"She Persisted" **A sermon for 12 Pentecost (7/16/26) **

 

            What customs or traditions did you have growing up?  Traditions you’d like to pass on to the next generation?  In my family, the birthday person got to pick dinner, and what flavor cake and ice cream came for dessert.  On Christmas Eve, we got to pick out one present to open before we had milk and cookies before bedtime.

Jesus and His usual adversaries, the Pharisees, debate over the tradition of washing hands, pots, and cups prior to eating.  The Pharisees ask Jesus’ followers why Jesus doesn’t uphold the customs.  Jesus responds by telling His followers that true cleanliness comes from the heart and not by rigid rule keeping.

After all, what one puts in one’s mouth is later passed out of the body as waste.  What comes from the heart, from one’s thoughts and motives, one’s words and deeds, is more important than food and drink that is eventually eliminated.  What comes from the heart has the power to wound or to heal, to afflict or to comfort.

On the heels of this conversation comes the Canaanite woman- clearly unclean.  By all rights, she should not be there.  In Ancient Near East culture, women do not approach or talk to a man who is not a relative.  Matthew calls her a Canaanite woman.  Mark’s Gospel identifies her as a Syro-Phoenician woman, a Greek (Mark 7:24-30).

            When confronted by the Canaanite woman, Jesus’ friends try to send her away.  Even Jesus seems to brush her off as unimportant, as beneath his notice.  In fact, Jesus initially meets her pleas with silence.  Then Jesus calls her a dog.  This does not sound like Jesus.  Where is the Jesus that embodies God’s love for all people?

Where is the Jesus that welcomes all who come to Him?  Some scholars see this encounter as a test.  A test of the woman’s faith.  Certainly, the unnamed woman persists in her request for her daughter’s healing.  She is in total Momma Bear mode.  She will do anything to protect and save her precious child.

A few weeks back, Jesus compares God’s kingdom to the tiny mustard seed.  Jesus elsewhere teaches about having faith the size of a mustard seed (Mt 17:20).  If you missed that, mustard seeds are incredibly small.  But the seed can grow into a huge bush that provides shelter for birds and small animals.

The Canaanite woman shows that she possesses faith.  Faith larger than a mustard seed.  Faith larger than a crumb of bread from the table.  She seeks out Jesus and does not backdown.  Her persistence and her faith are rewarded.  Jesus praises her faith and heals her daughter.  Her faith stands in contrast to that of the religious leaders.

Does the woman’s faith change Jesus’ mind?  Or is Jesus modeling the ugliness of rigidity for His friends?  The Gospel writers do not include if Jesus uses a kidding tone of voice.  Or if there is a twinkle in Jesus’ eye as He talks to the woman.  Ultimately, we don’t know and it does not matter.  The end result is the same.

Jesus once again draws the circle wider.  Man-made barriers are again broken down.  More and more people get included than get excluded.  And that IS the Jesus who embodies God’s radical and lavish love.  That IS the Jesus who teaches about God’s freely-given grace for all.  As Paul reminds the Galatians:

In Christ’s family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ’s family, then you are Abraham’s famous “descendant,” heirs according to the covenant promises.

Galatians 3:28-29 (MSG)