And Then (Comma) God Stepped In...
Isaiah 56:1-8; Psalm 67; Romans 11:1, 25-36; Matthew 15:21-28
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
The Lectionary choices for this week are all so rich I want to preach on each of them! We’d be here all day:)
The Canaanite woman begs for mercy for her daughter, even when Jesus dismisses her at first; Isaiah proclaims God’s house is a house of prayer for ALL people, including eunuchs and foreigners; Psalm 67 -let all the earth praise God and then this: Romans 11: God’s gifts and covenant are irrevocable!
(Let out a sigh)
I am struck by the word irrevocable.
As a person who went through a bloody divorce and as a pastor who has counseled and consoled many who have gone through bloody divorces, I know a lot about broken covenants. It might be in a marriage; a hidden affair; a whispered addiction; a co-worker or boss’s betrayal; friendship destroyed by a false rumor; Adult children so angry and unable to forgive their fallible parents. Church fights. A neighbor’s feud over a property line. A confidence disclosed publicly. We all know about broken covenants. We have broken some ourselves, lets be honest.
And then (comma) God stepped in...
God comes to us with a long history of absolute, irrational love. From ‘in the beginning’ as humans determined to go their own way, God sewed clothes to cover their heretofore beautiful nakedness as they leave Eden. All over the Bible is a full indictment of humanity’s willful disregard for the Divine ordering of life together. Only to be matched by God’s Hesed, Hebrew for steadfast love or sometimes translated womb love.
This is a scandal! all this grace and mercy given to us, as charity, from God through Jesus Christ. Each act of disobedience is a moment for the creation of mercy. We who are trained in self-sufficiency and love to be the ones with the power to ‘give to help the less fortunate’ have to understand, we too, are disobedient, we too, need mercy, we too are broken people in need of healing.
And then (comma) God stepped in...
Irrevocable.
Mercy wrapped up in sovereignty. It is not our being good enough for salvation that brings us such charity. We can even reject God, that is what free will is all about. Even then, Hesed remains. It is God’s reclamation of all of history, this long view, a wide horizon of mercy. Endless 2nd chances. And we, some of us any way, take offense at God’s generosity, for we were taught to work hard for God’s reward! Like the prodigal comes home and gets the fatted calf dinner and us older siblings have to clean up the mess. We are steeped in a framework of relationships that are transactional, quid pro quo, you do this for me, I’ll do this for you. It’s in our marriages, our friendships, our church life, even our own charity toward someone else, everywhere. But its not Christian. Nor is it of God!
And then (comma) God stepped in...
The outpouring of radical love, born in the womb of Mary, travels down the birth canal to be a baby Savior. Jesus lives out this transforming love in His very own being and acknowledgment that the mystery and the depth of God’s salvation brings IN the Canaanite Woman and her daughter.
She is not going away, she violates the social norms of her day, a woman shouts, shrill and ambitious, and in modern parlance, nevertheless, she persisted. She knows Jesus has power to heal, she has heard the stories. Even when He ponders the next steps of mission beyond the house of Israel, she begs for the crumbs of His charity. Israelites often called Canaanites ‘dogs’ as their favorite insult. And here, Jesus responds in a way that makes us all gulp. (Pause)
He is not going to conform to our understanding of what He is supposed to say. Rather, Jesus encounters this woman’s profoundly theological stance - that is - God’s mercy is greater than the limitations put on her for her social and cultural and gendered locations. She brings them all into Jesus’ line of sight. Now what? Irrevocable. He is amazed by her faith and maybe, her tenacity! He learns from His experience. We hear it at the end of Matthew’s gospel, go into all the world...
And then (comma) God stepped in..
So, let me ask you this? Who will God not gather in? (Pause)
I was challenged in my own thinking this week by David Maxwell, writing in “Feasting On The Word”, a commentary: “This Isaiah text is good news for the neighbor who is a drag queen performer in the tourist district downtown. All of these are gathered in by God.” Unquote. Wow. Yeah. In Isaiah’s day it was Eunuchs - look at chapter 56.3. And foreigners. “To the eunuchs and foreigners who keep My sabbaths, choose the things that please Me, and hold fast to My Covenant. I will give them an Everlasting Name that shall not be cut off.” What a gift! What a gift!
Who will God not gather in? The unjust, the covenant breakers, those who don’t keep the Sabbath. Those who look out for themselves rather than the whole of creation. It is the scaffolding of salvation.
Maintain justice, do what is right. Powerful words for us, in this moment, as we cleanse our minds and hearts of habits of thinking that place Black people below white people. If we exclude them, we are still in exile. That’s the truth of the gospel. Our commitment to racial justice is the practice of embrace, that is, justice for all people of color and equity, to transform our economic deformities into abundant mechanisms that are anti-racist at their core.
For we want to reside on God’s Holy Mountain. With all people. This is the vision! All of us gathered in, from all corners of the world, all religions, all genders, all ethnicities, everyone. No foreigner among us.
Hesed, womb love, is the air we breathe, its expanse so open, we weep with joy and gratitude. And then, (comma), God stepped in...