Click here to read the Gospel text
Sermon
– Matthew 15:10-28
‘What
comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.’ We have three examples of
words that, proceeding from the heart, revealing to Jesus, and to us, the faith
and lack of faith of those who speak the words.
Let’s
start with the Pharisees. They take offense at what Jesus says. It is the
content of the words they disagree with, that what goes into the mouth is
comparatively unimportant. They take religious food laws seriously, and ritual
hand-washing seriously, and so they are offended when Jesus seems to speak
against them. But the two are not mutually exclusive. One might faithfully follow
the dietary restrictions of the Old Testament and still agree with Jesus that
one’s speech and actions give deep clues to the state of a person’s heart. But
they ‘take offense’ at Jesus. They do not listen to him, not because they have
weighed the argument and found it wanting, but because they have predetermined
that whatever he says is wrong. It is not that their misunderstanding that is
the issue – that might be forgiven. When they ‘take offense’ they reveal the
angry, slanderous heart that dwells within them. And in the story of Matthew,
their taking offense does not end with simply disagreeing with Jesus, it ends
with their being in league with others to take Jesus’ life.
We
contrast the behavior of the Pharisees with that of the Canaanite woman. This
woman is an outsider to God’s people as much as the Pharisees are insiders. She
is one who eats unclean food and does not ritually wash her hands, one who is
considered little more than a dog in the eyes of some. But just as the
Pharisees’ words reveal what is in their heart, so the words of the woman
reveal what is in her heart. She pleads for her daughter and refuses to take no
for an answer. Her faith looks not at her marginal status but at her daughter’s
need and God’s superabundance of mercy. And she names Jesus ‘Lord, Son of David,’
she understands that Jesus is God’s Son, the one through whom God saves.
And
who do we have in the middle? As usual, the disciples are those who are
seemingly clueless. But they at least have the curiosity to ask Jesus what he
means. They know that they do not understand and need his help understanding.
But even after he explains that it is both faith and sin that comes from the
heart, they still don’t get it. This is shown in their words to Jesus when the
Canaanite woman keeps shouting for help even though Jesus has not answered.
‘Send her away,’ they say. Just as in the previous chapter, they are those of
little faith.
The
group of Pharisees, the Canaanite woman, the disciples. All three are revealed
by their words. The group of Pharisees their unwillingness to learn, the words
of the woman the faith of her heart, and the disciples their desire for faith
and their need for further conversion. But what of the words of the fourth
character in this story? What of the words of Jesus?
‘What
comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart.’ Jesus’ words are from the
heart of God. We have in Jesus’ pronouncement against the group of Pharisees
God’s judgment against all false religion which does not identify true
religious observance with faith from the heart. We have in Jesus’ teaching to
the disciples the patient work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit seeks to work
in us a deep conversion. And we have in his words to the woman, ‘Great is your
faith! Let it be done to you as you wish,’ and his healing of her daughter, the
availability of God’s mercy for all. God’s judgment, God’s patient
understanding, God’s mercy. In Jesus’ words we see into the heart of God.
And
yet what are we to do with Jesus’ initial refusal to answer the woman, and even
more with his words to her about the difference between beloved children and mangy
mutts? Do these words reveal his heart? These words are opaque and hard to
understand. We might ‘take offense’ at them. And yet this incident reveals
something to us. They reveal both God’s eternal choosing the house of Israel
and his mercy upon all who come to him in faith through Jesus, the King of
Israel. The heart of God elects his people and calls all peoples. The heart of
God has room for both Jews and Gentiles, in fact the heart of God has room for
all people. The words of Jesus that ring in the woman’s ears for as long as she
lives are not about children and dogs but about faith and mercy.
And
this story is also the concrete example of the abstract teaching about faith
which Jesus wants to communicate to his disciples. The one you should imitate
is not the secure insider who takes offense at every little thing. The one you
should imitate is the one who comes begging for even the scraps of God’s mercy.
For
if ‘what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart,’ then the words of the
woman, ‘Have mercy, Lord, help me’ is the heart that God desires.
We
are disciples of Jesus Christ. The angry words of taking offense we sometimes speak
reveal to us that the old self is still hanging around. They reveal to us our
‘little faith,’ that we have yet much to learn, that the Holy Spirit yet has
work to do with us. And yet in baptism into Christ we are called children of
God and called to the life of asking for mercy and showing mercy. May these
words sink down into our hearts, so that in asking faithfully from pure hearts we
may please our heavenly Father, who delights in giving us far more than we can
ask or imagine.
The
Rev. Maurice C. Frontz,
St
Stephen Lutheran Church
August
16, 2020
