Proper 15 a – August
17, 2014
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| (Source: Sarah Meyer Walsh - The District Domestic) |
Today,
we find Jesus on the road once again, teaching and healing, placing signs along
the road, and ever more becoming Himself THE sign of God’s grace, love, and
mercy.
If
you look up the general timing of the stories, you soon will realize that Jesus
is beginning to speed up his pace and becomes more intent in his mission. He is
probably in his last preaching tour, well north of the Sea of Galilee, almost
bordering modern Lebanon. So he is a long way from Jerusalem, and he is ready
to begin rounding up his mission of salvation.
As
you know, as he went along teaching he used a lot of imagery to describe what He
was about and describing the Good News of the Gospel in very creative ways.
He
told the multitudes that the Kingdom of Heaven he was announcing was like a
pearl of great price or like a hidden treasure. He describe the world that God
was intent in bringing about as a good seed that grows and brings fruit to the
land, as the mustard seed small enough to be ignored but with an reviving
flavor and huge growth potential, and even as a gathering net, or table salt.
Of course, as we know, elsewhere in the Gospel Jesus speaks of the kingdom in
terms of light, fire, and living water.
Now,
however, in this unique occasion it is not Jesus who is offering an image and
encouraging his followers to think on the implications of his words. This time
it was not one of the disciples coming with a brilliant idea but an Outsider,
with big capital “O.” Not a Jew but a Phoenician – a Gentile! – And a woman!
Professor
LeMarquand, from Trinity Seminary remarks that “Matthew’s use of the term “Canaanite” to describe the woman highlights
the nature of this woman and her daughter as the worst of outsiders. Canaanites
were the classic enemies of Israel. The Canaanite woman is not merely a
gentile, therefore, but a representation of those peoples who are God’s, as
well as Israel’s, enemies.”[1] And yet, in her worry, she still is
ready to approach a Jewish preacher.
The
story you know. The woman calls on Jesus to do something for her child when
everything else has already failed. She is in dire straits. Her daughter is
sick, and as mothers all over the world do, she would not leave stone unturned
to find healing for her beloved child. Somehow, she hears about Jesus which,
obviously, she recognized as someone in authority. Leaving everything back
home, even her sick child, she walks down from her village and begins to plead
her case. And, does she plead!
She
continues to insist until eventually – like the woman pleading her case before
the judge – she is such a nuisance, that the disciples had no other choice to
alert their Master.
It
may not be surprising to note that the Jewish disciples were not in any mood to
deal with people other than their own folk. So, as they could not get rid of
her, they approach Jesus asking him to deal with her.
Jesus,
at first, perhaps feeling tired of people asking for food and healing but not
really interested in what really mattered, dismisses her. Even if Christ’s
words seem unkind, I have to say that I understand his attitude. I know a man
that from time to time shows up during the week to ask money to repair his car.
Over the nine months or so that I have been here, he has asked me enough money
to buy parts enough to build several new cars! And never once has he inquired
about what time is Church!
But
the woman, in her desperation, presses on. She would not give up! I believe
that Jesus was ready to send her away when – unexpectedly – Jesus finds himself
rather than being the Teacher, being the student.
You
see, says the woman, even puppies eat the crumbs at their masters table. I
really wish that in heaven they have a huge replay machine that could show our
Lord’s face at hearing what the woman had to say. But, anyway, our Savior words
say it all. “Yeah! You’ve got it.
Crumbs!” And then, turning around He says, “That’s Faith! That’s the kind of faith to build up the kingdom of
mercy, love, and grace that I am all about!” And, after complimenting her
for her insight, sends her back home to find her child restored to health.
The
Kingdom of God is like pearls? Yes… Hidden treasure? Yes… Mustard seed… Hmmm… if you say so. But,
holy Carmichael, crumbs?
What
is it in a crumb that makes it a sign of the Gospel? Have you ever thought that
coming? It is clear that even Jesus had not, and yet he says… “Wow, yeah! She’s right!” Let’s take a
minute to consider a crumb.
1.
A
crumb points to ultimate surrender. A crumb is a product of
something larger. One does not make bread out of crumbs, rather the other way
around. Crumbs are the byproduct of taking and breaking. Breaking. In the crumbs Jesus perhaps saw the bread of life broken
for the sake of the world, or the breaking of his own body for our salvation,
we do not know. However, we do know that a crumb points to a whole that has been
broken, to a point of no return, to ultimate surrender at Calvary’s Cross. Let
me suggest that at the heart of the Gospel there is a place where we should be
ready to be broken. Even if it is paradoxical, wholeness can only be found in
brokenness. We are healed whenever we are taken, broken, and shared in love. How
do we know when we arrive to such a place?
How does a piece of bread knows when no longer is a morsel but a crumb?
Perhaps the sign of the crumb points us to the place where the Gospel is no
longer something that we believe in or we do at certain times, but when we
realize that “regular” life becomes the “add on” to our true life in the Spirit.
When truly we are ready to say, “I have
been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal
2:20).
2.
A
crumbs points to the power of small. Deacon Liz already
explained to you the Parable of the Mustard Seed, and how the Gospel has in
itself all that it takes to grow well beyond a humble beginning and how a shrub
that people yanked away from their gardens, in the eyes of God is a sign of
sheltering grace. A crumb, in its smallness points to the opposite of
“super-sizing” something to make it really worthy and of value. The tiniest
crumb of a consecrated host holds the fullest of the plenitude of Christ. A
glass of water is a sign of the kingdom. Getting out of our way to help those
who have been robbed of their hopes, their futures by greed and corruption has
its reward in the Kingdom. “How
wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! That’s where God commands blessings, and
ordains eternal life” (Psalm 133:1, 3). Unity doesn’t require zillions. It
only requires two individuals willing to be at peace. Twenty or thirty people
gathered around God’s table is a sure sign of the Kingdom. Should we work to spread the Gospel and fill up this Church with
God’s children? Yes! But our motivation never should be grounded in our
smallness but in that where “two or three
are gathered together, lo I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20), in
our willingness to share even the little crumbs of grace that overflow the
Master’s Holy Table.
3.
A
crumb points beyond itself. Have you ever tasted a crumb of a
brownie? What do you want? To eat the whole cake! Jesus reminds us that He is the
bread of life. And that he who comes to Him will never go hungry (cf. John 6:35).
Both as individuals and as a Church sometimes we face the temptation to be all things
to everyone all the time. Again, recalling the power of small, it should do
well for us to remember if that we can only offer a tiny glimpse of heaven, if
we can manage to offer even for one hour or so every week a tiny morsel of the
kingdom of God. And if it is the real thing, not fake religion, it will
motivate people to come and to ask for more. There are some beautiful hymns
describing the Church as Jerusalem, and that’s fine. However, it should do well
to us remembering that, perhaps, a better description of the Church is
Bethlehem, “The House of Bread” where our Savior came to be born, but where the
Bread of Life now makes his home. Bread to be broken to be shared. That’s is
what the Church and, we as individuals are asked to be. A tiny spec that points
to a larger reality, the Bread of Heaven.
Finally,
let us remember that as the bread that we eat once was grain scattered on the
hills, even the tiniest of crumbs point to the gathering power of the Gospel. Whenever
we raise the Holy Bread we will be raising the hope of our final and complete
unity in the love of Christ, and in the final and very real victory of life
over death, love over hatred, reconciliation over estrangement.
Crumbs
of the Kingdom – A hymn, a song, a smile, or a nod in understanding. A tear, a
sigh, a hush, or a hand stretched out in prayer. Water, Bread, Wine, and a Cross
uplifted, all point to heavenly grace, mercy and love. Crumbs of the Kingdom
for the healing of the world. Let us pray that in the hands of the Master we
too may be broken and given for the sake of others and to the glory of God.
Fr Gustavo
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