Pure and Merciful Hearts
A Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 20, 2023
The Rev. Robin Teasley
Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.” 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.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:10-28
There is a prayer called the Collect for Purity that we say at the beginning of worship. If you know it, will you pray it again with me now?
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
It’s a beautiful and powerful prayer. It reminds us that God knows the secrets of our hearts and it makes clear that we cannot love God and worthily magnify God’s holy name if our hearts are not clean, pure, hence the name – Collect for Purity. We cannot cleanse our own hearts. God does that through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And what a relief that is because we are not always very good housekeepers of the heart.
In the verses that precede our Gospel reading for today, Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees and scribes, who accused the disciples of not washing their hands before eating. It’s helpful to know that this handwashing law did not come down the mountain with Moses but was added later by some Pharisees who were more concerned with outward appearances than with true inner holiness. It seems the Pharisees and scribes didn’t realize that being judgmental of the disciples who did things differently was actually defiling their hearts, that their adherence to some old rituals that had been passed down might be closing their hearts to the possibility of God’s mercy and newness of life.
Our text today picks up with Jesus explaining to the crowd that it’s not what goes into the mouth by way of dirty hands that defiles or makes one unclean, but rather it’s what comes out of the mouth that is unclean. Jesus’ words were offensive to them because they were challenging the status quo, they got to the heart of the problem: the way the Pharisees were judging others. Jesus was clear that what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and if the heart is not pure, is not clean, then what comes out is going to defile everything it touches. So, the Collect for Purity is a really good prayer to pray for our hearts!
Jesus then had an opportunity to practice what he had just preached when he encountered the Canaanite woman, only it didn’t go as we would expect. I’d like to think he was just in a bad mood, tired from all the confrontation and travel, and maybe needed some alone time.
This encounter quickly becomes a challenging discussion about purity and rights, about who is entitled to what, about who is deserving or not deserving of healing. And Jesus is, let’s face it, unkind to the Canaanite woman. First, he ignores her, then he as good as calls her a dog, as good as tells her she is not welcome at the table. I don’t know about you, but I find myself uncomfortable as Jesus excludes this woman. The Jesus I know and love does not exclude. The Jesus I know eats with tax collectors and sinners, touches lepers, and heals the outcasts. What’s going on here?
This interaction reminds us that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine. That’s the meaning of Incarnation. Being fully human, Jesus learns and develops—just as we do throughout our lives. Luke 2:52 says that as Jesus grew up, he “increased in wisdom and in years.” Jesus at first responded to the Canaanite woman in his full humanity. We all know something about full humanity.
Most of us, at times, allow our personal prejudices to rule our responses. Just yesterday I caught myself in an unkind response when someone cut in front of me in traffic – I’m tired and worried about what’s happening in our world – that’s what I told myself. But really, I am always judging other drivers by their driving or by their bumper stickers. Another way we judge people is by what they say, just as the Pharisees took offense at what Jesus said.
The word “trigger” is popular now. There are “trigger warnings” at the beginning of articles and newscasts. To be triggered is to be abruptly transported by a word, phrase, or image to a place of earlier pain or anger, to a memory of something terrible that has happened, or that causes anxiety. Ultimately, all of our trigger events have at their foundation the emotion of fear. A trigger word at the very least gets our attention, increases our anxiety, or evokes a fight or flight response. When a word triggers a quick and negative reaction in us, we would be wise to stop and consider what fear is underneath our reaction. Think about what some of your own trigger words might be.
The Canaanite woman was a living, breathing trigger for the people of Israel. The Canaanites were their enemies. They were judged to be foreign, other, outsiders, unclean. Jesus and his followers had grown up having this drilled into them. They believed it was sinful to interact with the Canaanite woman and they wanted nothing to do with her. She personified those who practiced the wrong religion, did not follow their laws, and held different mindsets.
And the headlines we read or hear each day, can be triggers for our full humanity to come roaring out to weigh in and pass judgment. We all live out of our own experiences through life and those experiences shape us and generate our reactions. Sometimes it’s hard for us to see some new possibility outside of our own frames of reference. When people act on their prejudices and personal opinions, when their fear and anger become fires fanned by the media, more discord and violence are inevitable. Our hearts need cleansing.
In their prejudice the disciples, and even Jesus, at first saw the Canaanite woman as less than deserving, as a nuisance, as a threat. As a Canaanite she was seen as impure, meaning that it would be sinful for righteous Jews to associate with her.
And yet, this determined woman kneels before Jesus begging for mercy, reminding him that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.
This woman, living in the reality of being excluded, seen as less than, due to both race and gender, living in the painful reality of her daughter’s mental illness – this woman knows something about Jesus. She knows that he is the Son of David, which is Israel’s phrase for the Messiah, the anointed one, the Savior.
The Canaanite Woman teaches Jesus something new about the Kingdom; that what we call rights, what we call our righteousness, are ultimately gifts from God. Jesus finds himself learning something about the wideness of God’s mercy, and he is changed. And in his Incarnation, Jesus models for us how we too can be changed.
Jesus has exemplified for us how to let our judgments, assumptions, and excluding traditions be changed. Are we listening? Are we allowing the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our hearts and change us?
Each week we are invited to this communion table to receive a tiny crumb of the body of Christ. We are welcome no matter what has happened in our lives this week. We come with our hearts in our hands - our broken hearts, our hardened hearts, our raging hearts - offering them to the God who will cleanse them, who will make them pure. We are called to the table to be fed the Body of Christ so that we may become the Body of Christ in the world.
Some days our full humanity is all too visible; we are too eager to believe we are right, we are angered when others speak a truth that threatens us. We might even take offense at something Jesus says. Living an incarnational life is not about being perfect or right all the time, we will still stumble and fall. The good news is that it is possible to get up and try again, to see things in a new way, with our hearts.
I began with a prayer and would like to end with one, because we all fall short of the glory of God. The Prayer of Humble Access is part of the Rite I Eucharistic Prayer. May we pray with the certainty that God’s infinite love and mercy is for all of God’s children. Let us pray…
We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us.
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