Redford Aldersgate
United Methodist Church

Since we’ve been back from our vacation, we’ve been following Jesus’ adventures as recorded in chapters 14 and 15 in Matthew. Let me recap just a minute for those of you who might have been on vacation one or more of those weeks. At the beginning of chapter 14, Jesus receives the news of a friend’s death. His cousin and good friend – the one who baptized him – John the Baptist has been beheaded. That was horrible news and he wanted to get away for awhile, so he went away to a "lonely place" so he could be by himself. But... the crowds saw him get in the boat and they went on foot and got there before he did. So he ended up feeding a multitude of 5,000 men plus a bunch of women and children. Then he sent his disciples on ahead so he could be by himself after he dismissed the crowds ... but by the time it was evening, those poor disciples were having troubles out in the boat because the wind was against them. So, Jesus ended up walking out to them and ended up pulling Peter out of the water. That was where we left him last week. Well, after they came to shore, the news spread quickly that he was there. Essentially, he was mobbed by a crowd where everyone was healed who they touched his clothes. Then there was a confrontation with some Pharisees and scribes who had come to Jerusalem to argue with him. They were upset because his disciples didn’t always go through the ritual washing before they ate. Jesus ended up calling the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites because they would say one thing and do another. Then he told them a parable about what really matters is what comes out of your heart, not what goes into your mouth. But the disciples didn’t get it so he explained it again to them. So today’s story is preceded by confusion, conflict and demand on his time... and all he wanted to do was get away by himself a bit.

Instead of acting the story out here, I asked Rick, Barb and Bob to come over and act it out in the garden so I could make a movie of it. That way we can rewind the movie and look at things a bit closer. So imagine that this is a path not far from the Mediterranean Sea quite a way from Jesus’ home territory in Galilee. He’s hoping to finally get some peace and quiet. Lets see what happens.

Matthew 15:21-28

This is a rather strange story ... not your typical Jesus story. The woman seems like an obnoxious, pushy, determined woman... And even Jesus is not in his usual form. Actually if Jesus were running for a political office today, his opponent could take this story and make a nasty campaign ad. Jesus’ words in this story could easily be twisted to make him look quite different from the image we have of Jesus. For example, we think of Jesus as compassionate ... not so in this story. He seems uncompassionate. First he doesn’t speak to the woman, then he calls her a name. Usually, we think of him as quick acting. He heals immediately and reaches out to save immediately. But here, he’s not very quick acting at all. Also, he is usually very quick thinking and wins all his verbal disagreements with people. He wins the verbal matches with the Pharisees all the time. He has just completed a sparring match with them and come out on top. But here, he loses a verbal match when a foreign woman gets the upper hand. Not too good for your image. Plus, the big political faux-paux , it seems that he changed his mind! First he says it’s not fair to help her, but then he helps her. Political opponents would call him wishy-washy, or worse. So, this is a strange story.

But if we look closely we will see that both the woman and Jesus are illustrating something very important for us to emulate... something that will bring us great joy ... something that will help get us through those hair-pulling days, even more productively than a vacation.

That is: they saw the positive and grew in understanding of themselves! Let’s look at the clip again and see if we also can see the positive example in this story.

. Now as the scene opens, here comes Jesus straight from all that conflict and confusion and demands on his time that we talked about. The human part of him must have been ready to tear his hair out, so to speak. All he wants to do is get away from it all.

At first when the woman comes up, he simply does not answer her at all. He looks rather calm on the outside, but on the inside, he may have looked more like this.  Perhaps he had been thinking: Go away. I want to be alone! So, by not answering, maybe he was just hoping she would go away. We’ve all had that feeling haven’t we. If we don’t deal with it, it will just go away. Or maybe he was trying to figure out how he was going to handle it... Just give me a minute and I’ll figure out what to do.... Or maybe it was a deeper inner struggle. Maybe all the turmoil of the last few days had brought up an inner doubt which he hadn’t quite resolved -- Was he or was he not to help people who were not Jewish ... those they called the Gentiles? Now this is not the first Gentile (non-Jew) who has asked for help. There was a Centurion who wanted his servant healed. Jesus did it. The man with the legion of demons was more than likely a Gentile. Jesus let those demons go into the pigs. Many of those people who had just crowded around him and touched his robe to be healed had no doubt been Gentiles. But still... was this his real mission? According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus knew from the beginning that his mission was to Gentiles as well as Jews, but still, there might have been this question in his mind: Is this really what I’m here for? He knew that he was the Messiah. But the Messiah was to come for the house of Israel. So, after the disciples suggest that he send her away because she is bothering them, he answers. The scripture says he answers, but it doesn’t say who he is addressing. He might be speaking to the disciples, or the woman, or even talking to himself. But what he does is state the messianic argument. "I [thinking of himself as the messiah] was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

A Jewish form of debate begins by stating the presupposition and then giving arguments pro and con. The Apostle Paul was always doing that. So sometimes it is confusing to read Paul’s words because we don’t realize that he’s just stating both sides of the issues. Now Jesus doesn’t usually do it that way, but perhaps that is what is going on here. Jesus is stating what everyone thinks is the truth.

Then as the persistent woman falls at his feet and says simply, "Lord help me." and now he starts to really look at her. Is it fair to help her or not? Again Jesus states what the majority of people think. "It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the ..." I had Rick pause here and look at the woman.

Now here is the face he was looking at.

She was a Canaanite. They were the people the Jews called "dogs." They were the enemy. They were mean and vicious.

The word usually used for them - dog - might conjure up a picture of an animal like this... mean, ugly, vicious. But Jesus was looking at a face like this. He saw her as a person. As a woman who loved her daughter and had a big problem.

 He saw the good and positive in her. Instead of seeing a terrible dog like that picture, he must have thought of a dog that looked more like this one.  Therefore, instead of calling her a dog - a mean, ugly, vicious dog, he called her a puppy. I know your Bible translates it dog, which is technically accurate. But actually the word Jesus used was a word which described a household pet. We would say, "puppy."... and the picture it would recall to mind would be something more like this cute little puppy, who is getting bigger all the time, but she’s still really cute. She happens to belong to our daughter and her family. Her name is Candy Corn because she happens to like to eat candy corn that might fall from the table.

Now, as we zoom back in on the face of the woman, we can see that when she hears Jesus call her a dog (or even a puppy), she is a bit taken back and no doubt hurt. But the word quickly sparks a thought in her head. She sees the positive. She realizes that a household pet is not going to go hungry. The dogs love to eat things that fall from the table (as the picture on the bulletin cover shows).

So in words that many would take as a put down.... words that seem to exclude her from the healing that she so desperately needs ... words that seem to say NO ... she sees something different. Instead of exclusion, she sees INCLUSION. She knows that household pets ... puppies ... are beloved members of the family.

Would my daughter’s family let these beloved members of their family go hungry. Of course not! There are always plenty of crumbs ... as well as more healthy dog food that is there for them. Even grandma loves those dogs. They laugh about the fact that when I dog-sit at my house for these two, I fix myself two packets of oatmeal for breakfast, just so there will be plenty left over for them when I’m finished. Actually, sometimes, I just fix them each their own bowl and we all eat oatmeal together. But the fact is household pets are loved and cared for.

So, Jesus, in calling her a puppy was seeing the positive in her. The woman in hearing the word, saw the positive. Therefore, in humility, she does not argue that she deserves any favors, she just states a truth. Even dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the table. She takes that little spark of positive image that came from the word "puppy" and turns it into an even bigger positive picture. Jesus then sees ... not an enemy ... not a Gentile ... not even a puppy ... but a woman of great faith. He sees the positive and as a result, not only the woman’s daughter is healed, but he is more confident and sure of his mission. From there he goes on to heal lots more people and feed another multitude. This second multitude is in the Gentile territory and the numbers are of great importance to the Gentiles. There are 7 loaves and 7 baskets of left overs. The number 7 in the Greek/Roman world was the perfect number ... the number for completion. Whereas the first feeding on the Jewish side of the lake used 5 loaves (reminiscent of the 5 Books of Law) and 12 baskets of leftovers (reminiscent of the 12 tribes of Israel).

All this is to say that it seems to me that the message God wanted me (and hopefully all of you) to hear is: look for the positive in any situation and to grow as a result. Both the woman and Jesus did just that. They were great examples for us. Jesus looked at an irritating interruption and saw a woman of faith who helped him clarify his mission. The woman heard words that many thought would exclude her, but she saw God’s compassion including her in the family. As a result, not only was her daughter healed, but she has become an example for all Christ’s followers down through the ages..

Life is full of difficult times. Times we feel like we’d like to pull our hair out. But look carefully at that situation and see if there isn’t something positive there – a new way of looking at things – that will help you to grow. Life is full of dark days, but the darkness is ready to turn to dawning. Look for the positive and see if there is something you can learn from that situation, or something that will make things better for you.

People have asked us if it rained a lot when we were in Scotland I can tell you that it rained every day... or I can tell you that the sun shone every day. Both would be true. It’s whether you look on the bright or the dark side of things. The same is true in life. We all have difficult times ... but we all also have wonderful things happen to us. Maybe the good things are disguised and as hidden as being called a puppy instead of a dog. But look... look for those positive things.

This week, I heard Olympic athlete after athlete interviewed. So many times the reporters would point out mistakes they had made and ask how they were going to overcome that problem. It seemed like the most successful ones would say things like, "Yes, I know I need to work on that. But right now, I’m just staying focused on what I can do." They were looking on the positive side of things.

So many times, things happen which seem bad at the time, but when we look back on them, we can see the blessings that were there. A week ago yesterday, we were at a funeral of a dear friend of ours. He was the same age as me, only he had retired the same year as Bob. On Monday of that week, he dropped dead with a massive heart attack. There was no warning at all. At the memorial service, one of his adult sons got up and told about losing his job because of the economic problems. The only other job he could get happened to be not far from his parents home. He was far away from his own family, but near to his parents. So every week, he visited his folks. As he reflected back on those weekly visits that would have been impossible if he had remained at his other job, he said, "I didn’t realize what a blessing losing my high paid job was. I got to know my father in a whole new way and I learned so much." Now he could see the positive of a difficult situation and could realize the way he had grown through that.

I don’t know what situations are in each one of your lives. But I do know that there is a positive glimmer there somewhere. As the songs Cory sang indicated, God is with us and will take care of us. We are beloved members of God’s family. God is putting something positive in our path... just look for it. It may be buried under some stuff that looks negative, but it is there. Look for it and see what ways it can help you grow.