Proper 15
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
The assigned Gospel text for this week skips over a couple of sections in Matthew's story. Matthew 14:34-36 cites Jesus' journey to Gennesaret. The crowds of people recognized him immediately and all of the sick came to him for healing. Just a touch of Jesus' garment brought healing to many. The crowd in Gennesaret recognized Jesus. They came to him in their need.
The crowd in Gennesaret presents quite a contrast to the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem who encounter Jesus in order to test him with questions: 15:1-20. Jesus tries to get the Pharisees and scribes to understand (v. 10) why their traditions about what defiles a person are inside-out and backwards. What comes out of the heart is what defiles a person.
That's Jesus' point; "...but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile" (15:20). The disciples, too, lack understanding of this matter: v. 16. The issue of understanding is not new to our story. It appeared several times in Matthew 13.
See vv. 10-15, 18, 23, 51. Sometimes it seems that the disciples understand, sometimes they do not. They have much yet to learn. Such is the hallmark of a disciple in any age.
Smith comments on the material in Matthew 15 as follows:
Chapter 15 is actually a smaller unit set within a number of larger sections. First, it is part of the sequence of material in 15:1--16:12, which in turn is bracketed by two great moments of confession. Disciples hail Jesus as "Son of God" first in the boat on the sea (14:33) and then again at Caesarea Philippi (16:16). The enclosed material (15:1--16:12) begins (15:1-9) and ends (16:1-12) with treatments of the teaching or tradition of the Pharisees. So the twin themes of high confession of Jesus and deep opposition to Jesus, which loom so large in all of 11:1--16:20, are further developed here in chapter 15.1
There is another theme that ties these stories together, and that is the theme of bread. Matthew 14 began with a feast at Herod's palace (14:1-12) which was followed by the story of Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 (14:13-21). The dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem is also about eating (15:1-20). The text assigned for this week has Jesus saying to a Gentile woman that he cannot take Israel's bread and give it to her. She replies: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (v. 27).
Matthew 15 closes with the story of Jesus' feeding of the 4,000 (vv. 32-39). Why these stories relate to the theme of bread is another matter. Is this a mnemonic device for storytellers? Is it merely accidental? Were questions of eating crucial questions for the Matthean community? We have no definitive answers to these questions.
Robert Smith suggests that bread is a rich symbol for teaching and salvation.
It is this topic of bread and eating that ties together Jesus' discussion with the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem with the story of the Canaanite woman from the district of Tyre and Sidon. We're in pagan territory now. Gentile land. Jesus comes face to face here with an unclean woman. That has been the topic of conversation between Jesus and the religious authorities. They had all kinds of rules and regulations about what is clean and unclean. One of the functions of this distinction was to keep the "wrong people," however defined, away from the banquet table. Jesus knows this tradition. He, too, is ready to exclude a woman from the table. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Jesus tells his disciples in trying to get rid of this woman. Still she came into his presence. She knelt before him. "Lord, help me," she said. Jesus replied: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." "Yes, Lord," she retorted, "yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
This is clearly one of the most unbelievable stories in the entire Gospel tradition. What is Jesus doing out there in pagan land, anyway? And why does he try to keep the woman from the table? We wish he had never said these words. But he did. And the unclean Gentile woman responded.
She cried out for mercy.
Jesus was touched by this cry for mercy. By the law the woman should have been excluded from the table. By the gospel mercy is be shown. Jesus said: "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Her daughter was healed instantly.
The thrust of these stories in 15:1-20 and 21-28 is that the table is thrown open! In the case of the woman the table is thrown open to unclean Gentiles. The story of the Gentile centurion in 8:5-13 is a kind of parallel story to the tale of the unclean woman who helped to remind Jesus of his mission of mercy. The centurion is also commended for his faith: "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.... Go; let it be done for you according to your faith" (8:10, 13).
In the case of the Gentile woman we have heard that her faith is great. In our previous chapter we discussed the disciples as those who were often characterized as those of "little faith." Here is a woman of "great faith." A Gentile woman. An unclean woman. What is her faith? Her cry for mercy appears to be the mark of her faith. (Other cries for mercy are heard in 17:15 and 20:31, 33.) Such is the true nature of faith. It is a cry for mercy to One who can help. If we wish our faith to be great we need only come to Emmanuel with a cry for help. He could not turn away an unclean Gentile woman. He won't turn us away, either.
The stories told in 15:1-28, a story of the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem and a story of a woman from Gentile-land, present us with a grand contrast. The Pharisees dispute and disbelieve. They should know better. The woman disputes and believes. How did she know better? Yet she became Emmanuel's teacher. She reminded him of his mission to the Gentiles. This week's text, therefore, can be treated as a missionary text.
Homiletical Directions
Let's stick first to this mission theme. We have many story telling options here. We can tell the stories of Matthew 15:1-28 contrasting the clean who wished to keep all others clean and the unclean woman who lived in the world of the pagans. Jesus' word to the "clean" opened up the table in a surprising way to the "unclean."
The Canaanite woman is a great teacher of mission! You can have a lot of fun telling these as contrasting stories. The point is clear. Jesus' mission includes the unclean, the Gentiles, you and me!
This reality can be supported by the story of the centurion in 8:5-13, a story not appointed in the Matthean lectionary. Or, we can remind our hearers again of the theme of mission to the Gentiles contained in Matthew 1 (cf. the genealogy, see our Chapter 1) and Matthew 28:16-20, the Great Commission. Such a sermon will underscore both that we as unclean Gentiles are included at God's table and that, as those "made clean" by the blood of the lamb, we have a mission to spread this news to the ends of the earth.
Another option for preaching would be to deal with the theme of faith. Story one would be the textual story told with an emphasis on her cry for mercy and Jesus' final word that her faith is "great." The woman's great faith is clearly evidenced by her mercy cry. Faith is the name for those who come to Jesus with their need.
Story two could be the similar story of the centurion in 8:5-13. This is a wonderful story of one who understands the power of the word. He comes to Jesus in his need, trusting that Jesus' word can heal his paralyzed servant. Jesus names this reliance upon him and his healing word as a faith he has not found even in Israel. Jesus speaks his word to the centurion: "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith."
Other examples of people coming to Jesus with a cry for mercy are the story of the father with an epileptic son (17:14-20, a story not appointed in the Matthew year) and the story of two blind men coming to Jesus for healing (20:29-34, also not appointed in the Matthew year). If you choose to tell these stories as well, focus on their cry for mercy and the reality of Jesus' healing response.
Our congregations are filled with people who are in need, unclean, outsiders. Lead them in a closing litany where you have them say aloud, "Lord, have mercy," as an expression of their need. To each cry of "Lord, have mercy" speak back to them in the name of Jesus with words shaped by the stories you have told. In response to cries of "Lord, have mercy" we can respond, for example, with: "Great is your faith." "I have not found such faith even in Israel." "Your need shall be supplied." "Your eyes shall be opened." Fashion these words of Jesus based in the stories and applicable to the people as you know them.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 189.
The crowd in Gennesaret presents quite a contrast to the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem who encounter Jesus in order to test him with questions: 15:1-20. Jesus tries to get the Pharisees and scribes to understand (v. 10) why their traditions about what defiles a person are inside-out and backwards. What comes out of the heart is what defiles a person.
That's Jesus' point; "...but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile" (15:20). The disciples, too, lack understanding of this matter: v. 16. The issue of understanding is not new to our story. It appeared several times in Matthew 13.
See vv. 10-15, 18, 23, 51. Sometimes it seems that the disciples understand, sometimes they do not. They have much yet to learn. Such is the hallmark of a disciple in any age.
Smith comments on the material in Matthew 15 as follows:
Chapter 15 is actually a smaller unit set within a number of larger sections. First, it is part of the sequence of material in 15:1--16:12, which in turn is bracketed by two great moments of confession. Disciples hail Jesus as "Son of God" first in the boat on the sea (14:33) and then again at Caesarea Philippi (16:16). The enclosed material (15:1--16:12) begins (15:1-9) and ends (16:1-12) with treatments of the teaching or tradition of the Pharisees. So the twin themes of high confession of Jesus and deep opposition to Jesus, which loom so large in all of 11:1--16:20, are further developed here in chapter 15.1
There is another theme that ties these stories together, and that is the theme of bread. Matthew 14 began with a feast at Herod's palace (14:1-12) which was followed by the story of Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 (14:13-21). The dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem is also about eating (15:1-20). The text assigned for this week has Jesus saying to a Gentile woman that he cannot take Israel's bread and give it to her. She replies: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table" (v. 27).
Matthew 15 closes with the story of Jesus' feeding of the 4,000 (vv. 32-39). Why these stories relate to the theme of bread is another matter. Is this a mnemonic device for storytellers? Is it merely accidental? Were questions of eating crucial questions for the Matthean community? We have no definitive answers to these questions.
Robert Smith suggests that bread is a rich symbol for teaching and salvation.
It is this topic of bread and eating that ties together Jesus' discussion with the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem with the story of the Canaanite woman from the district of Tyre and Sidon. We're in pagan territory now. Gentile land. Jesus comes face to face here with an unclean woman. That has been the topic of conversation between Jesus and the religious authorities. They had all kinds of rules and regulations about what is clean and unclean. One of the functions of this distinction was to keep the "wrong people," however defined, away from the banquet table. Jesus knows this tradition. He, too, is ready to exclude a woman from the table. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," Jesus tells his disciples in trying to get rid of this woman. Still she came into his presence. She knelt before him. "Lord, help me," she said. Jesus replied: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." "Yes, Lord," she retorted, "yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
This is clearly one of the most unbelievable stories in the entire Gospel tradition. What is Jesus doing out there in pagan land, anyway? And why does he try to keep the woman from the table? We wish he had never said these words. But he did. And the unclean Gentile woman responded.
She cried out for mercy.
Jesus was touched by this cry for mercy. By the law the woman should have been excluded from the table. By the gospel mercy is be shown. Jesus said: "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Her daughter was healed instantly.
The thrust of these stories in 15:1-20 and 21-28 is that the table is thrown open! In the case of the woman the table is thrown open to unclean Gentiles. The story of the Gentile centurion in 8:5-13 is a kind of parallel story to the tale of the unclean woman who helped to remind Jesus of his mission of mercy. The centurion is also commended for his faith: "Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.... Go; let it be done for you according to your faith" (8:10, 13).
In the case of the Gentile woman we have heard that her faith is great. In our previous chapter we discussed the disciples as those who were often characterized as those of "little faith." Here is a woman of "great faith." A Gentile woman. An unclean woman. What is her faith? Her cry for mercy appears to be the mark of her faith. (Other cries for mercy are heard in 17:15 and 20:31, 33.) Such is the true nature of faith. It is a cry for mercy to One who can help. If we wish our faith to be great we need only come to Emmanuel with a cry for help. He could not turn away an unclean Gentile woman. He won't turn us away, either.
The stories told in 15:1-28, a story of the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem and a story of a woman from Gentile-land, present us with a grand contrast. The Pharisees dispute and disbelieve. They should know better. The woman disputes and believes. How did she know better? Yet she became Emmanuel's teacher. She reminded him of his mission to the Gentiles. This week's text, therefore, can be treated as a missionary text.
Homiletical Directions
Let's stick first to this mission theme. We have many story telling options here. We can tell the stories of Matthew 15:1-28 contrasting the clean who wished to keep all others clean and the unclean woman who lived in the world of the pagans. Jesus' word to the "clean" opened up the table in a surprising way to the "unclean."
The Canaanite woman is a great teacher of mission! You can have a lot of fun telling these as contrasting stories. The point is clear. Jesus' mission includes the unclean, the Gentiles, you and me!
This reality can be supported by the story of the centurion in 8:5-13, a story not appointed in the Matthean lectionary. Or, we can remind our hearers again of the theme of mission to the Gentiles contained in Matthew 1 (cf. the genealogy, see our Chapter 1) and Matthew 28:16-20, the Great Commission. Such a sermon will underscore both that we as unclean Gentiles are included at God's table and that, as those "made clean" by the blood of the lamb, we have a mission to spread this news to the ends of the earth.
Another option for preaching would be to deal with the theme of faith. Story one would be the textual story told with an emphasis on her cry for mercy and Jesus' final word that her faith is "great." The woman's great faith is clearly evidenced by her mercy cry. Faith is the name for those who come to Jesus with their need.
Story two could be the similar story of the centurion in 8:5-13. This is a wonderful story of one who understands the power of the word. He comes to Jesus in his need, trusting that Jesus' word can heal his paralyzed servant. Jesus names this reliance upon him and his healing word as a faith he has not found even in Israel. Jesus speaks his word to the centurion: "Go; let it be done for you according to your faith."
Other examples of people coming to Jesus with a cry for mercy are the story of the father with an epileptic son (17:14-20, a story not appointed in the Matthew year) and the story of two blind men coming to Jesus for healing (20:29-34, also not appointed in the Matthew year). If you choose to tell these stories as well, focus on their cry for mercy and the reality of Jesus' healing response.
Our congregations are filled with people who are in need, unclean, outsiders. Lead them in a closing litany where you have them say aloud, "Lord, have mercy," as an expression of their need. To each cry of "Lord, have mercy" speak back to them in the name of Jesus with words shaped by the stories you have told. In response to cries of "Lord, have mercy" we can respond, for example, with: "Great is your faith." "I have not found such faith even in Israel." "Your need shall be supplied." "Your eyes shall be opened." Fashion these words of Jesus based in the stories and applicable to the people as you know them.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 189.
