Sunday Sermon - The Rev. David Griswold (Aug 16, 2026)

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew Glory to you, Lord Christ. 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, lord, have mercy on me, 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 master's 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. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Christ. Great news. Story time is back. Children ages 3 through 10 are invited to follow Ms. Katie for a Bible story, prayer and music. They'll return at the peace. [00:01:48] Speaker B: Gracious God, there's a wideness in your mercy like the wideness of the sea. There's a kindness in your justice which is more than liberty. Amen. She came out and started shouting, have mercy on me, Lord. When the Canaanite woman in today's story approaches Jesus, she cries out from a place of deep need for help. In the face of an overwhelming challenge, her daughter is tormented by a demon. She makes an impassioned plea for the restorative power of God to relieve the girl's suffering and hers. She is every parent who has ever despaired over a child in danger. She is every one of us who feels the weight of our own and our loved one's wounds, burdens and fears that can seem too heavy to bear. In shouting, lord, have mercy, she joins faithful people who called out to God for centuries before her and continue to call out today as people yearning to live in God's protective embrace. Mercy refers not merely to pity or forgiveness, but to the fullness of God's compassionate care for us. In Hebrew, the phrase that comes closest to mercy is hesed, or loving kindness, a capacity for inexhaustible faithfulness. It describes God's way of relating to us. But it's not a quality that comes easily to humans. Mercifulness can elude us even on days when we're living into our best selves. As we look around, there seems to be a shortage of mercy in our guarded, insulated culture. And there are people in power throughout the world and in our country who not only lack mercy, but mock and deride it, bringing fear and deep distress to many. The ministry we do here together at Saint Columbus helps to fill the mercy gap. When mercy seems beyond us, we can turn to Jesus for inspiration. As theologian William Willimon reminds us, Jesus is the embodiment of God's mercy. He writes, it's one thing to feel compassion, but it's another thing to show compassion, to act mercifully. Mercy is compassion in motion. Jesus is mercy in motion. Jesus world suffers from a dire shortage of mercy. Roman occupied Palestine is under constant threat from economic exploitation and military harassment. Jerusalem's religious leaders are no longer reliable stewards of Israel's covenant bond with a merciful God. In the verses just before today's gospel reading, temple leaders challenge Jesus because his disciples eat with unwashed hands. Jesus calls these leaders blind guides of the blind. They seem more concerned about regulating outward signs of defilement than in growing closer to God. On the inside, Jesus tells his disciples that restoring Israel's relationship with God is his prime mission. For now, he attracts growing crowds. But he faces hostility from Jewish leaders. And he has been rejected. In Nazareth, his hometown in today's story, Jesus leaves Galilee and enters a Gentile region, a territory whose people are considered unclean. The mother who approaches Jesus here is the first woman to speak in Matthew's gospel. Referring to her as a Canaanite, Matthew marks her as an ancient enemy, displaced, despised and feared. Feared as the other. The last people we might expect her to turn to for help would be a group of visiting Israelites. As a Gentile and as a woman in that culture, it is improper for her even to speak to them. But mercy is at hand in Jesus, and she's determined to have her share. We expect Jesus to respond with compassion. This could be a teachable moment to show his disciples how God's mercy transcends the labels humans invent for one another. But that's not where the story goes. What makes it compelling is that it seems also to be a teachable moment for Jesus himself about the power of mercy in motion. The woman addresses him as Lord, Son of David, showing she recognizes Jesus as Israel's Messiah. Refusing to acknowledge her, he answers that his mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Undeterred, she falls to her knees and keeps pleading. But Jesus aloofness turns to what sounds like hostility. He tells her he can't waste God's mercy on outsiders. It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs. Really, this is not the Jesus was, we know, the one who embodies God's unconditional love. For all this, Jesus seems to be disdainful, even insulting. For centuries, Bible scholars have wondered, is he serious or is he merely teasing her? Is his behavior a way of testing her and the disciples? We can also wonder, is Jesus just having a bad day like we do when our first response is to ignore, judge or avoid others rather than to see, hear and know them? How often might we, like the disciples, impatiently say about friends or strangers in need, send them away, for they keep shouting after us, I have bad days rudely dismissing this as most of us would. Many of us would rudely dismiss as this woman is. Many of us would walk away hurt and angry, saying, wow, I must have had it wrong. God's healing mercy isn't flowing through this guy. But she doesn't quit. Rather than let his belittling comment defeat her, she turns it back on him. Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. She seems to accept that as a Gentile, she won't be among the first welcomed into the kingdom of heaven that Jesus proclaims. But perhaps she's heard reports of his teaching about persistence in prayer and about what faith the size of a mustard seed can do. Perhaps she's heard about the few loaves and fishes that blessed by Jesus fed thousands. She knows even the scraps left over from the mercy banquet will be life giving to those who are famished for God's love. It will only take a second small speck of God's mercy to beat back the demon that torments her daughter in refusing to take no for an answer. She's every parent and every one of us who has held on and persisted despite being told, you're not eligible or you don't qualify or sorry, we'll put you on the waiting list. She is every one of us who has faith that God is present. Even in times when it seems like God is absent. She understands something about the power of God in Jesus that the disciples are still slow to comprehend. In last Sunday's Gospel, as Peter fears that he'll drown in a stormy sea, Jesus gently chides him as you of little faith. But to the storm tossed woman in today's story, Jesus finally offers praise. Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter is healed. What has turned Jesus around? How does this outsider cause Jesus to pivot so swiftly in his worldview. Well, some night when you can't sleep, open the Bible to the first chapter of Matthew and read the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew traces Jesus lineage back 42 generations, all the way to Abraham. It will put you back to sleep, but before it does, you may be surprised that the names of five women appear, including two Canaanite women, Tamar and Rahab. Perhaps the outsider Jesus meets today shares with him a remote connection to the women named among his forebears, and he is bending to the realization that she could be his distant cousin. Just as the origins of Jesus have a universal dimension, the mercy of God has a universal reach. To the Jewish Christian scholar Amy Jill Levine, this story teaches both that the enemies of one generation may become the friends of the next and that we see people as individuals rather than only as representatives of a larger group. This woman's determined faith compels Jesus to amend his mission plan on the spot. God's merciful love cannot be rationed according to human definitions of who is in and who is out. This lost sheep is not on a divine waiting list. She's in. Jesus is indeed God's mercy in motion. And even on a day when his supply of loving kindness seems limited, those who come to him in faith seeking to be seen, heard and healed will find welcome. To follow Jesus means to listen for the call, have mercy on me, Lord, that resounds here in this community and beyond these walls, whether in murmurs of distress, whispers of discouragement, sighs of sorrow, or cries of justice. But there are times when it may seem as if the demand far outweighs our supply of compassion and mercy that such moments call for. I've discovered two ways to help replenish my mercy supply. One is to follow Jesus example and find moments to draw closer to God in prayer. This can remind me how much of God's merciful love is already flowing in my life and soften my heart as I relate to others. I recalled this as we practiced during Hillary's sermon last Sunday. Even a two minute timeout can renew our awareness of God's loving kindness and our capacity to extend it to others to the distant cousins who are always close at hand. My second means for replenishing the supply is to watch and be inspired by what you are all are doing. We don't have to search far in this congregation to find mercy in motion, in our ministries of pastoral care, service, justice, hospitality and advocacy, and simply in the loving spirit of people who befriend one another. We are Jesus partners in filling the world's mercy gap. That partnership calls us to see others needs, challenges and gifts through God's loving eyes, especially those whose lives might at first seem disconnected from ours. In today's gospel, Jesus and we are reminded of our common kinship with all people and that all are worthy of God's mercy and ours. As we keep mercy in motion, the demons that seek to block God's light can never have the last word. And thanks be to God. Amen.