Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
June 6, 2022
Invitatory
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in you sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Matthew 15:21-28
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 from that moment.
Meditation – Peter Vanderveen
At what point does this short text from Matthew begin to offend? Of course, it’s supposed to. It’s meant to be not so much a story of an event or an occurrence along the way (as such interactions happen with us); its primary function is to be a very assertive provocation.
When does the ugliness of what is related strike home? When a stranger – and a Canaanite and a woman – accosts Jesus? When he, in turn, chooses to ignore her? When the disciples determine that she’s no more than a huge irritation? When Jesus then says as much directly to her? There seems to be no end to the bad behavior – which sets the trap into which we are all invited to fall.
For the text seems to plead with us to pile on. Choose your own favorite villain. Many find this story problematic because they assume that Jesus acts out of character – or, to be clear, out of the character we’d expect him to have if he’s truly the Messiah for us, in our time, according to our terms. He’d at least have to be exceedingly aware of all the inequalities of power that have created longstanding and wounding divisions, between women and men, between peoples with distinct racial and ethnic identities, between followers and onlookers. But he seems only to affirm the privilege that has been extended to the Israelites. He dismisses the woman curtly, and in the most derogatory of terms. Outrageous. And we’re so very skilled in finding reasons to be outraged today. There are so many things to be angry about. Why not almost any line in this text, then, just as much. This is what can easily capture our attention.
The end of the story, however, provides a departure from all that had preceded it. The Canaanite woman could have walked away, registering her disgust or a hatred equivalent to the insult directed at her. But she stood her ground, not self-assertively, but holding out the possibility that all this denigration need not be maintained. It could be overcome by a trust and hope that good can still prevail. She only had to wait upon it, as if expecting that opening. This was her faith, against all that she had encountered. At which Jesus marveled. But it made her daughter well, and none of the ugliness that was nearly the whole of the story was carried forward.
Ultimately, the text interrogates us.
Why do we so fervently focus on the things that offend? Is it better to be angry, even (as we say) righteously? For that anger will never come to an end. There will always be another descending turn.
And what might result if, against all that we experience, we have faith enough to hold out and stand our ground on behalf of all that might be redeeming? The text doesn’t argue its way to this point. It’s left to faith. But that faith, as if in a moment, erases all the offense that had been heaped up. And don’t we need this too?
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
