Crumbs
from the rule-breaker’s table
The battle for hearts and minds is once
again the focus of Matthew in this chapter. The Pharisees stand accused by
Jesus of playing mind games by using rigid rules to suit their need to regulate,
control and have power over others. At the same time, Jesus stands accused of
playing fast and loose with the rules that hold the religious system of that
time in place. Then Jesus leaves Israel-proper and comes to the seaboard city
states of Tyre and Sidon where he appears to be rigid about who he helps and
heals. In one of the most fascinating encounters of the Gospel, Jesus changes
his mind because of a mother’s tenacious argument. And her strength of mind is
called faith (not logic) and springs from a pleading heart.
Jesus’ upside-down kingdom talk and
healing work across the poor countryside drew the attention of the religious
authorities. And what these authorities found most difficult about Jesus was
his rule-breaking tendencies. Jesus did not break the Jewish law, he broke the
rules of interpretation and practice. He never set out to undermine God’s laws,
he came, he insisted, to fulfil them. But he did come to break the rules which
oppressed or bound people. He came to challenge the ways of those who made a
‘big show’ of being worshippers of God, but who, under the cover of their
religion, were simply oppressors. The kingdom of liberation challenged the
toxic and polluting rule-makers. And Jesus identifies the source of the
toxicity – it’s the heart. Murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lies and
blasphemy all begin as schemes of the heart. The heart is the seat of
motivation. As we have already referenced, time and time again, Jesus’
motivation was compassion and a purifying single-minded commitment to God’s
kingdom of liberation.
It is this motivation that gave him the
stamina to reach out to so many poor and oppressed people from his own nation.
Jesus ministered to people whose desperation and/or faith gave them open
hearts. One of the prayers we most often say in church, at the start of a
service as we prepare to confess our sins and receive forgiveness, is based
upon this very principal: all our hearts are open to God; and it is through
such open hearts that God’s highway of grace is possible.
Almighty
God,
to
whom all hearts are open,
all
desires known,
and
from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse
the thoughts of our hearts
by
the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that
we may perfectly love you,
and
worthily magnify your holy name;
through
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jesus was willing to be changed by
people with open hearts – as is demonstrated in this most extraordinary
encounter. A woman whose daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit,
pleads for her healing. Jesus ignores her, because, he said his priority was
for the ‘lost sheep of Israel’ not ‘foreigners’. But the woman’s persistence
changes his heart and mind. And her argument, that even dogs receive crumbs
from their master’s table (after he appeared to call her a dog), won him over.
Her incredibly powerful plea also works its way into another of our prayers,
the Prayer of Humble Access.
Most
merciful Lord,
your
love compels us to come in.
Our
hands were unclean,
our
hearts were unprepared;
we
were not fit even to eat the crumbs from under your table.
But
you, Lord, are the God of our salvation,
and
share your bread with sinners.
So
cleanse and feed us
with
the precious body and blood of your Son,
that he may live in us and we in him;
and
that we, with the whole company of Christ,
may
sit and eat in your kingdom. Amen.
She is remembered throughout the
Christian tradition as the woman who changed Jesus mind and opened up the work
of grace for those who are not even prepared (fitting in the all the rules) to
receive that grace. It is a staggering and wonderful prayer. One whose beauty
started life as the desperate cry of a mother for her daughter to a road-weary
rabbi and arrives on our lips as we seek to be fed with the body and blood of
our rule-breaking redeemer and master. ‘Come unto me all you who are weary… and
I will give you rest.’
There are just three events in this chapter, and they reinforce important parts of Jesus’ mission covered earlier. They are more ‘worked examples’ of applying the principles of Jesus’ message to the circumstances of life. Jesus draws attention to the hypocrisy of the religious leaders when they come to criticise the disciples, and it contrasts well with the faith of the Canaanite woman and the compassionate feeding of the crowd.
ReplyDeleteThe Pharisees and the teachers of the law had travelled all the way from Jerusalem to accost Jesus in Galilee. It is perhaps a measure of their alarm at the success of Jesus in attracting great crowds to hear him that they were prepared to make such a journey. We don’t always appreciate the success of his mission amongst the poor and oppressed, although they would have expected a warrior Messiah, and were presented with a man of peace and love, a healer.
I’m sure the religious leaders had more questions than the one Matthew reports, but it does illustrate the great difference in understanding between them and Jesus. It would be wrong to think the teachers of the law were not sincere in what they believed. What had set out to be guidance for the people in following God’s way, had become hardened into a rigid set of rules over the centuries. Jesus criticised them for putting tradition above the demands of love and compassion.
So they asked why the disciples broke the rules about ritual cleanliness by not washing their hands before eating. Jesus used the opportunity to criticise them in turn for not having hearts turned to God and concentrating on trivialities. It is a point made many times in the Gospels, such as straining gnats from their food but swallowing camels (c23, v24). They kept their rules, but missed the point! For Jesus, a loving heart was the priority, and trivial rules came way down the list. So he goes on to explain that it is what a person thinks and says and does that determines whether he is clean, not how he eats his dinner; it is a matter of his heart being right.
This is an important distinction for us too. We all have our ways of ‘doing worship’, whether that is the Anglican tradition or some other. Within that we all have our own preferences even within the tradition, and we must guard against ‘setting these in stone’, particularly as we get older. Jesus tells his hearers and the disciples (who seem to be rather slow on the uptake that day) that the proper way to ‘do religion’ is to live a life of compassion and service. Sometimes that means re-examining or ditching the accepted way – very much one of the messages that Jesus taught. There are no petty rules in the Sermon on the Mount, just principles of faith and love to be worked out in our daily encounters.
Jesus moves on from Galilee to the neighbouring region of Tyre and Sidon, and there met the Canaanite woman with a mentally ill daughter. She pleads for help so persistently that the disciples ask Jesus to send her away because she is becoming a nuisance. Clearly, they still have lessons to learn about compassion and the way Jesus dealt with situations. Jesus tests her faith, for she is not Jewish, and therefore outside the brief of his mission. He sees the depth of that faith, recognises that she has needs he can meet, and heals her daughter. It illustrates what Jesus has been to the Pharisees – the rules of his mission might say do nothing, but love demands action.
For the last event we are back in Galilee with a sense of déjà-vu. Jesus is up a hill preaching to vast crowds and healing the sick again; after three days, he needs to feed them. This is very like an event in the last chapter, but it does not seem to be a repeat of the same. This time it is seven loaves to start with plus a few fish, and four thousand men are fed together with the women and children.
This meal was doubtless eaten by all with unwashed, ritually unclean hands, and anathema to the Pharisees, but it was eaten in the spirit of love and compassion for the needs of people. Top priority in the kingdom!
After reading chapter 15, someone else I know who is reading Matthew said "I'm not warming to the Jesus that Matthew presents. He doesn't seem very nice". And I know what he means. The way he talks to this unnamed woman, referring to her as a dog, doesn't quite sound like The Good Shepherd who knows all his sheep by name. And it's made me wonder if maybe we have a rather sentimental image of Jesus, the one who we will be singing about in some sickly worded carols next week, the one who is"mild, obedient, good". I'd love to sing a carol with words written by Matthew.....or would I?
ReplyDeleteThe Pharisees had expectations of the Messiah which Jesus didn't fulfil. Perhaps we too have another set of expectations of Jesus which this particular Gospel doesn't quite fulfil. It's certainly challenging my limited and domesticated image of Jesus.
As for this inspiring woman, she would not let up, but persisted in her cry for help, disregarding any cultural rules on who she could or couldn't talk to. Like Peter in the last chapter who cried out for help, "Lord save me", this woman also cries from the heart "Have mercy on me...Lord help me". Peter is remembered by name. This woman remains unnamed, but then history has a way of being written and remembered by men, often white men. Yet the impact of this woman's remarkable faith remains as inspiring today as then. Surely a suitable candidate for any Woman's Hour Power List.
Her heart felt prayer for help is authentic, honest and reflects her desperate need for God to come with Kingdom healing. The pain and anguish of mothers for their children is heard throughout the world today, from the cathedral in Egypt and the collapsed church in Nigeria, to the streets of Aleppo, and homes in Mosul.
And I think of 2 mothers I know whose young daughters are seriously ill, and pray God's Kingdom will break in.
"Lord have mercy on us... Lord help us".
Thank you, Terry , for pointing out how the pharisees came all the way from Jerusalem. I've never noticed that, and imagined that they were everywhere, just as we have vicars everywhere, not just the capital city.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered why Jesus objected so vehemently to hand washing. We all know how important hand washing is. Although I understand this was not so in Jesus' time, I always thought the point of ritual hand washing was for reasons of hygiene. With this in mind, I looked up ritual handwashing in Wikipedia, and learned that there were many different types of hand washing depending on the occasion. Hand washing before eating was performed by taking a vessel of water in the right hand, passing it to the left and pouring the water onto the right hand twice. This was followed by now swapping the vessel to the right hand and pouring the water onto the left hand twice. The hands were then held up and a prayer recited (Blessed are you, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us through your commandments and has commanded us concerning the washing of hands) and then dried. I doubt this washed away any physical or microscopic impurity. The object was to signify purity in God's sight.
ReplyDeleteJesus was pointing out that you couldn't become pure spiritually by rituals or what one ate, but by what was in your heart.
What He said about obeying parents came about because he was pointing out the difference between the written law( given by God , and written down by Moses ) and the oral law laid down by the pharisees. The pharisees expanded on the written law and made their own rules. This is where ritual hand washing came from. This is also where they flouted God's law to honour your parents. Honour your father and mother, is not just about obeying your parents, but ensuring they are looked after regarding all their needs including food, clothing shelter and any care they need. By telling people that they didn't have to support their parents financially if they had agreed to dedicate a significant sum to God , they could , legitimately , claim to be unable to support their parents. Jesus pointed out that by creating their own rules, the pharisees had done away with God's law.
In the story of the faith of the Canaanite woman, I have read that Jesus reference to the dog was actually a pet dog that begs at the table. I hope Jesus considers nationality when He speaks to us! For an Indian, there is no greater insult than to be called a dog, pet or no pet.
I have also read that he was testing the depth of her faith when he ignored her initially. I find that Difficult to stomach. Why does Jesus need to test our faith? He created us and knows our hearts. Or is it that we change with suffering; as we change so does the depth of our faith and our priorities? Is it that suffering makes us less worldly... As St Paul said " Suffering produces perseverance, perseverance , characer and character , hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit , who has been given to us. "Romans 5:4,5
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