For
Sunday, August 20, 2023, Readings: Isaiah 56:1-8, Psalm 67, Romans 11:1-2a,
29-32, Matthew 15: 21-28
And the
foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…will be
accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel:
I will
gather others to them besides
those already gathered. [Isaiah 56:6-8]
May God be merciful
to us and bless us…Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among
all nations…Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples
with equity and guide all the nations upon earth. [from Psalm 67]
God has not rejected
his people whom he foreknew…For the gifts and the calling of God are
irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received
mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order
that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. [Romans 11:2a, 29-32]
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region…shouting,
“Have mercy on me, Lord”… He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel… It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to
the dogs”… She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your
faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” [from
Matthew 15:21-28]
The Readings for this week are wonderfully and marvelously connected.
In Isaiah, some backstory will help. This is a time when the people of Israel
are returning from the exile of generations in Babylon. Are they still the
same? Presumably most of those who were originally exiled are dead and so come
the descendants who have likely assimilated to some degree by custom and
culture and are wondering if they are welcome in the homeland of their
ancestors and of their religion. Some will have told them that they must dissolve their
foreign marriages and send the wives (and children?) away. Moving to a whole new
place far away from where you have been for many years or even your entire life is never easy and those who are there may well be suspicious and perhaps feel threatened.
Those returning will be wary and worried. Yet God says the foreigners who
join themselves to the Lord…will
be accepted on my altar…says the Lord
God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them… and
then we move to Psalm 67 which reminds us God’s ways are the saving health
among the nations and that God judges people with equity.
Paul continues this almost
theme of people wondering if they’re being rejected or, if they should reject
those “others” who come into their midst with strange habits or language or
food or cultural practices that go against the local norms. It’s strange phrasing
when Paul says that God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be
merciful to all. But the clear message comes before that: For the gifts
and the calling of God are irrevocable. Who of us haven’t been disobedient? Whether
we are imprisoned in order for God to be merciful requires greater
thought and many extra words but for me, I’ll stick with the God Who is Merciful to ALL.
And then the classic
encounter with THE OTHER! Ok, so Jesus set himself up for this one whether deliberately
or not, but by Jesus and his disciples traveling out of Galilee, of course they
would come in contact with foreigners. But a Canaanite and a woman, tsk
tsk tsk, not good! All the prejudices and religious practices of the
Jewish community would clearly see her as not only an unclean outsider but an enemy.
When she calls out to Jesus, even with her best recognition of his status, begging for him to cure her daughter, Jesus and the disciples
are more than dismissive, they’re rude. Jesus actually insults her by comparing his potential interaction with her as throwing the food of children to a dog. Then she kneels before him,
and while risking everything with her feisty remark she tells him, Yes,
Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ tables.
He then commends the greatness of her faith and heals her daughter.
Was it another
test for the disciples, was it planned in advance, was it a simple human response to an "other" on his part? We don’t know, we can’t know. But what we can know is that all
these crumbs gathered together in these readings are an enormous opportunity
for us all to look at all those around us to see the them and the
us and who is them to us and who is us to us and most importantly why. And
then, we are to remember that God gathers us, the outcasts, and the foreigners and judges all people
with equity and mercy. If God doesn’t reject outcasts, and Jesus heals them,
who am I to reject an other that doesn’t seem to fit in my “normal”
environment. And remember further, that we each are an other to someone, somewhere, even if only a block away. Let us connect all those crumbs and make a whole community of all
peoples.
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader: ~ O God of Equity and Mercy, show us the light of
Your Countenance as we share Your ways across this Earth. Gather us together as
foreigner and outcast and other, to bless and guide us, to praise you and be joyful
in Your house of prayer as One People in our One God.
O Lord of All Peoples
RESPONSE: You are our Saving Health
~ O God of Equity and Mercy, empower us to be vigorous in the pursuit of justice and all that is right. Guide us to reform our own attitudes and actions from callous to compassionate and especially those on the part of political leaders of this World, this Country, and this Community. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
O Lord of All Peoples
You are our Saving Health
~ O God of Equity and Mercy, infuse hope, healing, and comfort in all who are lost in the grip of serious or life-threatening illness or addiction, and all who give of their strength in support. We now join our hearts to pray for those in need… add your own petitions
O Lord of All Peoples
You are our Saving Health
~ O God of Equity and Mercy, open wide the gates of heaven as You receive in joy, those we now commend to the bliss of eternal life. We pray especially for… add your own petitions
O Lord of All Peoples
You are our Saving Health
~ O God of Equity and Mercy, we pause in this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions, petitions, and memorials… add your own petitions
O Lord of All Peoples
You are our Saving Health
~ O God of Equity and Mercy, we
offer our special thanksgivings for those who guide, us by their teaching,
preaching, and prayers, to discern our own irrevocable gifts and calling to
discover our path to all that is good and acceptable to You. We pray
especially for: add your own
petitions
O Lord of All Peoples
You are our Saving Health
The Celebrant
adds: O God, Our
Own God, awaken us each morning with the eagerness to offer ourselves in
service to Your Supreme Will. Grant us the grace to respect as Your Own, each
one we meet, letting go of our prejudice and fear of the other in our
midst, recognizing we each are an other to someone. We ask through
Jesus, Son of David, our Blessed Messiah; and the Holy Spirit, our Counselor
and Advocate; who together with You are one God, eternal and everlasting. Amen.
