Scripture Basis
Weekly Devotion
Isaiah 56:1,6-8
1 Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right. For soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.
6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8 Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
God’s House of Prayer
From the beginning, God’s vision for God’s world and God’s people has reflected God’s heart. As the prophet Isaiah tells us, it’s an ever-expanding heart that invites us to “maintain justice, and do what is right” (Isaiah 56: 1). It’s a generous heart that accepts foreigners and welcomes them to God’s “house of prayer.” It’s a forgiving heart that pours out mercy and love no matter how many times God’s people turn away from God’s will and God’s ways. Each one of us is blessed by God’s heart.
God’s heart is the force behind Jesus’ entrance into our world. God’s heart is also the reason the church exists. It is behind All Saint’s Welcome Statement to be hospitable to all people. We like to think that we are hospitable people, but we are not perfect. True hospitality, God-centered and God-directed hospitality, is hard. God’s heart may be generous, but the human heart often can’t fathom the depth and breadth and width of God’s generosity. We cannot help ourselves. We see limits. We set boundaries. We notice differences. Even when our brain comprehends what that means, we can have a hard time putting it into practice with all our heart. That’s what Jesus invites us to see in this week’s Gospel lesson from Matthew.
In the preceding scripture, Jesus is trying to get the religious leaders and his disciples to understand that it is “not what you know that counts or how well you can follow rules, but the generosity of your heart that’s behind what you do or say. Following the rules, especially God’s rules, is important, but not when those rules get in the way of maintaining justice and doing what is right. Caring matters to God more than a literal adherence to the law.
Lest you think I exaggerate the challenge of being welcoming, we’re blessed with this difficult story in which the generosity of Jesus’ heart is tested. After trying to explain God’s heart, Jesus takes his disciples and crosses a geographic boundary. They enter a land where not only are the people not Jewish, they are also considered unclean and unworthy. I’m not sure what Jesus
expected, but it, apparently, wasn’t that he’d be accosted by a foreign woman intent on getting him to heal her sick daughter. His initial reactions are neither kind, accepting, nor generous. He tells her he did not come to help her, but that his mission was to help his own people. OUCH!
In her desperation, she seems to have a better understanding in that moment of God’s heart than Jesus does. She pleads with him to heal her daughter, noting that to do so would not keep him from his mission. Surely she suggests there’s enough of God’s heart to spare her a few crumbs. Seeing her faith, her love for her child and hearing the wisdom of her words, he answers her prayer and heals her daughter. We can all breathe a little easier as we see a foretaste of the feast to come when God’s house (God’s kingdom come), will be called a house of prayer for all peoples. No one is excluded. All are welcome! We’re left wondering why Jesus did not see that immediately. Whatever the reason, it’s a reminder to us that true hospitality, the kind that reflects God’s generous heart, is hard to recognize, grasp and live.
Choices and tensions are part of every relationship and any community of people, no matter how caring and Christ-like they seek to be. We are no different. We don’t have to pretend we are. However, we are baptized and blessed, forgiven and empowered, by God’s generous heart to participate in and bring to life God’s vision for God’s world. We do not do this on our own. Jesus is Immanuel, ‘God with us.’ Through him, in him and with him, we become the church, Christ’s body in the here and now. We may struggle with some individuals as Jesus did with the Canaanite woman. We may struggle with some groups of people we don’t understand. We may struggle with ourselves when our brains and our hearts are not on the same side. That’s life! So too is this: God does not struggle with us. God loves and gives, blesses and forgives, and will continue to do so as long as it takes to bring about God’s vision that God’s world is a house of prayer for all people. How might you contribute to that reality?