Great is her faith
Readings: Matthew 15. 10-28
Hypocrisy is one of life’s most frustrating things isn’t it? Those who say or profess one thing and later, or even immediately, do or say something which completely goes against what they claim to believe. I think it’s most frustrating because you almost feel you can’t argue with them, they seem comfortable with this dissonance, this disconnect between what they say they believe and how they live.
Some of Jesus’ harshest critiques were for those who were hypocrites, particularly those amongst the religious leaders and religious elite of his day, particularly amongst the Pharisees. Outwardly they appeared to love God, appeared to love his commands, his laws and his ways. Indeed the Pharisees had become adept at interpreting the law, applying it to every area of life, adding in extra rules and regulations to ensure they weren’t even at risk of violating a commandment. And yet for all of this outward conformity, Jesus labels them hypocrites, later in this Gospel he calls them whitewashed tombs. For all their outward conformity their hearts remained far from God. If anything, this structure of additional rules and interpretations allowed them to keep God at arm’s length.
Now this isn’t to portray that entire tradition as rotten, these aren’t the villains of film or panto where we can boo and hiss every time they enter the stage, there are amongst their number those who truly do love God, we hear of a few in the Gospel’s, but amongst this group were many who simply wanted the appearance of holiness whilst living far from the source of all holiness.
Jesus is quick to point out, outward conformity isn’t enough. Subscribing outwardly to a set of practices and rules isn’t enough to change us. We may be careful to only eat what is permitted under the law, but doing so doesn’t change our hearts. We can still be filled with all sorts of sinful desires; evil intentions, unbridled anger, lust, jealousy, envy, lies. Outward conformity does not equal a lively faith. Indeed it can actually mask the lack of one.
And as though to demonstrate this the very next incident Matthew records concerns one who does not outwardly conform, someone who is as far from the household of faith as it is possible to be. A Canaanite woman. The Canaanite’s, if you remember from the Old Testament, were one of the tribes living in the land which became the nation of Israel when Joshua (the successor to Moses) and the people came up from Egypt. They were one of the tribes whose practices were so abhorrent, so evil, that God commanded the Ancient Israelites to wipe them out both as an act of God’s judgement and lest they be drawn into such practices themselves. As you’ll realise from the presence of this woman with Jesus, they didn’t do so.
So here is someone from a tribe which in no way shape or form, conforms to the life of faith as God’s people have received it. Who is part of a tribe who are the sworn enemies of Israel, who in many ways stand for everything Israel stands against. And yet she comes to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter.
Whilst she is not part of God’s people she nevertheless recognises who Jesus is, she recognises him as the Messiah, the Saviour that God’s people have been waiting for. We know this because she calls him the Son of David, a title which by this time was used to describe the Messiah. She recognises who he is, and in recognising him, recognises him as the one who would be able to heal her daughter, save her daughter. So she’s calling after him to do so.
And Jesus ignores her, which is strange isn’t it. And then, when pressed to do something by his disciples, he reminds her who’s Messiah he is, he’s here for God’s people, of whom she is not part.
And yet she persists, asking simply that he would help her.
And then Jesus responds with what appears to be a racial slur. It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. This is language used Gentiles at this point in history. Is Jesus calling this woman a dog? Is Jesus referring to this people as dogs? Is Jesus in this passage a hypocrite? Caught up in the prejudices and intolerances of his age? There will be many who across the country will say from pulpits that he was, that even Jesus was caught up in prejudice and racial superiority, but that this woman challenged him and he grew, he learned how to be more open, realised the errors of his ways.
That isn’t what’s going on here. Such an interpretation falls down the moment we zoom out of the passage and take in all of Scripture.
The Bible in various places describes Jesus as sinless, as the one who never sinned. Indeed his death on the cross as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world is predicated on him having no sin himself for which he would need to die to atone for. And yet if we interpret this passage to say that Jesus was prejudiced then we must either come to the conclusion that Jesus was not without sin, in which case our faith is in vain. Or we must say that such prejudice and bias is not sinful, particularly if it’s unconscious, culturally determined. But I don’t think anyone would want to argue such a point. Such prejudice absolutely is sinful, conscious or not.
Moreover we don’t even need to leave Matthew’s Gospel to see that such an interpretation is flawed. Just a few chapters earlier, chapter 8, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to heal the servant of a centurion who is not an Israelite. He’s travelled though Syria and Decapolis, Gentile majority areas, ministering there. He had no qualms before, he’s clearly not prejudiced or racist, so why the reluctance here?
He’s drawing out her faith. He recognises the depths of her faith and wants to draw it out more clearly. Indeed the apparent slur, the reference to dogs, makes a step towards her in its language, he doesn’t use the word for a street mongrel, instead he uses the word for a pet dog. His parable draws her into the household, creates an opening, and she seizes upon this and expands his parable, reminding him that such dogs eat the scraps, the crumbs which fall from the table.
What an amazing response. She knows that what she asks for is not hers by right as she might be able to claim as an Israelite, yet she asks anyway. She has humility in accepting the smallest of crumbs from Jesus, and great faith in recognising that even the smallest of crumbs from Jesus’ bountiful mercy and grace will be more than sufficient for the healing of her daughter. No wonder Jesus commends her. Whilst outwardly she may not fit, she nevertheless has great faith. It’s an interesting feature of Matthew’s gospel that only two are commended for their faith, this woman and the centurion earlier, both gentiles. And it is this woman alone in all of the Gospel’s whose faith is described as great.
Jesus draws her out so that the depths and greatness of her faith are revealed for all to see, a faith which is in stark contrast to the Pharisees at the start of the passage. And in this encounter Jesus continues to draw the circle of faith wider and wider, drawing all who will believe in him to himself, that they might know the saving power of God for themselves.
Outward conformity does not a lively faith make. This woman, whilst being outside of the household of faith, has greater faith than some of those within. Yet let us not fall into another form of hypocrisy. There are many, including those is positions of authority, who choose to flaunt their lack of conformity as a sign of their great faith. Who choose to be edgy, who delight in controversy, who choose not to model their lives after Jesus, who live contrary to much of how Scripture calls us to live. Yet in doing so they simply mirror the Pharisees in the way of a photonegative, for both choose not to live as God calls, yet want to be admired for the greatness of their faith. One chooses conformity, the other rebellion, yet neither is the true way.
Outward conformity will never renew our hearts and minds and lives, will never alone result in a lively faith. And yet, in faithfully following Jesus, in seeking to obey and live as he calls, in loving him above all else, a lively faith is stoked, and a lively faith renews and restores what is inside. A lively faith will remake us in the image of Jesus.
In our daily lives let us seek to faithfully come to Jesus day by day, asking for that which we do not deserve, knowing that in the abundance of his grace and mercy he delights to give it to us. Let us seek the faith of the Canaanite woman, and not the outward conformity of the Pharisees. And in doing so may we find ourselves restored and renewed from the inside out. And let us live the life of faith that, when we are accused of hypocrisy, because none of us is perfect, we may not respond with bluster and dissembling, but humbly point to Jesus who has forgiven us every sin.
Amen.