Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "As the Deer Pants for the Water"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 15:10-28 That Which Defiles & The Faith of the Canaanite Woman
Then he 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 offence 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.
Reflection
"Momma Bear"
Can any of you think of a time when someone has excluded or hurt someone we love? How does that moment feel? How have we reacted? When someone hurts one of my family, I have the potential to flip into ‘Momma Bear’ mode. And it isn’t just my human family. I remember many years ago, I got a Blue Merle Border Collie pup. It did not end well. If ever a lesson was to be learned about buying dogs in pet shops (which you still could then), I learned it when I bought ‘Bluey’. He was beautiful – like a little polar bear with piercing blue eyes. One of his first walks after his jabs was to Tandle Hills. The pup jumped up at a man, (a proper ‘man mountain’ I recall), who promptly kicked out at him. As he went in for a second kick, the red mist overpowered me, and I launched. I can remember vividly, even 30 years ago as it now was, the verbal tirade I directed at this man, who towered over me, and the way he visibly shrank with each word. It was not pretty, it was certainly not what my Nan would have described as ‘ladylike’ and I suppose really, I took a risk – he could have retaliated, but he didn’t. I think he recognised the wrath of a ‘Momma Bear’ as it verbally hit him between the eyes – a bit like Mrs Weasley’s ‘Howler’ she sends to Ron when he has displeased her, (if you are familiar with the ‘Harry Potter’ stories)!
Today, Jesus encounters the Canaanite Woman, who is ready to turn ‘Momma Bear’ for the sake of her child. It is a strange reading today – it is certainly not one that brings instant comfort as some do. Matthew brings us face to face with a moment where Jesus sounds—at least at first—quite cruel. A desperate mother cries out for help, and Jesus seems to ignore her, dismiss her, even insult her. It is a story that makes us wince, and at first hearing, his harshness does not sound like the Jesus we know and love.
Jesus begins by challenging purity rules. He says: “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles, but what comes out.”
But the disciples are nervous - “Jesus, you’ve offended the Pharisees” – and they are aware how risky that might be! But Jesus presses on: the things that ruin society are not dirty hands, but dirty hearts.
And then, as if on cue, someone arrives who tests whether the disciples truly believe what he has just told them – a ‘Canaanite Woman’.
It’s important for us to understand that ‘The Canaanites’ are portrayed as historic enemies of Israel, because they occupied the land before Israel and were associated with rival religious practices. But by Jesus’ time, “Canaanite” was not a current ethnic group — Matthew uses the term deliberately to demonstrate the old hostility and feelings of animosity. So in first century Lebanon (where Jesus is, in this reading – in Tyre and Sidon), it is a choice of phrase used by Matthew to demonstrate that this woman, who has the courage and temerity to approach Jesus, is not ‘one of them’! And the disciples revert to those old hostilities, encouraging Jesus to ‘send her away’. They do not believe her ‘worthy’: She is a foreigner, a woman, a heritage long considered an enemy, and she is persistent and loudly seeking help for her daughter!
And Jesus says what the disciples expect him to say: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” And then the line that makes us flinch: “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
It sounds cruel. It feels cruel. But actually – Jesus is exposing the disciples’ ignorance and exclusion. The woman, though, has full ‘Momma Bear’ mode activated - (remember back to the story from Tandle Hills earlier). She refuses to be silenced.
She kneels. She persists. She argues. She takes Jesus’ exclusion and says ‘so what if it is wrong to feed us – ‘the dogs’ before your children, and says “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Her courage in arguing with Jesus – can you imagine in that time in history, a foreign woman doing that? And Jesus responds: “Woman, great is your faith.” (Interestingly, the only time in Matthew’s Gospel where the faith of anyone is described as ‘great’ – and it’s an accolade bestowed upon a foreign woman)!
Her daughter is healed instantly – which was never in question. But Jesus teaches his disciples through this entire interaction that the dismissed outsider becomes the one gathered in.
So what does this mean for us today? It certainly poses some tough questions:
Who are we tempted to send away? Whose voices do we wish could be silenced? Who do we judge is deserving of God’s mercy? Who might God be gathering that we have not yet welcomed?
But the reading also offers great hope:
Sometimes the person we least expect becomes the one who teaches us what faith looks like.
Matthew shows us what that looks like: A ‘foreign’ woman kneeling at Jesus’ feet, refusing to let go of the justice and mercy she seeks.
Have a blessed week - Reverend Kirsten x
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father,
We pray that we may always be a community that listens to the voices on the margins.
May we strive to learn from unexpected teachers.
And may our churches and our homes always be a house of prayer for all peoples.
