Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28

Year A - Pentecost +10 or Community Practice ¹⁰

August 17, 2014

Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28

As clear as we can be about the processes of life—

• What is processed internally and let go can be a benefit to the environment. Yay, fertilizer.

• What is not processed internally but released to be processed outside can be a detriment to relationships. Boo, privilege that thinks we can get away with some “truth wrapped in love”.

— it doesn’t always become the basis of our actions.

Here Jesus is clear that heart junk let loose on others is far worse than setting down the junk of tradition held so dear by some.

In the blink of an eye the junk of Jesus’ acculturated heart is let loose on a Canaanite woman. When called on it, Jesus affirms his prejudice. Direct action by the Canaanite woman finally broke through by reminding Jesus of the great hypocrisy — by definition my view is correct and yours is not.

At stake in a post Pentecostal time is whether or not our newer traditions are just as time-bound as those we have wiggled out of. Our question is whether we will take the time needed to reflect, recognize we have been caught being as bound as those we escaped from and we need to substitute basic mercy for our first-response in order that our secondary and tertiary response might have room to come forth and recognize “great faith” where once we could only point a finger and say, “Wrong!”

If this passage doesn’t ask a community to assist one another to better see their common hypocrisy, it has not taken advantage of its opportunity. May you pay attention to your interactions with others and do better.