Readings (Track 2)

Before turning to today’s texts, recall that throughout the Bible the division between Israel and the nations is one of the most important divisions, and that how Jesus’ followers should deal with that division is one of the most important unresolved issues in the New Testament. Today, of course, the Israel/nations division is not center stage (unless you live in the Middle East), but it can help us think about how to deal with other divisions that complicate our life: ethnicity, class, gender, etc.

Psalm 67 is one expression of the Israel/nations division. The “us” is Israel; if/when God blesses us that will be good news for all the nations. Some praying this psalm might have recalled God’s promise to Abraham (“in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” [Gen 12:3]), others may have simply reckoned that the potential praise of all the nations might motivate God to bless us. And when we pray Psalm 67 as Christians we can do so in a generous or egotistical spirit!

Our first reading is from Isaiah 56-66, which most readers agree assumes the period after the exiles return from Babylon. “Maintain justice, and do what is right.” That call is general enough that it would have been met with broad acceptance. But then the prophet starts talking about foreigners. Other voices in that time period are working to keep the foreigners out. But for this prophet for “the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord”the gate’s wide open. “For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” “A house of prayer for all peoples” means that it’s not about these foreigners becoming Jews. They stay Gentiles. That’s why it can be called “a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Unfortunately, this was the path not taken, so that by the time of the New Testament the wall between Jew and Gentile was thicker, and the only way to be acknowledged as fully joined to the Lord was by becoming a Jew.

And then Jesus shows up. Both halves of today’s Gospel are related to that Jew/Gentile division. The Pharisees taught that handwashing before eating was part of maintaining that Jew/Gentile divide, and the chapter opens with their accusation that Jesus’ disciples aren’t doing it. (The handwashing wasn’t, in other words, a matter of basic hygiene, but of purification from ritual defilement.)

Jesus’ response: “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Notice two things about that response. First, it’s ambiguous. It can be heard as saying that what goes into the mouth is irrelevant to defilement. That’s the way Mark’s Gospel hears it, for there we read “(Thus he declared all foods clean)” (7:19). Or it can heard as saying that what comes out of the mouth is more important (but don’t ignore what goes into the mouth). That’s the way Matthew hears it, for elsewhere he remembers Jesus saying “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets” (5:17).

Potlucks in the communities Matthew’s trying to nurture would be complicated, the Jewish Christians keeping kosher, the Gentile Christians eating pretty much anything. Complicated, inconvenient, but a small price to be “a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The second thing to notice is that however one deals with the ambiguity, Jews and Gentiles are equally vulnerable to defilement. The Pharisees are working to keep the two groups apart. Here, at least, Jesus is more interested in what they have in common.

The second half of today’s Gospel. Six Sundays ago, we heard Jesus say “I am gentle and humble in heart” (11:29). Matthew—alas—is not concerned to correlate that with today’s text. We would write it differently. But one note before looking at what Matthew is concerned with. The NRSV’s translation “dogs” is strange because the Greek word is clearly a diminutive, referring not to the despised street scavengers but to the household pets. One might think that Jesus’ word choice invites the woman’s response.

Matthew’s concerns. Judging by the way he tells the story it looks like he’s dealing with two opposed factions in his audience (and with more time we could look at additional evidence for these two factions). One would have little interest in continued outreach to Jews. After all, their leadership opposed Jesus at every turn. So “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” Is important. If Jesus didn’t write them off, who are you to write them off? The other faction would have little interest in outreach to Gentiles. Jesus is our Messiah. So “Woman, great is your faith!” is important, as is Jesus’ response to the fellow who assumed that Jesus didn’t need to come to his house to cure his servant: “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith” (8:10). There are two examples of surprising faith in Matthew: both Gentiles.

There’s more. Matthew describes the woman as a “Canaanite.” (It’s the only occurrence of that word in the New Testament.) In the Old Testament the Canaanites usually headed the lists of the nations to be driven out. And that fellow who assumed that Jesus didn’t need to come to his house to cure his servant—that was a centurion, part of the Roman occupation. Outreach to Gentiles, OK, but to Canaanites and Centurions? Matthew’s challenging his audience, challenging us: those folk you find easiest to write off: be prepared to be surprised.

“For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” In the prophet’s time the divide was Jew/Gentile. Scripture encourages us to broaden it: Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female, etc. We’re happy to welcome those who are like us, less happy to welcome those “who join themselves to the Lord” but are uncomfortably not like us. Perhaps it’s like this: if the diversity in the parish is making us somewhat uncomfortable, perhaps that’s a sign that we’re doing it right.