Finding God
Sermon Notes 20th August 2023
Desiree Snyman
Find God in the faith of others: based on Matthew 15.21-28
She is not polite. Neither is she discreet. Stridently, loudly, she demands help for her daughter. She is desperate and no longer cares what people think or say about her, she just wants help. At first, he ignores her, hoping she’ll go away, but the self-conscious disciples urge him: "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." Shockingly, while few Jewish persons accept Jesus, the Canaanite woman of all people calls him “Son of David,” one of the titles for the Messiah.
After ignoring her, Jesus tries explaining. His explanation goes right to the heart of his mission: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." This doesn’t discourage the woman. She rushes forward and kneels at his feet. The word for ‘kneels’ is strong: it means to bow down and kiss someone’s feet, the hem of their garment, or the ground in front of them. She pleads, very simply, one last time, “Lord, help me!” Jesus is overcome and opens his heart to her: “Woman great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish”. When Jesus calls her “woman” he affirms her personhood. No longer is she “the Canaanite woman” or “little female dog” or “heathen” or “other”. She is mother, neighbour, daughter of God. Divisions are shattered. Wholeness, healing, and renewal pervades. No longer is her child identified with disease and demons; she is defined by God. The daughter is made whole, as is Jesus’ mission. Jesus is transformed through his encounter with the Canaanite woman; no longer does he only break bread with the lost tribes of Israel, but his manna is shared with all people.
Religious strangers shaped the ministry of Jesus. The desperation of the Canaanite woman which Jesus had the audacity to call faith helped him expand his vision. After learning from the Canaanite woman Jesus embraces all people, not just the chosen ones. The Samaritan woman at the well deepens Jesus’ experience of gratitude. The Roman centurion taught Jesus a new way to approach faith, and his son was healed. Jesus found God in the faith of others.
The magnificence of Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman is appreciated when considering the context of the story. Previously, Jesus sent his disciples on mission with clear instructions that they were to go to the lost sheep of Israel only “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10: 5b-6). The problem is that the lost sheep of Israel simply don’t want their shepherd. The leaders of Israel reject Jesus (Matthew 12.14), even his own family rebuff him (Matthew 12.46). As if the week is not going badly enough, Jesus receives the message that his friend, mentor and cousin John the Baptist is martyred (Matthew 14.13). There is now no doubt left in Jesus mind that if he continues with his mission, he like John the Baptist will also lose his head. While the lost sheep of Israel reject Jesus’ message, thousands of others are attracted by his Good News. The feeding of the more than 5000 by the lake is a story of the success of faith, contrasted by the doubt of the disciples who have no trust that God is safe when a storm rocks their boat (Matthew 14.26).
Preachers preach the sermons they most need to hear. In the past the story of the Canaanite woman inspired me to walk in solidarity alongside those who are HIV positive, orphans, those who are refugees and those who are the most marginalized in society. What this story teaches me now is how much I need strangers, how much I need to move out of my comfort zone, how much I need to find God in the faith of others. What the Biblical text does to me is that it holds up a mirror, it shows me how much I enjoy country club Christianity,” staying in my own comfortable comfort zone with those who think like me, talk like me, pray like me. Instead, the Gospel invitation is to move out of my comfort zone continually, to embrace diversity, to live out the phrase “your greatest difference from me is your greatest gift to me.”
Moving out of my comfort zone, what might “outsiders” teach me about faith? How does God’s divinity shine though those who are “other” and what do “strange people” reveal to me about God? One of the Great Themes of Scripture is embracing the stranger, “outsiders” who have different relationships with the divine or different cultures, different experiences, or who are simply people who are refugees, asylum seekers, minorities, or those who identity as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Jesus embraced strangers and he found faith in others. I am invited to do the same.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks says, “The supreme religious challenge is to see God’s image in one who is not in our image”. Barbara Brown Taylor says that if Sacks is correct “then the stranger – the one who does not look, think, or act like the rest of us – may offer us the best change at seeing past our own reflections in the mirror to the God we did not make up” (in Holy Envy p200).