Suffer the Little Children: Sermon Series on Children
Psalm 95 and Matthew 15:21-28 (Syrophenician woman’s request)
Preached by Linda Jo Peters ~ March 27, 2011
INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE
Psalm 95:1-7: Jerome Creach writes in his commentary that:
…the central theological message of Psalm 95 is that "the Lord is a great King." To recognize God's kingship is to recognize that God created us and sustains us. For that reason God is worthy of our praise. The psalm also suggests that our praise is more than words lifted heavenward. It is an expression of faith and it should be lived out in faithfulness and trust... To connect praise and obedience is our calling.
1O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
3For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
4In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
5The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
7For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!
Matthew 15:21-28
The Canaanites were seen as unsavory folk. Their ancestors had worshiped Baal whose rites had included child sacrifices. But the dialogue between this worried mother and Jesus is brutal.
Standing up to men of power, even good men, as a voice for justice for all children is one way we can follow Jesus who knows the suffering of all the children of God.
21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
SERMON: Have you ever noticed that Jesus will not fit into that lovely little box that’s labeled: “Sweetness and Life.” Instead we have stores about a preteen that is uppity with his parents, a young man that talks back to his mother in front of wedding guests, an angry parishioner who chases people out of the place of worship, a teacher who asks more questions than he answers and a healer that refuses to heal. Lord, that is just so unhelpful when we are trying to win people over for you! Let’s just bury these passage away and ignore how they rub us the wrong way. But isn’t that what they tried to do to Jesus? He rubbed them the wrong way and they arrested him, tortured him, executed him and buried him. But thank God neither they nor we have the last word. God’s word both comforts and challenges us. So as we consider the suffering of children today, let us face how challenging it is to our faith when children suffer.
We have had three of our church family’s children in crisis this week. Vincent Pugh late last Sunday collapsed from another cardiac arrest with swelling of the brain. He is in Riley’s Children’s Hospital. Garrett Thomas battled pneumonia this past week and was hospitalized. Lilly, Norma our bookkeeper’s great-granddaughter developed a rare form of arthritis and that hits quickly and leaves just as rapidly. Fear is what eats away at the parents and family of each of these children. They would do anything to help their children. The hardest job is to remain faithful in the midst of the crisis.
This desperate mother comes to Jesus. Has she heard about his healings maybe even seen him in action? We do not know. We do know that she is determined for him to heal her daughter. She takes Jesus’ insults and even kneels before him in a position of worship. Because of her quick wit, and vulnerability, we naturally focus on the woman who is seen by the Jews as other, an outsider who is unwanted because of her ancestry. But in scripture you have to watch what God is doing to get the message. Jesus did much of his teaching by telling stories that often began with “The Kingdom of God is like…” We call them parables because they help us step back from the crisis and hear God’s will. I think this encounter with a gentile woman is like a living parable. Professor Salmon writes:
We see ourselves mirrored in Jesus' attitude toward the Canaanite woman, but not our best selves. We know very well the tendency to define and fear an "other" on the basis of skin color, nationality, class, or creed, deeply ingrained stereotypes that go back generations or even centuries. We resent being bothered by the concerns of those people. We have our own children to care for. When they persist, insisting on equal treatment and justice for their children, we resort to racial slurs and insults. And we are very good at justifying our actions rather than admitting the prejudice that persist.
Now what is God doing? God steps into our prejudice and acts like us and then we are unnerved by our actions toward others. Jesus is the mirror for his disciple but also for us. What children are we willing to ignore and persecute because they are different or enemies or just plain difficult? The woman is kneeling at our feet; she is pounding at our door. Will we ignore her send her away empty handed or will we work to see her child and all children made whole?
What would that look like at Unity? Our devotional resource was created by Rev. Dawn Curlee Carlson, pastor or First Congregational Church here in Terre Haute. She used information from the Children’s Defense Fund. They state:
We are committed to reclaiming our country, our core values and spiritual foundation for our children and families. Too many children live in poverty and suffer from preventable illness, neglect, abuse, inadequate education and violence. These problems are solvable if we each do our part. Right now, our nation has the ability to:
• End child poverty;
• Guarantee every child and pregnant woman comprehensive health and mental health coverage and services;
• Protect every child from abuse and neglect and connect them to caring permanent families;
• Provide high quality early childhood care and development programs for all children;
• Ensure every child can read at grade level by fourth grade and guarantee quality education through high school graduation; and
• Stop the criminalization of children at increasingly younger ages and invest in prevention and early intervention.
The list would require a lot of investment in the political process. But I was struck by the goal to “Protect every child from abuse and neglect and connect them to caring permanent families.” Right here in our congregation we have people who have opened their homes to foster care, adopted children and volunteer with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. We could have an even broader impact on protecting children just as we make a difference with our food pantry. Why would we bother? Just as better stewards of our national resources did you know the annual total direct and indirect costs of child maltreatment are estimated to be nearly $104 billion. Children left with no permanent family connections or a connection with a caring adult have no one to whom they can turn for social, emotional or financial support and face numerous barriers as they struggle to become self-sufficient adults.
The children are suffering right here in Vigo County. We can make a difference. May we hear Jesus say, “Unity, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And our children were made whole. Amen.
Resources
Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, McAfee School of Theology,
Marilyn Salmon, Professor of New Testament, United Theological Seminary,
See: http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/
