Gospel Matthew 15:21-28.
21Jesus left that place and
went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just 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.” 23But he did not answer her at
all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she
keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair
to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet
even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her,
“Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her
daughter was healed instantly.
When you experience pain or illness in your body or
mind, what do you do? Hope it goes away
for a while. Take an over the counter
pain reliever. Generally avoid going to
the doctor, until you can’t. When you
can no longer avoid it, you go and seek a diagnosis and a cure. The doctor may run some tests to confirm a
diagnosis and then a course of treatment is administered, with the hope that
the pain or illness is completely abolished.
In Jesus’ world, an illness, a disease, a demonic
possession were all the same thing. A
malicious enemy at work in the human body or mind, threatening to take
life. There is a sickness, a disease, a
demonic power at work here that must be named.
It is racism. It is the social
construction that the color of one’s skin determines one’s value. It is both overt, like a visible wound, and
covert like a virus. It infects every
one of us. There is no immunization from
it. It’s not an allergy that some have
and some don’t. I’m not saying that
every person is a racist. I am saying
that everyone of us as affected by the systemic power of racial injustice that
comes from racial prejudice. Because some
of us benefit from that system, experience privilege we often fail to
acknowledge, because of our skin color.
And others are adversely affected daily because they are black or
brown. Prejudice is not new or
American. Though one could argue that the
American story is illustrated by racial injustice. From the doctrine of
discovery and slavery to Jim Crowe segregation and mass incarceration, the
legacy of the American story is one of racial violence against black and brown and
native peoples. It is, as some have
suggested, America’s original sin. And a
sin for which we have not collectively repented. The results of that unrepentance are visible
in Charlottesville and Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston and Ferguson and
thousands of other acts of violent disregard for human life. In our history whenever minorities and people
of color have made gains toward greater equality, a white backlash has
occurred. Some of us feel threatened by
black lives matter and civil rights and abolitionism. That loss of power and privilege frightens
whites with superiority complexes.
Now I know this is uncomfortable. I know some of us
would rather not have this conversation.
Some of us think this topic is too political and therefore out of bounds
for friendly discussion, and certainly inappropriate for church. Some of us feel powerless, others indifferent
and unaffected. It’s not a problem here. Except that we look around a room of white
people and realize that we do not reflect the beautiful diversity God has made.
Why is that? Peter’s Porch reflects more of that
diversity. The ELCA is the whitest
church in America, with the fewest members of non-white racial
composition. After over two decades of
intentional concern and activity, we are the whitest. Are we that Eurocentric? That out of touch with our changing, more
racially diverse neighborhoods? Are we that unaware? This is our dis-ease.
Today’s gospel is a story about racial prejudice and
healing. Jesus is confronted by a
Canaanite woman. For the Jew, the
Canaanites were the native gentiles dwelling in the land God promised to
them. Today, they are Palestinians, or
for us Native Americans. These people
were the enemies of the Jews. They were
an ethnic minority. And they were
despised. Jews did not have relations of
any kind with Canaanites. Jewish men
would not even acknowledge a Gentile woman.
They were invisible. But this one
is loud and crying out to Jesus, Lord, have mercy. She comes as a mother on behalf of her
demon-possessed daughter.
Now we see a truly human Jesus, a product of his
Jewish worldview. At first he ignores
her. The disciples are so bothered by
her that they insist he send her away.
So he verbally rejects her. “I
have come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I don’t heal gentiles. But she persists.
Finally, he calls her a dog. A little yippy scavenger. This is no term of endearment. It is a biting slur. I hear laughter from the disciples. But she
persists. She does not cower from
him. She crawls on her knees and begs
for scraps from the master’s table. She
wants her daughter to be made well and she has come to the doctor for
healing. And she will get it, even if she
has to be humiliated, mistreated, and devalued by this Rabbi. It is her persistence, her insistence that
Jesus change his mind and heal her daughter, that Jesus calls faith. A faith that heals her daughter. And I dare say opened Jesus up to God’s
mission---a mission we heard in Isaiah---a post-tribal, post-racist world, in
which all are valued as sister or brother worthy of love, respect, and equal
treatment.
This is not the Jesus we expect or want to see. Its frankly, embarrassing. I wish Matthew and Mark had deleted this
story. I wish we could skip it in the
lectionary. But, it matters now. Because we can identify with this Jesus. He is converted from a deeply embedded prejudice by a woman who refuses to give up on love and justice for all. And it speaks to our moment. We are being confronted by the demon of
racism, of white privilege and supremacy, of hatred and bigotry. Bigotry in the name of free speech is hateful
and must also be condemned. This is not
Obama’s fault or Black Lives Matter or Civil Rights or King’s. King was murdered to stop the movement. Like Jesus we may choose to silently ignore
it. We may reject or dismiss the problem
of racial prejudice. We may say this is
their problem, let them solve it. We
have nothing to offer.
Or we may say this is our moment, when we are
confronted with our own demons of racial privilege, prejudices, and pain. We
may say this is a time for confession, for healing, for reconciliation, for
real peace. We may seize this moment to
grow, to step out of the darkness and into the light. We may become part of God’s vision in Christ,
of diversity and harmony. We may be converted, too.
Because there is healing for us all. It comes in the form of a hard conversation
in which we must confront and acknowledge that the demons of prejudice and
privilege persist. We can learn to
dismantle racism and build a community of peace with justice for all. We must insist publicly and aloud that hatred
in the form of bigotry and white supremacy and neo Nazism is always wrong and
unacceptable. Those who perpetuate it
are endangering God’s kingdom, and, frankly the American promise that all
people are created equal. We must insist on another way. A way of love that sees the other as a
person, a beloved child of God. A way of
love that never belittles or diminishes another brother or sister. A way of love that hears the cries for mercy
and justice and joins their cries. A way
of love that crushes the demons and gives life to all God’s children.
