Surprising Sources of Grace

 

Isaiah 56:1,6-8
Psalm 67
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

©The Rev. Seth Olson 2023

Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.

Growing up as an Episcopalian in the predominately Baptist South, I often heard the word grace; however, if you had asked me to define it when I was teenager, I would have struggled. The Catechism from The Book of Common Prayer asks this question: What is grace? And the Outline of Our Faith answers the inquiry: “Grace is God’s favor towards us, unearned and undeserved; by grace God forgives our sins, enlightens our minds, stirs our hearts, and strengthens our wills” (858).  If this is indeed an accurate depiction of this mysterious phenomena—and I believe it is—if grace is indeed an undeserved, unearned gift that forgives, enlightens, stirs, and strengthens, then in today’s Gospel lesson, strangely, Jesus appears to be on the receiving end of grace.

That’s right, you heard me correctly, Jesus, in a rare outlying passage, models for us not how to dish out God’s grace, but how to accept it. Thanks be to God for this example, for here Jesus invites us to humbly evolve, as we move beyond the way things have been. If this sounds a bit odd or even scary, you aren’t alone. We talk often about God’s transforming love here at All Saints, but undergoing transformation isn’t always pleasant. Still, as we dig into the details of this passage, we will discover an abundant feast of faith flowing from this surprising source of grace, and we will find why this passage matters to us.

There’s two parts of today’s story: The first is a very typical encounter between Jesus and his followers with Israel being the setting. The second is an other-worldly interaction in which Jesus and his disciples encounter a Canaanite woman in a strange land. To understand both parts, we must go to the start of Matthew Chapter 10.

In those first ten verses, the scribes and Pharisees accosted Jesus. In fact, they had come all the way from Jerusalem to hound him. These leaders walked about 33 hours to confront Jesus because his followers were not washing their hands before they ate. After the last several years of pandemic time, I get it. Stopping the spread of disease is important; however, the Pharisees were missing the forest for the trees.

These religious leaders were focused on the practice of ceremonial handwashing while avoiding more important religious mandates—in particular, Jesus called out the Pharisees for greedily asking for money from grown children that would have otherwise gone to support their elderly parents. Jesus saw through the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, as they wanted to appear religious and spiritual, but they were not living by the guidelines they offered to others.

After this interaction with the visiting Pharisees, we get to today’s passage and Jesus’ interaction with the crowd, then his disciples. To the large gathering, Jesus taught that it’s not forgetting to wash one’s hands that spiritually defiles. Rather, it’s what comes out of one’s heart that speaks to one’s spiritual health. The disciples were worried about the effect of Jesus’ teaching for they asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” Jesus brushed off the warning though, advising that the Pharisees were like blind guides leading blind followers, and all were heading for a fall. Undeterred, Peter was curious about the actual teaching that Jesus had offered to the gathered crowds.

Jesus, seemingly frustrated at a leading disciple’s ignorance, wondered why Peter was without understanding. The teacher then explained that it’s not about what we put into our bodies, nor about how ritually clean our hands are, rather it is about the state of our hearts. For out of our hearts come evil intentions—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. This is what distorts our connection to God and neighbor—not whether we follow a traditional hand washing practice.

Now, before you think that Jesus was anti-hygiene, recall that he was teaching about matters of the heart, relationship, and character, rather than our modern concepts of cleanliness. This entire interaction though was taking place within a Jewish setting. Jesus was challenging both the religious leaders from Jerusalem and his own followers to see that traditions that merely serve as superficial markers of whether one is honorable or shameful are dead in the eyes of God. What truly honors God is not a showy practice that others see. No, it is what we do when no one is looking. It is how we help the least, the lost, or the loveless that matters in the eyes of God.

If we were to wonder where the grace is coming from in this first part of today’s Gospel lesson, we would rightfully point to it coming from this powerful teaching of Jesus. Grace emerges from within us when we are in right relationship with God, when our hearts are filled with loving intentions—healing, fidelity, healthy relationships, sharing, honor, and truthfulness.

Something surprising happens though when we exit this setting for Tyre and Sidon. Here we encounter a different sort of Jesus. One who misses the grace in the other, forgetting the outcasts, and ignoring that God is merciful to all. In the second part of this passage, Jesus and his disciples “other-ed” someone in real need.

A Canaanite woman hunted Jesus and his disciples from the minute they entered this different land. She wanted them to heal her daughter. Far be this from some outlandish request, Jesus had been healing people for his entire public ministry. Word of his power had reached beyond the Jewish world and even to their ancient enemies, the Canaanites. Sometimes, I think of Jesus as being without culture—he’s universal and beyond the struggles we face in our society, I mistakenly muse. However, Jesus was clearly emersed within Hebrew culture.

Jesus, fully divine and fully human, at first yielded to his own human tradition, giving the silent treatment to this woman in need. The disciples though were less adept at avoiding those who were anxious or annoying them. After a time of the woman shouting at them, they pleaded with Jesus to send her away. Now, normally boundaries are a useful thing, but Jesus seems to hide behind them here. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel,” he protested. The woman though was not buying it. She knelt before Jesus calling him Lord and begging for help.

Here we encounter some of the hardest words in all the red letters of the Bible. Jesus said, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Jesus called this woman and her people dogs—not in a playful way. No, this was meant as an insult—intended to send this woman away.

The grace of God though has a way of breaking through even here, but not from where we might expect. The Canaanite woman tolerated the insult. She imagined a response that over-accepted the derogatory moniker. I imagine her with a wry smile and glint in her eyes, uttering, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” She showered grace around her, as she picked up the insult thrown at her wearing it instead as a badge of honor.

Jesus and his disciples did not earn or deserve this woman’s respect, and yet she gave it to them. By grace this woman forgave these men’s arrogance, she enlightened them deconstructing their preconceived notions of this outsider, she stirred Jesus’ heart such that he was moved to heal her daughter, and she strengthened Jesus’ will such that the mission of Salvation expanded. By the end of Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus gave the great commission inviting his disciples to baptize all nations, following him, not just in Israel, but to the ends of the earth.

Can you see how provocative and powerful this woman’s witness was? She was a stranger to Jesus’ culture and mission, and yet she was the one dolling out God’s grace. Isaiah’s words are fitting here: Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

Now, you may still be wondering why this woman’s grace-filled example is important to us? If so, let me propose three reasons. First, she changed the course of Jesus’ ministry! Without her, we Gentiles might not be hearing the good news of Christ Jesus. She helped shift Jesus’ and his disciples’ understanding of who was to receive salvation and good news.

Next, she helps us look in new places for God’s blessings. We might be certain that we know from where God is going to offer us favor, unearned and undeserved. We might think we know how God is going to forgive, enlighten, stir, and strengthen us. And yet, grace has this way of always surprising us. Though it’s not mentioned in the Catechism’s definition, grace has this unexpected nature to it.

Finally, she offers to us an odd invitation. Often in our overly full lives we rightfully exert healthy boundaries, which is good! And yet, God has a way of working through that person whom we want to cut out of our lives. That annoying person we want to ignore because we are too busy, too important, or too self-centered, that person is a vessel of God’s grace too—just like you!

God’s amazing grace hits us in surprising ways when we are most needing it and least expecting it, so keep your eyes open and be on the lookout for this unearned and undeserved gift. See grace inside yourself—focusing not just on clean hands, but also on what flows from your heart. See grace outside yourself—looking beyond the superficial layers of this life to observe God’s faithfulness in unlikely places. May you be open to receive God’s surprising gift of grace, for God yearns to forgive, enlighten, stir, and strengthen you. Amen.