Keep the Change
A sermon by
Matthew 15:21-28
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SERMON: Keep the Change
Everyone here has probably used the phrase which I have chosen for the title of this sermon, "Keep the change." We give our son $3 to buy a gallon of milk. And when he returns with loose change, we say, "Keep the change." If we are really generous, we allow him to keep the change from a twenty after paying for the family meal at McDonalds.
And I suspect that almost everyone here has a jar or a basket at home where you quite literally keep the change. At the end of the day, we find our pockets filled with loose change. If your family is like mine, we put our loose change in a basket. Then just before vacation time each year, we turn in all those coins so that we will have extra spending money for our trip. We keep the change.
I like that phrase so much that I plan to use it as the title of a book. The book will contain some miscellaneous newspaper columns that I have written and other left over ideas. I think all that will fit perfectly in a book called, Keep The Change.
But today I want to tie the title phrase with the whole idea of change. Life should not be static, but dynamic. Change should be a value in all our lives. We need to be constantly changing for the good. And when we do, we should,"Keep the change."
Christianity has been a religion of change and adaptation. A Christian in Japan will look, act, worship, sing and pray differently from a Christian in Africa or a Christian in Latin America. Christianity has succeeded worldwide because of its inherent ability to change and adapt in the face of new cultures and traditions.
Furthermore, God is in the change business. God is willing to accept people at the point where they are, with the understanding that they have, and transform those concepts. One of the most remarkable examples is the commandment to have "no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). That verse seems to imply that the early Israelites did believe in the existence of gods other than Yahweh. The early Israelites may have had a less than ideal understanding of God, but the important issue is that God was willing to accept them as being valid starting points in their understanding of his true nature. God then nurtured the Jews in their faithfulness, gradually opening their minds and hearts to larger and more complete portraits of truth.
Today I want to suggest that Jesus' life was characterized by change just as our lives are. That may seem to be a surprising suggestion, but everyone acknowledges that Jesus changed to some extent. He was born as a human baby. Philippians 2 emphasizes that Jesus had to give up some of being God in order to lower himself and become a human person. As he grew, he obviously changed. He grew in physical stature, emotional maturity, and spiritual awareness.
Today I want to suggest that he continued this stretching and growing throughout his life, and our text for today shows us one vivid example. In this passage, a Canaanite woman caused Jesus to change his mind, and he kept the change.
Our passage begins in verse 21 with these words, "Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out…"
After a busy schedule of preaching and healing, Jesus goes to a place named as "a district of Tyre and Sidon." This was in Phoenicia, or a part of modern day Lebanon. The important point is that it was outside of the territory of Israel. It was pagan land.
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Then Matthew further defines the situation by explaining that he was accosted by a "Canaanite woman." Do you remember the Canaanites from the Old Testament? They were the folks who occupied the Promised Land before the Israelites arrived. They were the ones that God wanted exterminated from the land in order for the Israelites to possess it.
The Canaanites were the descendants of Ham, one of the three sons of Noah. Once, when Noah was drunk, he fell asleep on his bed naked. Ham went in and saw him naked. Scripture says that Ham and all his descendants were cursed and destined to be slaves because it was wrong for a son to see his father naked.
Not only was this person a Canaanite, but she was also a woman. We can recall from the story of the woman at the well that Jewish tradition forbade women from having casual conversation with a strange man, particularly a religious man. But here is a brazen woman approaching Jesus and his disciples, which makes her a doubly questionable individual.
Our passage continues, "…and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon."
Not only is this stranger an unescorted Canaanite woman, she has a daughter who is possessed by a demon. But if her presence is thoroughly disreputable, the woman's words are theologically correct. Her first address to Jesus is "Lord," the title given Jesus by all true believers in Matthew's Gospel. The woman further defines Jesus as the "Son of David."
Verse 23 offers our first of many surprises in this text, "But he did not answer her at all." The silent treatment is one of the worst insults a modern person can give. We find it very difficult to even imagine Jesus being silent on such an occasion. What is going on here?
Let me suggest several options for interpretation. Perhaps Jesus is just so surprised by the woman's boldness, that he is momentarily silent. Or perhaps he is ignoring her in hopes that she will go away. Some suggest that his silence was a way of encouraging her to explain more.
But I have another suggestion –– I think Jesus was simply thinking, trying to decide how to handle this difficult situation. Here he was in the land of notorious pagans, and he is presented with a troubling request. I think Jesus responded here, just as we often do, with puzzlement.
While he contemplates, the disciples chime in, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." If it had been up to the disciples, the woman would never had been given the opportunity to get close enough to Jesus to be able to ask for the healing of her daughter.
The disciples want Jesus to get rid of her quickly to put an end to her embarrassing presence. The disciples are not motivated by love or concern or compassion for this woman and her child. They are solely interested in convenience and expedience.
It was at this point that Jesus said something very uncharacteristic, something some may consider to be downright rude, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Pious interpretations of our text read into the Scripture that Jesus was perhaps testing this woman. They suggest that Jesus could foresee the whole path of Christian history, and he was well aware that his message must first be proclaimed among the Jews and then, much later with Paul especially, the message would go to the Gentiles. Jesus knew that the time for expansion to the Gentiles had not yet come.
Here is where I want to challenge our understanding of Jesus. I prefer to think of Jesus as truly human and subject to the same human influences and traditions that the rest of us are. My interpretation of Jesus is heavily influenced by a couple of verses from Hebrews.
First, from Hebrews 2 we read,
"Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters
in every respect,
so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest
in the service of God,
to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested by what he suffered,
he is able to help those who are being tested."
Then in Hebrews 4, we find,
"For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,
but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are,
yet without sin.
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness,
so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help in time of need."
These verses convince me that Jesus gave up much of being God in order to truly become like us. Only then could he be our effective high priest.
Jesus was brought up in a very exclusive community and religion where clear lines of division were set, and folks were either in or out. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, and the Essenes were very exclusive in nature. Only the chosen few could belong to them. I think this was what Jesus had been taught all his life. It was only natural for him to reflect the traditions and teachings of his upbringing.
We have many faulty traditions in our upbringing as well. For example, some of us were raised with negative views about people of another race. But knee-jerk reactions must give way to carefully considered responses and merciful actions for those of us who claim to know that Jesus is Lord. Jesus reflects his tradition quite accurately, but sometimes traditions are meant to be bent or even broken.
Verse 25 says, "But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me." For the woman it would have been easy to give up and go away disappointed. But she had unusual faith. She would not take "No" for an answer.
Perhaps the woman was encouraged that Jesus at least acknowledged her presence. She continued to show her faithfulness when she came and knelt before Jesus. Once more she properly addresses Jesus as "Lord," this time adding her plea "help me."
Again she is rebuffed by Jesus in what appear to be the harshest terms yet. Jesus responds, "It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs."
Jesus' characterization of the Gentiles as "dogs" sounds like an unnecessary slur. In our time, a man will not get far by equating a woman with a female dog! Some scholars have tried to soften this characterization by noting that the term Jesus uses here describes a pet or domesticated dog, not a wild untamed dog of the desert.
We don't know where this saying came from. Perhaps it was an "old saying" that was popular in Jesus time. It was certainly not a quote from Scripture. Perhaps it was the kind of saying that everyone there was so familiar with that it would not have sounded as offensive then as it does now.
But any way we look at it, it is clear that Jesus is trying to find a reason or an excuse for not dealing with this woman. His statement is a rationalization.
The woman replies, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table." In the face of Jesus' cutting remark the woman becomes her most articulate.
Jesus' rationalization gives the woman something tangible to debate and bargain over. By using her wit and a sense of humor, coupled with her sincere humility and faithfulness, the woman refutes Jesus' excuse and finds for him a reason to grant her the healing she requests.
She does not dispute her status as second-in-line behind Israel. Instead, she humbly acknowledges her position. But her clever use of Jesus' own image demonstrates to him that there is still a way that she might receive a portion of God's bread. The woman does not deny the children of Israel the primacy of the table. Yet, she asserts that there remains a place for her as well.
Our passage ends with these words, "Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed instantly."
Jesus is clearly impressed and inspired by this Gentile woman's tenacity and vision. He is now able to see how the table of God set before Israel may be stretched to accommodate a far more inclusive group of diners.
I believe that Jesus learned a little something from the Canaanite woman. She expanded his awareness of what even the dogs under the table needed to eat. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, learned a life-changing lesson from a common Canaanite woman. She challenged him and stretched him and pushed him to see a new possibility for ministry to the Gentiles. The power of this Gentile woman's faith pushed the perimeters of Jesus' vision and moved him further along the road toward God's plan for human salvation.
Jesus changed his mind, and he kept the change! Later Paul would more fully kick open the door of inclusiveness so that within a very short time the early church would be filled primarily with Gentile Christians.
But note that it is not the woman's cleverness Jesus praises or gives as the reason he will now give her the healing she desires. With his declaration, "Great is your faith," Jesus defines the new qualification for admission to the table –– faithfulness.
Following Jesus means we must constantly struggle to test what we have been taught, and what we always have believed. What Jesus offers us is not always a clear set of instructions about where to go and what to do. The Christian life is not static, but dynamic. We should always be challenging the traditions which we harbor. We must examine our most cherished beliefs. And when the Spirit leads, we must be willing to change, and keep the change.
–– Copyright 2005, Dr. Mickey Anders. Used by permission.