"No Barriers"

Matthew 15:21-28

Since 1997 most of my professional reading and much of my continuing education have dealt with the urgent need for mainline denominations and congregations to equip themselves for ministry in the 21^st century. A phrase I’ve read or heard over and over again is "paradigm shift." We find ourselves in the midst of a social and cultural "paradigm shift." In other words, we find ourselves living and doing ministry in a world where cultural attitudes and assumptions have changed tremendously. These changes are impacting the health and survival of the Presbyterian Church and all its congregations.

The phrase “paradigm shift” is usually coupled with the word “postmodernism.” We are living in a time when those assumptions we inherited from the Age of Reason are no longer the assumptions of the culture in which we live. The good news is that we’re leaving behind modernism’s assumptions that all knowledge is good, that nothing that can’t be proven by way of the scientific method is not to be believed, the gradual transformation of the world into paradise on earth, and the eventual perfection of the human race. None of those assumptions are biblical.

The bad news is that our culture has developed the notion that there are no absolutes. Everything is relative. There are no longer any absolute beliefs, morals, or ethics, or to paraphrase Judges, everybody has the inalienable right to do whatever is deemed okay in his or her own eyes. That assumption isn’t biblical either.

I'm using "paradigm shift" and “postmodernism” on purpose today. One, I want to introduce them to those who may be unfamiliar with them. Two, what takes place in today's text is nothing less than an historical shift in the assumptions of Jesus about his earthly mission and ministry – a paradigm shift. As his assumptions shifted, so, too, would eventually shift the assumptions of his disciples.

The story: Jesus and his disciples were traveling in the regions of Tyre and Sidon. According to the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark, this is the only time in his ministry that Jesus traveled outside Jewish territory. Even Samaria was essentially Jewish. He was in a pagan land, a supposedly God-forsaken place.

Why? We don't know. Maybe he needed a safe place to hide from the Pharisees and others who wanted to do him harm. Maybe he just needed some downtime: a little R&R with his disciples before he resumed his journey toward Jerusalem and the cross. Whatever, he was in a very foreign place, theologically as well as geographically.

But not so foreign as to make him totally unknown. A Canaanite woman approached him, calling him the Lord and Son of David: titles of the Messiah. She pleaded with him to heal her demon-possessed daughter. From our modern Christian perspective, this would’ve been akin to the late Madelyn Murray O’Hare asking a Presbyterian pastor and session to come and hold a healing service for one of her children. Pagan people did not seek healing from Jewish religious leaders. It was not done.

But this mother did so. What did Jesus do? First, he ignored her. But she was not to be ignored. She followed along, begging, pleading, and crying for Jesus to heal her child. After a while this got on the disciples' nerves so much that they asked Jesus to give the woman what she wanted simply so she'd go away and leave them alone. But in the words of Eugene Peterson's translation, "Jesus refused, telling them, 'I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel'."

The woman overheard this, came to Jesus, fell to her knees, and pleaded, "Master, help me." Jesus replied that it wasn't right to take bread out of the mouths of children and throw it to the family pets. But the woman persisted, again using Peterson's translation, "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the Master's table." And that's when Jesus relented and said, "Woman great is your faith! Let it be done with you as you wish." And her daughter was healed. The demons were exorcised.

This is a tough passage for most of us. Our usual vision of Jesus does not include the thought of him ignoring someone in such desperate need. Nor are we comfortable with our Lord essentially telling the lady that she and her daughter were dogs. There seems to be a coldness and lack of compassion on the part of Jesus that is totally at odds with who and what he was and is.

Let's back up. Until this moment Jesus had understood his God-given mission to be one of redeeming the children of Israel. He saw himself as their shepherd, called by God to bring them back to the paths of righteousness. Eugene Peterson's translation catches that notion very well: "I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel." In other words, he couldn’t let anything or anybody interfere with his primary mission. Jesus, the Son of God - God incarnate – the man named Jesus - still had a limited vision of his own mission. His totally human heart and mind could not yet grasp all that his Father was calling him to do.

But then the earthly paradigm under which he had been laboring shifted. His assumptions, to that point limited by his heritage and upbringing, changed. In response to a mother's love, grief, and last-ditch hope that he could save her daughter from hell on earth, Jesus, exercising the power and will of God, healed her child.

At that moment his mission was no longer limited to one nation, tribe, or faith community, but expanded to include the pagan gentiles from beyond Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. His paradigm had shifted. A few years later, this paradigm shift on the part of Jesus was acted out by the early church when Peter, preaching in the house of a Roman named Cornelius, said, "... God shows no partiality... everyone who believes in [Jesus] receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name. God's grace knows no racial, geographical, or social barrier. Anyone who faithfully claims Jesus as Lord can find salvation, healing, and acceptance in the Kingdom of God. In the words of one of those songs many of us learned in childhood: "Jesus loves the little children, all the little children in the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children in the world." Or to quote John's Gospel: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life."

Please note the universality of these phrases: God so loved the world... everyone who believes... all of his children. Not just Jews. Not just Gentiles. Not only men. Not only women. Not just white, middle class Americans. Not just rich Europeans. Not just the poor. Not just Asians, Africans, Latinos, or Slavs. Everybody. Even poor, heathen mamas who come seeking healing for their hellishly afflicted children. God wants us all to be in his Kingdom. God wants us all to experience his grace, healing, and peace. God wants us all to faithfully follow Jesus.

Furthermore, God's desire for those who do follow Jesus is that they follow the example set by Jesus in today's text. God does not want our assumptions about grace and faith to be too narrowly limited. God wants us to break down all our inner barriers of fear, prejudice, and distrust that prevent us from ministering to those in need. God wants our churches to be places where anyone is welcomed and loved, where anyone can find healing, acceptance, and grace - anyone. God wants us out in the world, breaking down the barriers that keep people away from him and alienated from one another.

God demands that every Christian, every congregation, and every denomination experience whatever paradigm shift is necessary to enable 21^st century Christians to do God’s work in a postmodern world. If that means that we have to let go of comfortable assumptions about what the church is and how it does ministry, so be it. If that means rocking the ecclesiastical or cultural boat, so be it.

Just outside the doors of this and every other church - and quite possibly here within the four walls of this sanctuary - there are people beset by the demons of this age, men, women, and children beset by those powers and principalities described by Paul in Ephesians. It is our task to reach out to them in the name of Jesus. And we are to be involved in this outreach regardless of the consequences. We don’t serve culture and its assumptions, modern or postmodern. We serve Jesus, God’s ultimate paradigm shift. Amen.