Sermon 08 08 17 Greensborough

I’m going to ask you all the same question that I asked the children a few minutes ago, do any of you have a dog?  If you do what status does it have in your household?  Is it one of the family, perhaps if your children have left home the dog may have replaced them in the pecking order.  Is your dog an inside dog or is it a backyard dog or a guard dog?  Most dogs that I’ve come across in recent years have been fairly well looked after and loved, whether they be working dogs right through to lap dogs like mine.

In Jesus’ time dogs were on about the same level as pigs in the social order, they mainly lived outside of the cities and fed off of scraps and garbage.  They were unclean, filthy things.  Not like the dogs of today.  Mine gets a bath every couple of weeks, their’s would have been real stinkers!

Even pretty little lap dogs have some unclean habits though, mine likes to eat snails’ fresh from the garden and when we go out for walks she likes to eat possum and duck poo and will even try to roll in it if she gets the chance, that’s part of the reason we bath her so often!  So even today dogs are fairly dirty animals in the overall scheme of things.

So should we be surprised at Jesus when he in effect, calls this woman who is harassing him a dog? 

I’ll have to be careful not offend anyone here but let’s think about it a little.  In that time, women had a fairly low rank in society; we’re also told that this particular woman is a Canaanite, a race who had been despised since Noah uttered a curse on Canaan centuries before.  Everyone gathered around Jesus that day would have known this and they would have been surprised that Jesus even spoke to her at all.

The disciples wanted to send her away when she was shouting at them and annoying them, even Jesus seemed to be ignoring her at first, but she was persistent and she called him Lord, she showed that she was determined and she showed that she had faith in Jesus and what he could do for her and her daughter. 

What would you do if you were in this situation?  Would you persist or would you give up and walk away?  Would you be offended that the one person you thought could help you had told you that you weren’t eligible to receive what he had to offer?  I like this lady’s style; she has a clever and witty comeback “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”  Yes even dogs are allowed the leftovers.  She is happy to receive anything that he might have left over after first giving to those that he was called to serve.

As it turns out those leftovers are pretty good!  Her daughter is healed.

So what are we to learn from all of this? 

Let’s go back for a minute to the first part of our reading.  Jesus had just explained to the crowd that it is not what someone puts into their mouth that makes them unclean or defiled, contrary to what was being taught by the Pharisees, but what comes out of their mouths that are the cause of defilement.

From a human perspective this woman is defiled, she is unclean, because of who she is and where she comes from and yet it’s not who she is on the inside that makes her that way, its what other people and her circumstances put on her.  In this context we see that it is the woman’s faith that comes from within that makes her clean, out of her mouth comes wisdom, it reflects the faith that is within her heart.

Do we judge others by what we see on the outside, reject them on the basis of where they are from or what they look like and avoid them or do we treat them as equals and trust them?

Are we even right to judge people by their outward actions, the things they do?  The disciples wanted to get rid of this woman because she was loud and obnoxious, she wasn’t much fun to be around, and yet inwardly she was genuine and full of faith.  I’m not great with loud and obnoxious people either, I’m a bit of an introvert, so I tend to avoid such people, but in doing so am I missing out on something important?  Am I rejecting someone on the basis of what they do rather than who they are?  Should we be tolerant and loving of all people?  Do we have the right to judge anyone?

We don’t really have the capacity to look deep into the inside of a person, only God is able to see what’s in their heart.  Only God can see the difference between those who are his children and those who are dogs.  Yet even the dogs are allowed a taste of what falls from the table.  As the song says, it only takes a spark to get a fire going.  Even a morsel of God’s Word dropped into the right circumstance can feed a hungry soul and through the power of the Holy Spirit develop into a strong and vibrant faith.

I’m sure you’ve all heard stories of the most unlikely characters that have come to faith during a difficult time in their lives.  Sometimes we still doubt how genuine these confessions of faith are in the light of the circumstances, yet who are we to judge?

Sometimes the things you and I do and say must surely make people call us hypocrites or doubt the genuineness of our faith. 

We must remember that what comes out of our mouths reflects who we are on the inside, out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, theft etc.  Sometimes our words and actions drive others away from their faith we need to take care that we don’t inadvertently destroy someone else’s.

Yet you and I know that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, not by our own doing but purely by the grace and mercy of our loving God.  Sometimes we will make mistakes, as the bumper sticker rightly states, Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.  When we are sorry for our sins we are assured of God’s forgiveness, that’s why he gave up his Son’s life for us, so that we might have life too!

So as you go about your daily journey through life as a child of God, don’t judge others, see them through God’s eyes.  All people are his creation; he wants them to be his children, to share in the blessings that he offers them.  Whether it is just a crumb here and there or a huge meal, through Christ it has been offered for all, children and dogs alike.

Amen.