God of all peoples

While Matthew’s Gospel focuses upon Jesus’ concern for restoring the “lost sheep of the house of Israel,” his vision gradually widens to include his embrace of all the nations. All three readings this Sunday, as well as Psalm 67, lay the groundwork for Jesus’ message to become all-encompassing. The first reading, from the prophecy of Isaiah, addresses the exiles from Babylon who have returned home as a colonized people. No longer defined as the nation of Israel, these returnees attempt to redefine themselves by their exclusive religious identity as Jews. In this, the returned exiles separate from other peoples who have inhabited the Holy Land during their exile in Babylon. The Isaiah reading, however, challenges this mentality. It suggests God’s justice, which is about to be revealed, is also for foreigners, who may also take up identity as the Lord’s servants. God’s house for worship is to become “a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56:7).

The response to Psalm 67 reinforces this universal vision of God’s people: “O God, let all the nations praise you.” In addition, it lifts up for prayer all peoples in equity so that they may know the Lord’s way and salvation. In his letter to the Romans, Paul struggles with the reality that his own Jewish people still remain separated from his hope for their evangelization. Still, he reminds himself that he is the apostle to the Gentiles and that, ultimately, God has mercy upon all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Matthew’s Gospel passage opens with Jesus withdrawing to the region of Tyre and Sidon, two autonomous coastal cities in the Roman province of Syria, hostile regions for Jews to visit. Having been surrounded by crowds, first at the mountain and then later at the shore, this might be one way Jesus could finally get away and not be known or noticed. Despite his attempt to lie low, a woman whose daughter is tormented by a demon hears of him, knows of his reputation, and cries out to him. Initially, Jesus does not respond but his disciples, who we now hear are with him, ask him to send her away. They evidently were troubled that she kept calling after Jesus and drawing attention to them.    

Up to this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has been teaching and healing among his own people in Galilee and Judea. This request was coming from a woman, a Canaanite, of Tyronian or Sidonian stock. In other words, she was of Greek and Phoenician origins and from an entirely different religious persuasion than Jesus and his disciples. Instead of sending her away, Jesus answers the woman, perhaps, attempting to explain to this non-Israelite why he is not responding. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt. 15:24). Still the woman persists, requesting his help. Jesus replies, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Mt 15: 26). Scholars wrestle over whether Jesus was being playful here or insulting or, perhaps, wanting to further engage this woman, whom he may admire for her determination on behalf of another. 

The woman does not retreat and refuses to resort to anger or be insulted when Jesus compares her people who are non-Jews to dogs. Instead, she responds respectfully, “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” (Mt. 15:27). As biblical scholar Nancy Haught writes, “the woman embroiders Jesus’ metaphor to suggest there is enough healing to be shared between those seated at the table and those waiting beneath it for scraps.” Jesus evidently agrees because he makes sure her daughter is not excluded from healing. 

Moreover, Jesus credits this Canaanite woman as responsible for her daughter’s well-being. In so many ways, this outsider is a model of fortitude and conviction that Jesus himself acknowledges and admires: “Oh woman, great is your faith” (Mt. 15:28). Ironically, this foreigner who exists outside of Jesus’ circle of followers embodies the values of the kingdom that he preaches, both by what she does and what she does not do. What she seeks is not for herself but for her child. She persists in her request even though the disciples want her sent away and even though Jesus initially suggests that his ministry is for a different group of people. 

What she does not do is even more Christ-like. She refuses to partake in pejorative-name calling in response to Jesus’ initial response. She resists being angry, dissuaded, or walking away, despite the metaphor Jesus enlists suggesting her people are like dogs, animals the Jews considered unclean. Instead, she meets him on his own metaphorical grounds. After hearing his response, she formulates one of her own, apparently guided by patience, wit, and respect for his religious views. One might even say, this foreign woman, while so different from Jesus and his disciples, broadens his perspective and his ministerial mission going forward.  

Indeed, there are many non-Christians in our world who embody Christ-like values but participate in other religions, or even no religion, and are members of other countries and cultures. Like this woman, these individuals, though different from ourselves, almost always have something valuable from which we can learn or by which we can be inspired. 

Jesus, our brother, modeled for us how we might respond to all this diversity in our neighborhoods, our institutions, our cities and our world. First, he did not send the Canaanite away. Instead, Jesus engaged her in a discussion and even was willing to be persuaded by this extraordinary woman. He resonated with her courage and determination and allowed himself to be instructed by her persistence, response, and concern for another in ways that appeared to broaden and inspire the scope of his own mission. All our readings this Sunday invite us to participate in such opportunities in our own lives. Our great God embraces the whole of humanity, and Jesus and this woman offer us a concrete example of how to partake in this divinely created diverse human community, here and now.

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