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Printer Friendly VersionMost of us subconsciously draw social lines of distinction.
It’s a common social phenomenon by which we analyze, categorize, and
organize our perceptions of who people are and what they are like. It is a
way of making sense out of what we see and feel in the world around us. It
is simply a way understanding distinctions race and ethnicity, perceiving
operating structures of social standing and economic class, distinguishing
casual acquaintances and intimate friendships, and making any number of other
distinctions daily. At times we are hardly aware we’re drawing them.
The lines are neither good nor bad in and of themselves. They just are.
The problem comes when we keep drawing enough lines often enough
and in such a way as to create a box. And the box of our social structure
creates “insiders” and “outsiders”. Sometimes our boxes
make us insiders, sometimes they make us outsiders. But in either case, we
know which we are. It’s definite; it’s clean; it’s understandable;
it’s comfortable; it’s secure--that’s why we do it. But it
can also be fatal!
The Gospel of Matthew is a book about insiders for insiders.
The insiders were the first century Jews. The message was that their Messiah
had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, who was the Christ. It was written
in insider language with insider images, and even insider jokes that you had
to be an insider to understand. Yet, it was an insider’s book with a
twist. Let me explain.
The insider’s book begins with a characteristically insider’s
approach--a family history--very Jewish. Yet, the history blatantly includes
the names of outsiders: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah’s wife. (Matthew
1:3, 5, 6) Among the first to kneel in adoration Jesus the Messiah were not
the insiders but outsiders, foreigners from the East (who, by the way, are
mentioned only in Matthew’s gospel in chapter 2:1-12). The first to be
commended for his faith in Jesus was not on insider but an outsider, a Roman
centurion who sought healing for his servant (Matthew 8:5-13). Jesus called
insiders (Galilean Jews) to be his disciples, but he called a few outsiders
as well, Matthew the tax collector being chief among those from the outside.
(Matthew 9:9-13)
Make no mistake; Matthew’s gospel is an insider’s
story. But it is an insider’s story in which God keeps letting the outsiders
in!
Our text for today is one of those incidents. Listen to the
text. The lines of distinction are clearly drawn. There is no mistaking the
insiders from the outsiders. It’s definite, it’s clean, it understandable,
it’s comfortable, it’s secure.
“Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre
and Sidon.
A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out,
“Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly
from demon possession.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples cam to him and
urged him, “Send her away, for she keep crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord help me!”
she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s
bread and toss it to their dogs.”
“Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat
the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus answered, “Woman you have great faith! Your
request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
(Matthew 15:21-28)
Do you have as hard a time as I have “hearing” this
passage? It isn’t that the dynamics of this insider/outsider encounter
are unclear. No, on the contrary, the dynamics are all too clear. That is
the problem. The box is defined too well. Jesus and his disciples are insiders.
The Canaanite woman is an outsider. And Jesus’ words reinforce the “box”
of exclusion. The results are familiar, but the words don’t sound like
the Jesus I know. They aren’t characteristic of the God I know.
I’d like to suggest to you that this encounter with the
Canaanite woman was not a coincidence of time. It was no intrusion into the
insider agenda announcing the good news that Messiah had come. It was no mere
divine concession to a persistent mother whose daughter needed deliverance.
No, this encounter was a divine appointment in which an outsider becomes an
insider by grace through faith. Jesus relished such appointments. In fact,
he went out of his way to make sure they happened. And Matthew goes out of
his way to record them. This encounter is no exception.
Let’s look at the text again. Jesus sought some refuge
(i.e., he withdrew) in outsider territory. A Canaanite woman (likely from
that same outsider territory) challenged the box of exclusion. She wasn’t
on some grand social crusade. She was driven by the urgency of her need and
the depth of her hope that Jesus could meet that need. She wasn’t going
to let the religious convention of insider boxes deter her from the one person
who could heal her daughter with a word.
Jesus is aware of her challenge but says nothing. I have a hard
time believing that Jesus simply ignored her, unmoved by her request. No,
I believe Jesus saw an opportunity to free a Canaanite girl from demon possession,
to honor and strengthen a mother’s faith, and challenge the prejudices
of spiritual boxes that keep insiders in and outsiders out. As I have “lived”
in this passage for the past few days, I imagine that Jesus had twinkle in
his eye and a slight smile of restrained glee and the ripe prospects of this
encounter that would shatter the paradigm of exclusivity for the insiders
and outsider alike. An opportunity like this was just too good to pass up.
The disciples, the insiders, believed deeply in the distinctions the box enforced and urged Jesus to honor the distinction by sending her away. Jesus gave voice to their belief. “I was sent only for the lost sheep of Israel”, to which all the disciples answered
“Amen, preach it brother!”
But the outsider, the Canaanite woman, refused to accept it.
Once again she cried, “Lord, help me!”
So Jesus again clearly articulated the distinctions inherent
in the box of exclusion. “It is not right to take the children’s
bread and toss it to the dogs.” There was no subtlety there. Outsiders
don’t have insider privileges. No how. No way. And again, the disciples
applaud, “Amen, that’s right, preach on!” You might want to
be a bit cautious when the preacher is saying everything just the way you
like it to the people you are sure need to hear it. Your “amens”
could be leading you down the path to the school of humble learning.
Even in the face of a crystal clear articulation of the distinctions in the box of exclusion, the Canaanite woman is resolved. She just won’t accept being an outsider.
She isn’t just persistent; she is resolved in her faith.
So the moment of truth finally comes. What will Jesus do? Will
he honor exclusion and send the woman away, keeping the box of exclusion intact?
Will he reluctantly heal the woman’s daughter just to get rid of her,
making an exception to the box of exclusion while still holding it together
in principle? Or will Jesus boldly treat her like an insider, exploding the
box of exclusion for the disciples and the woman alike? Yes, this was the
moment Jesus was waiting for when he first refused to answer her.
It is no mystery or surprise to us which option he chose. Boldly
he proclaimed, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
He treated her like an insider, just like Tamar, just like Rahab, just like
Ruth, just like Uriah’s wife, just like the foreigners from the East,
just like the centurion, just like Matthew, just like Peter, James, John,
and all who have faith in Jesus the Christ.
And by exploding the box of exclusion, Jesus gave the disciples
(and the woman) a glimpse into the future where God just keeps letting outsiders
in. Jesus’ last conversation with the disciples recorded in Matthew begins
this way, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations …” The box of exclusion has
been shattered and outsiders are invited in. Now that’s good news!
We are good at drawing lines of distinction in many arenas of our lives. Some
of are so good at it that we have boxes of exclusion in almost every one of
those arenas. Some of us have been drawing spiritual boxes of exclusion for
so long that our faith is defined by them. Our definition of spiritual insiders
and outsiders conform to our boxes. Even God conforms to the patterns and
practices of our boxes of exclusion.
Some of us have boxed ourselves inside the box so we are positive
that we and those like us belong. We are just as positive that those not like
us do not. They are outsiders. We are the disciples in today’s text.
We are consistent, clear, and comfortable in our commitment to the box of
exclusion. Could this be our day for a divine vision of a God who lets outsiders
in? Who are the outsiders that God wants to let in, but we can’t see
it because our box is too small? The invitation today is to allow God to explode
our box of exclusion to let others in.
Some of us have boxed ourselves outside the box so that we are
positive we will never become an insider. We’ve drawn our box so small
that there will never be any room for God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness,
redemption, sanctification for us. Such are the privileges of insiders. We
are like the Canaanite woman, but we lack her faith. Can we be bold enough
to believe that God could treat us like insiders? The invitation is to allow
God to explode our box of exclusion to let us in.
Insider or outsider, the invitation is the same. Let God explode our boxes of exclusion. We won’t be Christian unless he does. We won’t be the church until he does. Do you see Jesus with a twinkle in his eye and a slight smile of restrained joy on lips? He’s ready to teach us lesson. Are we ready?