It is an interesting fact that it was the weakest and the outcasts of society who most easily understood who Jesus was. The reading from Matthew's gospel today tells us of a Canaanite woman who came to Jesus.She was a woman and she was also a gentile, which meant that she should not have approached Jesus, it went against the custom of the day, she was not of sufficient social status. This Canaanite woman refused to believe that Jesus was sent only sent for certain people. So it was that her faith enabled her to go close to Jesus and believe that he would help her, against all the odds.

There are many people today who are also considered to be second class citizens. Women are still unable to have equal rights even in our own Church of England ! This story is an encouragement to all who struggle to survive and are looked upon less favourably than others.

We learn that Jesus looks beyond the things which we use to make people of less worth.
He looks beyond our gender, our race, issues of religious background or politics. Jesus is not interested in the value which society places upon us, he gives us all equal worth.

The Christian Gospel is all about liberation and transformation, we must be like Jesus and work for equality and liberty for all.

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray

God of the nations, to whose table all are invited and in whose kingdom no one is a stranger: hear the cries of the hungry and mercifully extend to all peoples on earth the joy of your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Methodist Worship

God of constant mercy, who sent your Son to save us: reminds us of your goodnes, increase your grace within us that our thankfulness may grow, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Common Worship additional collect for Trinity 12

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve.: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen Common Worship

First Bible Reading Isaiah 56:1,6-8

This is what the LORD says: "Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered." (This is the word of the Lord -- Thanks be to God)

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. (This is the word of the Lord -- Thanks be to God)

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." Peter said, "Explain the parable to us." "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'" Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Reader: This is the word of the Lord — Thanks be to God)

Post Communion Sentence

God our creator, you feed your children with the true manna, the living bread from heaven: let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage until we come to that place where hunger and thirst are no more; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Commentary

Jesus moves from Gennesaret, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, to Tyre and Sidon, 25 and 50 miles north of Galilee on the Mediterranean shore. No buses or cars remember, it was a long walk, and we are not told why he went there. It is the farthest north that he will travel, and the only time in this Gospel that he goes outside Jewish/Samaritan territory except to escape Herod as a baby (2:13-23) and to visit Gadara (8:28-34). It is one of three occasions in this Gospel when he heals Gentiles (8:5-13, 28-34).

In this part of Matthew we read that Jesus is in dispute with the Pharisees and scribes regarding the observance of the law. The Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Galilee to tackle Jesus. Jesus was attracting attention and his teaching required consideration and challenge. In itself this speaks of the growing recognition of Jesus' ministry.

These important religious experts were a kind of religious police and they ensured proper obedience to God's law. They criticised Jesus for the failure of his disciples to observe ritual cleansing. The rabbis developed the Mishnah (200 B.C. to 135 A.D.) and the Talmud (compiled 250-500 A.D) to help guide people into what it meant to obey the teaching which we can read in the Old Testament. The Pharisees questioned Jesus for allowing his disciples to ignore the ritual handwashing required by their tradition. Jesus responded by challenging not just the rules of the Pharisees, he challenged to very importance of Jewishness itself. Jesus put aside the need to obey laws given by Moses himself.

Jesus challenges the basis upon which we should consider what it means to be God's people. Jesus calls for a new way of living, not obedience to a set of rules. There is also a fundamental and important question which is still important for us today, but which was of even more importance to the early Christians disciples,

Obviously the Pharisees and scribes considered faithful observance of the Jewish law as the way to true holiness. They believed that God was pleased when the dietary laws were obeyed as a part of Jewish religious observance. Dietary laws helped to create the sense of a separate people, so important to Jewish identity. Even today many Jews will keep two distinct parts of the kitchen so that meat and dairy produce are kept separate. They will use separate fridges and in accordance with teaching in the Old Testament, they will not eat certain foods like pork. These rules help Jewish people to maintain their identity as God's people. The Old Testament pronounces certain foods unclean, and eating those foods defiled those who ate them. The issue had nothing to do with hygiene or health, but with holiness -- obedience to the will of God. God had specified what was and was not allowed. Failure to observe these laws constituted rebellion against God.

Understand then how radical it was when Jesus says,

Jesus is setting aside parts of the Bible and changing the focus away from obedience of the very things which kept the Jews different. He redirects the focus from that which enters the mouth (food) to that which springs from the heart (thoughts, feelings, and motives).

Make no mistake this was amazing teaching. We are often told that Jesus condemned the Pharisees and their religious traditions. However Jesus does more than that, he rides a coach and horses through the book of Leviticus and says that some scripture is no longer relevant. All of the Kosher laws, still observed by many Jewish people, are wiped out by Jesus in the reading today.

When we realise this we can begin to recognise why the Jewish religious leaders bothered to come out of Jerusalem looking for Jesus to see what he was saying and condemn him. The Pharisees were deeply religious and devoted their lives to obeying God's laws in scripture. We should expect them to be angry at Jesus and we can understand why they would want him dead.

When the Book of Matthew was written, this passage of scripture would have been important as the church struggled to understand whether Gentile converts had to do adopt Jewish practices. Jewish law would eventually have no place in the church and so today we no longer consider it important to follow the teaching of large parts of the Old Testament.

Jesus is not proposing a free for all, he is just far more concerned with how people behave in their personal relationships, than whether they ceremonially wash their hands before dinner to emphasise their Jewishness. Jesus looks at the heart inside of us and challenges evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander. These things destroy life, families, marriages and we are to seek to be rid of them. No more need we follow the Jewish commandments, but instead of the detailed laws telling us how to behave, we have instead a more difficult task of trying to work out in our daily living the correct way to treat one another and so please God.

This teaching of Jesus is followed by the remarkable story of a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus seeking healing for her daughter who we are told was troubled by a demon. The woman approached Jesus desperate to find help for her daughter. However, Jews like Jesus normally had nothing to do with gentiles and the fact that this was a woman made matters worse. The woman addresses Jesus both as "Lord" and as "Son of David," words that a Jew might use for the Messiah. Remember, the Jewish people in Jesus' own country are yet to recognise him as Messiah(16:13-20). Matthew is making a point, that the confession of faith came from a Gentile, a foreign woman. It was she who recognised Jesus compared to the disciples lack of vision (14:13-33) and the anger of the Jewish religious leaders .

At first, Jesus didn't answer the woman and his disciples urged him to "send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." Even Jesus seemingly tries to brush her off. "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But this woman is not easily discouraged. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table," she answers. She could have felt pleased with herself, for it was a clever answer. Only recently Jesus fed the 5,000 men, in which there were 12 baskets full of crumbs or leftovers.

So Jesus responds, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Here lies the key to the whole story. It is her faith that makes the difference. "Great is your faith" -- compare this to the words we heard addressed to the apostle Peter in last week's Gospel: "You of little faith, why did you doubt?" Peter was a Jew, Jesus' friend, and one of the chosen twelve; yet this Canaanite woman had shown greater faith than Peter. And her faith is rewarded.

There was a real struggle in the early church when the Gospel of Matthew was written. In the writing of the Apostle Paul we read of his campaign for Gentiles to be included in the faith of the early church, without having to become Jews first. It seems little has changed, we are still trying to exclude people who are different from our own race or religion or sex. How different Jesus was in opening wide the boundaries which divided his followers. God's invitation is an open one, it is not a restricted guest list, but more like 'come along and bring your friends.' God invites the people of all nations to his holy mountain and it is our job to make sure they all know that they are invited.

Our last hymn this morning expresses these thoughts in the words– ‘God is love and he enfoldeth all the world in one embrace; with unfailing grasp he holdeth every child of every race.’ That grasp of God on people across races is spoken of in Isaiah 56:6-8

‘And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered."

Meditation

On one level, the Canaanite woman is like many people in our world today. She is like all the women who are denied an equal place at the table. She represents those who are struggling to care for others (children, family, parents, etc) and do not have the means to do so as they would like. She is like all parents who cannot get good health care for their children. She represents those who are left out because of their national or ethnic background. She reminds us of those of us who are intimidated by religious, political, or economic authority.

On another level, the Canaanite woman reminds us of those who take the courage to speak up despite all the cultural messages to keep quiet and just accept their suffering. She models a woman who is willing to speak up to authority. She represents those who keep on speaking out for justice and basic human rights. She represents those who do not give up.

It seems as if in some way Jesus is moved by this amazing encounter. He praises her faith. Her daughter is cured. The experience of Jesus seems to point to the possibility of conversion and the possibility of help coming to those who are in need.

This story reminds us that the Gospel inspires those who have the freedom and courage to speak up and take action for their rights. The Gospel is about liberation and transformation. The woman speaks up. Her daughter is healed. Both she and Jesus are changed. The prophecy of Isaiah comes true. On God’s mountain there is a gathering of folks from all the many nations who enjoy justice and peace.

Can you be so persistent in speaking up for your rights or the rights of those in need?

Hymns

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Blessed Lord God, be to me at all times my unending joy, my eternal bliss and my enduring comfort. Be to me light in the darkness, strength in temptation and refreshment in the desert. Grant that, penitent for my sins, I may never be separated from you and, longing for your face, I may behold you in heaven; for your own name's sake. Amen Margery Kempe, c.1373-c.1433

Set our hearts on fire with love for you, O Christ, that in its flame we may love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and in this holy fire we may love our neighbours as ourselves; that in the keeping of these holy commandments we may glorify your name, now and for ever. Amen. Orthodox prayer

To set the earth ablaze, O God, your Son submitted to death on the cross, and from his cup of suffering you call the church to drink. When we are tempted give us strength to run the race that lies before us, and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Methodist Worship Collect 2

Additional Material

Perseverance
A woman approached Jesus with a request for him to heal her daughter. Jesus put her off, but she persisted, and was rewarded. Very often we are ruled by emotional responses which are very unreliable and fickle. Whatever it is that we desire, we jeopardise our chances for success when we base our pursuits on our feelings. How many times must an athlete like Paula Radcliffe have felt like she would never succeed on the athletics track, despite her success on the field? Yet she persisted and won gold in the Commonwealth Games over 5k.

Acts of commitment and will allow us to persist when supportive emotions may be absent. Perseverance proves our good faith and it is persistence and not our initial enthusiasm which achieves results. Successful people and ‘successful’ Christians have something in common, just like the woman in our story they too are determined and do not give up.

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Woodland Burial at Keysoe

Weekly Bible Notes

Ordinary 20 Year A (Trinity 12)

Introduction

Post Communion Sentence

Commentary

Meditation

Hymns

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Additional Material