Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
“Yet the little dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table”
Matthew’s account of Jesus’ encounter with “a woman of Canaan” is masterful. There is a perfect equipoise between her three statements and the three statements of Jesus. And yet, the encounter also reveals the silence of Jesus. To her first request for mercy, “he answered her not a word.” That silence marks the turning point because she does not turn away and even refuses to be sent away and continues persistently to persevere in getting Jesus’ attention.
It might seem that what is at issue is how we get Jesus’ attention. But that is to miss the real power and truth of the dialogue. Ultimately, it is about God’s attention and care for us and about our attention to God intentionally and with strength. In a way, this Gospel story for The Second Sunday in Lent is about our active attention to God. It means perseverance, indeed, great perseverance. Nowhere is that shown more wonderfully than in the story of the Canaanite woman. Here is the story of a strong woman and a story about the strength of faith. She holds on to what she senses and knows about God in the person of Jesus Christ.
No story in the Gospels suggests so much about the necessary interplay of our humanity with God in Christ. In the story, it seems that what drives the entire argument is the perseverance of the woman who seeks the healing of her daughter “grievously vexed with a devil,” itself an interesting malady. It is a malady of the soul, a torment of the mind, not altogether unlike the forms of mental instability and confusion which belong to our culture. And, to be sure, the Canaanite woman here is a great exemplar of the true meaning of faith. She recognizes something divine in Jesus which alone can provide the healing she seeks for her daughter. The healing she seeks is entirely psychological and spiritual, not physical.
The point is that she will not be put off but persists in her quest to get Jesus’ attention. As it turns out, she actually has Jesus’ full attention. The problem is that the others, such as the disciples, don’t. She has Jesus’ attention so much that he insists on her articulating the full meaning of her request. He has heard about her daughter in her opening question to him. “But he answered her not a word.” Why? Because it is not simply about her and her daughter. It is equally about the nature of God’s engagement with our humanity seeking our good in his glory. It is a lesson about the universality of Christ’s mission which is through Israel but not confined to Israel.
