Fr. Troy Beecham

Sermon delivered at the SSJE

Cambridge, MA.

10 February 2014

We often struggle to fully live in the power and reality of God’s love.  No one is really surprised by such an assertion.  We know ourselves well enough to know just how much we struggle to love each other the way that God loves us.  We do feel surprised, though, when we seem to see Jesus stuck in a similar condition.  In this startling, even offensive, exchange between Jesus and this nameless woman, we witness this struggle in action.

Jesus’ initial refusal to include this pagan woman in the scope of his care and concern gives stark testimony that, even in the presence of the incarnate Lord, we in our creaturely confusion can fail to live into the fullness of God’s life giving Spirit.  It is surprising to us to see Jesus behave in this way because he included women in the company of his disciples and in table fellowship, even though his culture made such inclusion difficult at best, and forbidden more often than not.  The harsh rebuke given to the plea for help by this very Jewish messiah to a heathen, Gentile woman bears witness to our often impoverished understanding of God’s bounteous provision, in which we imagine a world where there is only just enough to feed ourselves, those whom we love, and those whom we will claim as belonging within our tribal or national identities.

What causes me to catch my breath in this gospel account, though, even more than the rebuke, is the luminous faith of this woman. In the face of stormy and turbulent words, her gracious reply reflected God’s marvelous light as in a clear mirror, a light that shone upon unseen vistas, revealing just how beautiful, spacious, and undiscovered is God’s kingdom. In the light of her faith we see a vision of God’s paradise garden, where all are invited to find their healing and rest. In this light, like the dawn of a new day, Jesus and his disciples appeared to see with new eyes a feast so superabundant that even the largest banquet tables of our imagination simply cannot contain all that God desires to give, a banquet where even the crumbs that fall from the overflow can feed the whole world.

Her persistent and reverent confrontation of the certainties that kept Jesus and his party separated from her opened the door for them to hear the invitation from God, which opened their ears to the deeper harmony of grace that underlies all of creation and opened their hearts in love for this foreigner.  Because of her courageous faithfulness and love for her child, and the willingness of Jesus to open his heart to her, healing was released into the world, and the fellowship of disciples was never the same again. What might have remained only a small, exclusive community was opened wide to receive all of God’s children. Because of her, the Church is made up of peoples from all over the world, from every nation and people.

We still need the Syrophoenician woman today in the living presence of those whose claims on the love of God challenge us, to call us to lay out more tables and to expand our definition of family.  When we are found to be walking in the shadows of our own brokenness, will we allow God to crack open the door so that the light of God’s love may shine and lead us into the glory of his kingdom? When we are found to be stuck in the echo chambers of our insider mentalities, will we allow ourselves to be caught up in the undying, insistent symphony of God’s love and grace, and exult with all of creation in the song of love that simply will be heard?

Following our savior Jesus Christ, let us pray that we might be set free to love as God loves us so that healing might be released into the world in ever increasing abundance and joy. Amen.