Lectionary: Matthew 15:21-28
Delivered at St. Innocent Orthodox Church, Olmsted Falls, OH
As Christ speaks to the Canaanite woman, just now, it seems that He is drawing some pretty harsh lines. Making distinctions between people, almost “ranking” them. Apparently, there are two kinds of people: children at the table, and little dogs.
And since Christ himself seemingly engages in this kind of categorization of people, I tell myself that it’s only natural that I do the same.
And so, as a “good Orthodox Christian”, I hear “lost sheep of Israel” and I go “that’s me!”. Christ has come and instituted his Church, and now here we are! I am a little sheep of the New Israel. And so, I take great relief that I am definitely seated at the table.
And everyone else, outside this new Israel, outside this Church: those must surely be the dogs, right? But is this the message, here?
Is life just about trying to determine who the dogs are? It is so easy for me to become preoccupied with figuring out where everybody goes. And, depending on what category I settle on, I open that person to then be judged, by me: A special little sheep of Israel that I am.
But you know, brothers and sisters, if I spend all my time looking around, and deciding who is and isn’t at the table, do you know what I’m not doing?
Eating!
When I sit and I judge, I fail to fulfill the very simple role that God has given me. To eat! To receive His heavenly bread. To be in communion with Him. And so, in spite of where I am supposedly sitting, I still find myself hungry, even starving. And this leaves me in a far worse position than those “little dogs” whom I have judged so harshly.
After all, is this Canaanite woman sent away empty handed? No! Christ ultimately praises her for her Faith, and then He does as she asks. So what’s the difference here? Why do I, someone who is surely a member of the House of Israel, why do I find myself bitterly starving, while this Canaanite manages to find what she seeks?
We see in His encounter with the Canaanite woman, today, that Christ illustrates not a path of judgment, nor of punishment, nor of separation, but rather a path of reconciliation. Today, the Canaanite woman walks that path. She first acknowledges the obvious: that she exists outside the boundaries. She is a Canaanite. She is not of the house of Israel. But then she states one of the most quintessential truths of our existence: that this alienation, that this otherness, in no way excludes her from the chance to join in God’s Grace. Even someone who is a complete stranger, someone who is completely outside the boundaries, has a chance to be welcomed in.
And that is the same opportunity given to us, today. In this very moment. For through Sin, brothers and sisters, we too have become strangers to God’s Grace. Our identity, found in Christ, is one that is defined by participation, by aligning our will with God’s. And so, once we wield that identity to judge, to hurt, to hate, to sin, we give it up. We throw it away. We have “othered” ourselves from God, through sin. We have become a stranger to Him. But God doesn’t see this and then give up on us. He sees this and he instead lowers himself. He takes the form of a servant, He becomes man. And then He goes and He dies upon the Cross.
And for whom does he bear all this suffering for? For whom does the living God enter into death itself?
For all of us, for those who are quintessentially “strange” to Him. We humans, we who can do nothing on our own except Sin. And by sacrificing himself in humility, and rising again in glory, he lays out for all of us the very same path of reconciliation. We first acknowledge our otherness, this alienation caused by Sin. We repent of it. And then we acknowledge that, despite this alienation, Christ can still get to us. And so we reject despair, and we cling to the scraps at our Master’s table, we are nourished by his Love until we are restored back to our intended purpose, as children that bear the very image of God within us.
And now, looking back to the boundaries, looking back to where we just were: we do not despise those who are still out there. We do not smugly assume and judge and condemn. We instead remember what it was like to be out there, and we feel compelled to do everything in our power to help those people in.
We imitate Christ. We do just what he did, we take the form of a servant. We do not give up on others. We do not condemn others. We see these “others”, and we seek to know them, to love them, to be with them. We do this to the point where they are no longer strangers at all, but rather fellow brothers and sisters. Fellow human beings. Made in the image and likeness of God.
And so, my brothers and my sisters, as we stand here, lost sheep of the house of Israel, sinners in the hands of a loving and merciful God, we go out today and we seek other sheep. We look for people to help, and to love, and to serve.
We embody Christ’s tenacity, we imitate his forgiveness, and we do all of it by participating in His Grace.
Glory to Jesus Christ!
