to a brick wall.  That’s when I think maybe Jesus changed tactics and went for shock value!  

“Woman, you're a dog”!

Well, that’s what the Pharisees would have called her and when Jesus said it, it had to have gotten the Pharisee’s attention.  “Oh, look” they would have said, “Jesus has FINALLY come to his senses!  He’s finally coming around to our way of thinking.”  

But then…when every last one of them was finally paying close attention…Jesus set the hook, 

"Woman great is your faith!”  

Jesus had baited and hooked the Pharisees!   

Can you imagine their shock?  Jesus had challenged them to go from seeing God’s circle of love drawn only around a few who looked, sounded, behaved, and believed just like them, to seeing God’s circle of love being drawn around ALL OF HUMANITY!  

That must have hit them like a ton of bricks!  The sort of dramatic change Jesus was suggesting is HARD!  

It’s hard, because when we think about drawing a circle that big… which includes SO many… it is easy to give into the fear that if we go and include all of THEM… there won’t be enough for all of US!  

Can there really be enough of God’s love for so many?  Will I still have enough… if all of THEM are included too?  

The fear of scarcity is a powerful fear.    

But as Christians we believe there IS enough of God’s love for ALL, even to overflowing… abundantly far more than we could ever ask or imagine!  

And personally, I like it when the circles of God’s love include ALL, because those kinds of enormously large circles end up including everyone… 

even bald Americans looking for a bargain holiday in Ireland!  

It’s a lot of change to swallow though.  Many people continue to struggle with including ALL.  The Pharisees continued to have trouble including ALL and around the world, people continue to have terrible trouble with the idea that God includes ALL and that God has made enough for ALL.  

Wherever people struggle to include ALL, at the root of it all… 

IS FEAR.  

Fear that there won’t be enough if we draw the sort of circle that include all of THEM?  

We’ve all seen what happens when people are afraid.  Fear-filled people end up doing horribly hate-filled things.  The fear lights the fire, the lies stir the anger, the hatred raises the heat, and then the violence boils over the top.  

All of that in a vain attempt to keep those they would label as “dogs” out of a circle which Jesus insists includes no fewer than ALL.

But here’s the thing.  All those fear-fueled, hate-filled attempts to keep people out?  They’re all already too late!  

In Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus drew the circle of God's love so it already includes ALL!  On that first Easter morning, Jesus let every single one of us dogs in!  

Every single one!  

His death and resurrection cut a hole in the fence so big that even the biggest and mangiest of us dogs who are missing almost all of our hair, now all have a place at God's Table!  

ALL of US and ALL of THEM have been drawn inside God's circle.  ALL are included in the grace, love, healing and wholeness that God intends for all of creation.  

The truth of this lesson is that ALL are welcome in God’s Kingdom.  God sent his Son, not just to suggest it or to argue for it, but to make it happen with his life, death and resurrection.  

Now, you and I, as followers of the One who has drawn a circle so large it includes all of creation... WE are called to do the same… to draw our circles ever larger… 

until God’s Kingdom comes and God's will is done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.