Breaking Boundaries, Pentecost 11, August 20, 2017

Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost (Year A)

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Reading Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman during Pentecost reminds the church that God is constantly entering new territory and breaking boundaries. This God is in the unsettling business of meeting outsiders and granting them not just a crumb, but a place at the table.

– Carla Works, associate professor,

Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C.

Theme: Breaking Boundaries

Reflection: My supervisor shared a letter with me this week. After four years in his position it was a new introductory letter, a covenant with his clients. In it, he drew healthy boundaries. He said he would be the advocate and vocational go-to-person for them that he always has been, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. After hours, he would call them the next business day.

He’s an amazing person and human services worker, and like most people in the social services field, he lets his work take over. We let our boundaries slide:

•  Just this one phone call during dinner.

•  I’ll be late because I need to provide transportation so he can get to work.

•  She doesn’t have a vehicle – who’s going to help her move in on Saturday?

•  He didn’t have anyone to take care of his dogs.

•  She’s my colleague, and she is hurting.

And the people we love take a back seat and become understandably resentful.

Healthy boundaries. We all need them.

Jesus needed to re-establish his boundaries, and this was a great place to do that. The Canaanites were enemies of the Jewish people. It wasn’t hard to see why Jesus and his disciples escaped to the northern region of Tyre and Sidon, among the Gentiles.

Everywhere he went around the Galilee, the people knew he was that Rabbi, the healer, the wise teacher, the one who fed them, emotionally and physically. From sun-up to sundown, the crowds surrounded Jesus. His needs – rest, prayer, grieving – were put on the back burner. Today, we’d say Jesus was a high risk for burnout and compassion fatigue.

But among the Gentiles, he and his disciples could rest and eat without interruption. The locals didn’t want anything to do with these Galileans.

Except that woman. They weren’t sure how she knew Jesus’ identity, or why she would risk rejection by her people by reaching out to a Jewish man. But she was in their face, calling Jesus “Lord, Son of David.” Jesus and his disciples finally had the place and time to sit back, so they ignored her, told her to get lost. What would a Canaanite woman want with Jesus? “Have mercy on me; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

Loud and persistent, the woman finally annoyed Jesus into a response. No way, he said. My mission is with the people of Israel.

“Lord, help me.”

I imagine Jesus trying to stand firm while looking at the pleading eyes of a mother, thinking about her hurting child. With a little less resolve, Jesus tried again. My ministry, it is my gift and calling for my people. They have hurting children, too. If I heal your child, it opens up a can of worms. “It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Ouch. The woman looked at him as if he slapped her. “Yes, Lord,” she said, knowing the gulf between them was wide, but she was out of options for her daughter. So, she begged one last time. “Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

And something in him snapped. Perhaps it was the desperation of a mother, a woman created in God’s image, comparing herself to a dog licking up crumbs. And his compassion broke wide open his wall of resolve. My grace is enough – for everyone.

“Woman,” he said, in the tone he reserved only for mothers, including his own, “great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”

We never hear a word about the unnamed woman again. Presumably, she went home to celebrate and give thanks for the healing of her child. Reveling in the feast of grace when she was hoping for crumbs. And the change in her daughter wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Her witness likely became the good news that spread to the north and beyond.

Boundaries are good, I told my boss. Healthy for us and our families. But, I continued, both of us know there are times when we’ll break those boundaries, when we’re faced with a hurting and desperate person. Someone begging for crumbs. Someone we can serve a feast of grace. 

(You always are welcome to respond with your thoughts and reflections in the comments section at the bottom of this post.)

Faith App:  Break down an unnecessary boundary this week. Tear down a wall between you and another person. Listen to someone – listening with your ears and heart – in order to understand.

HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, ELW 587/588

One Bread, One Body, ELW 496

God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending, ELW 678

When the Poor Ones, ELW 725

Gather Us In, ELW 532

All Are Welcome, ELW 641

O Christ the Healer We Have Come, ELW 610

Goodness is Stronger than Evil, ELW 721

Healer of Our Every Ill, ELW 612

Table of Grace, Phillips, Craig & Dean

Come to the Table, Sidewalk Prophets

Broken Things, Matthew West (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdUu6ZsdVfM)

Give Us Clean Hands, Chris Tomlin

Peace (A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph’s Square), Rich Mullins

LESSONS

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

Psalm 67 Let your ways and saving power be known among all the nations.

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 God will use the rejection of the Israelites to redeem all people.

Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 Jesus expands his saving mission beyond Israel.

Summary: Not one of us deserves the crumbs or table scraps from the Lord’s table, so we are blessed that our welcome doesn’t require us to earn it. Grace invites us to this table of abundance and joy. Love expands the table and pulls up extra chairs. Justice sees empty seats and won’t rest until everyone – EVERYONE – is there.

OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 67

L:  Please, God, look upon us and give us your blessing,

C:  Not because we deserve it, but because you are Light,

L:  Shining onto our faces, into the world’s darkest places,

C:  Make us radiant, so the world knows your goodness!

L:  Let the peoples praise you, O God!

C:  Let all the peoples praise you!

L:  Restore to this earth the joy of your saving ways,

C:  People dancing and singing because you are Love,

L:  All people moving to the beat of justice and peace,

C:  Praising the harmony of your kingdom coming near.

L:  Let the peoples praise you, O God!

C:  Let all the peoples praise you!

L:  Give us a vision of what your world could be like,

C:  Your abundance multiplied because you are Grace;

L:  We pray that you continue to guide and bless us,

C:  As divisions cease, and together we worship you.

CONFESSION

L:  Lord, help us, and show mercy to your children,

C:  So slow to learn the lessons you try to teach us;

L:  How we like to draw lines, and we’re good at division,

C:  Patiently, you erase our borders and multiply blessings.

L:  Lord, help us, we know the pain of being left out,

C:  Fearful and hurting, doing anything to stay inside,

L:  Even averting our eyes when others are rejected,

C:  Kindly, you gather outcasts and bring them to the table

L:  Lord, help us, we need you to break down our pride,

C:  For we torment your Spirit by ignoring other’s gifts,

L:  Discouraging those who hear your new thing calling,

C:  Gently, you guide them and fill their hearts with joy.

(Silent reflection)

L:  In our confession, we pray together,

C:  Most Merciful God … Your words of welcome for the foreigner, hospitality for the outcast, and love for our neighbors get lost in translation. We separate your people into “us” and “them” – the people who live, look, think, and act like us, and the large, collective “them” – people we don’t understand and don’t want to know. Our evil intentions and disobedient actions reveal our defiled hearts. Free us from our unjust ways and unclear vision of your kingdom.

Hear this Good News: She came and knelt before Jesus, saying “Lord, help me.” And Jesus’ mercy broke down the last division, spreading grace and healing to everyone. You are that woman, begging for crumbs, and being welcomed to the feast. You are lifted off your knees and freed from every division between you and your God. Forgiven, let us share this Good News with all God’s children.

In the name of…

Amen

PRAYER OF THE DAY

L:  We pray together, 

C:  God of Irrepressible Grace … we pray to learn your way of bringing together your beloved people. Around you, every barrier falls: gender, skin color, race, color, language, age, ability, and wealth. Compassion bursts the dam of division, and love floods in to heal every wound. Be with us, Lord, as we learn to see all people as family. Amen.

COMMUNION BLESSING

L:  We pray together,

C:  We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the abundant crumbs in this bread, the joyful covenant in this cup, signs of your borderless grace. Grant us your vision for the outcast, the foreigner, the hurting and the poor, that we may see the world as you do, without division, and be filled with urgency to bring that kingdom vision to life.  Amen.

BENEDICTION from Psalm 67

L:  May God be merciful to us and bless us; may the light of God’s face shine upon us.

C:  Let the peoples praise you, O God, let ALL the peoples praise you!

L:  Let your way be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.

C:  Let the peoples praise you, O God, let ALL the peoples praise you!

SENDING

L:  Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of Israel,

C:  And in compassion, shared his love with all.

L:  All of us are beggars before Jesus, our Lord,

C:  Receiving mercy, we go to share mercy with all.

L:  Go now, stuffed with the crumbs of grace, to love and to serve the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God!

First Reading Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: We think of God’s covenant throughout the Old Testament as being between God and the chosen people of Israel. But even the prophetic writing of Third Isaiah foretold an expanded covenant.

56 Thus says the Lord:
    Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
    and my deliverance be revealed.

⁶ And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
    and hold fast my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain,
    and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
    for all peoples.
⁸ Thus says the Lord God,
    who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
    besides those already gathered.

Second Reading Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: A couple of chapters earlier in Romans, Paul wrote that God makes all things work for good. Here, Paul extends that idea: even Israel’s failure to accept Jesus could work for good.

11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. ³² For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Gospel Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Crowds continue to press in on Jesus and the disciples, and after crossing over the Galilee, they head north, into Gentile territory, for some regrouping. Jesus was about to experience – well, a plot twist.

(¹⁰ Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹ it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” ¹² Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” ¹³ He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” ¹⁶ Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸ But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰ These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”)

²¹ Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² 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.” ²³ 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.” ²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.