Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 17, 2008
Scripture	Matthew 15:21-28 21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Devotional	The roles are reversed in this Gospel lection. Jesus provides the hostile saying, while the woman trips him up and corrects him. They seem to have reversed roles. We find a reversal by Jesus which is brought about by the woman’s persistent faith. How does one who is refereed to as a dog, become a person with persistent faith? Is Jesus guilty of a flip flopping? What do you do with a pushy Canaanite woman who won’t shut up? How did the disciple see this woman? They want to send her away because she keeps shouting at them. It does not take much to annoy the disciples. After a little shouting, they are ready to chase her away. Are modern day disciples any different? How does Jesus see her? Does Jesus actually see the Canaanite woman unworthy of his attention? Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel .” Jesus has limited the scope of his ministry. The Canaanite woman’s shouting for help causes Jesus to reevaluate his position. His first actions were to enforce traditional boundaries. The persistence of this woman causes Jesus to expand his ministry to include the former excluded. Does Jesus sound like us today when we seek an excuse to avoid an unpleasant person or ministry? We have an excellent excuse to leave the homeless and hungry because we need to get to the church for a meeting. Because tonight, we are leading the committee which plans how we will minister to the poor in our community. Just as this pushy Canaanite woman who would not shut up changed Jesus at this point in his ministry, do we need more loud mouth, pushy people who will not shut up to move us? As much as these people annoy us at times, I believe God does place them among us.