Gospel reading Matthew Chapter 15 v 10 – 28

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honour your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

“‘These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not plantedwill be pulled up by the roots.Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.” “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts – murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

Sermon: Why are we offended? Matthew 15 v 10 – 28

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Over the past few weeks in our gospel readings from Matthew, we have read about the positive aspects of being sown and planting seed within life, and as I read this week’s Gospel, I wanted to just think about one other aspect, one which perhaps we don’t often like to consider, even though we see it at work so much in life.

So let me start by asking you a question, have you ever been offended?

I would hazard a guess that everyone is now saying yes in their heads.

Something will have happened, and our heckles will have been up because of it.

We almost always immediately react and deal with the situation, more likely than not in a negative way, instinct kicks in and before we know it the situation begins to be inflamed.

Reason and calm rational thinking will have been the last things on our mind.

But what does this have to do with seed, well as I was reading around this week’s scripture reading, I came across something which struck me as incredibly relevant today, even though it was written many years ago.

A theologian suggested that “Offence” is a spiritual seed, and that there are four ways those seeds get sown into us.

1. What others said to us: All some people ever hear in their lives are cutting and abrasive words. Sarcastic comments that pierce like a sword. Sarcastic people can cut you to pieces with their tongue.
2. What others do not say to us: You could be offended because you don’t feel appreciated. No one ever says thank you to you or compliments your effort. Instead they would sooner undermine you and talk behind your back rather than saying something to your face.
3. What others did to us (negative actions and reactions): Selfish actions and humiliating experiences can cause the seed of offence to germinate in our hearts. When you are cut out of discussions which have a bearing on what you do but you are not included. Often through ignorance or even when deliberately not being included. You are left feeling unvalued, disrespected, worthless, not part of the team
4. What people didn’t do for us (by way of a favour or assistance that we could have done with but we did not receive) I found this insight very profound and relevant not only to our Gospel, but also to how many in society react to things today, and so with the advent of social media, I now would want to add a fifth.
5. What the often faceless keyboard warriors say – negative judgments of what someone has done, which you completely disagree with, and before you know it you have engaged in an argument which does nothing but offend and hurt you even more.

I could possibly give you a number of further instances which are relevant right now, but I am sure that you can all think of many examples. Instead I want to come back to the Gospel.

We read in scripture that the Pharisees are offended because Christ had just spoken about food not being the thing that defiles a person, but rather what comes out of the mouth.

This on its own would have been bad enough, but then Christ deals a second blow, by not only naming a wide and varied list of things that cause harm or offence, the things which detract us from our faith, he also suggests that what one person does can cause another to also blindly follow without taking the time to think about the consequences of what they are doing.

The Pharisees were offended because not only did this teaching go against their legalistic rules, but Christ was also suggesting that they were encouraging people into following them blindly.

Of course, as with all of Christ’s teachings, there are deeper issues here, and they speak to us more than they do to the Pharisees. As we read scripture, we see many examples of where he doesn’t pull his punches, there are times when the blunt nature of his words pulls us up and gives us pause for thought, and perhaps make us ask ourselves, why did he approach that situation in that way?

Being blunt, speaking frankly, not beating about the bush, speaking plainly, which ever phrase you prefer, they all mean the same thing. They all cut through nice and soft bits but then get straight to the point, to the very heart of the matter even when it won’t be comfortable for people to hear.

Much of the time we will soften the blow when we talk with people, help them to come to an understanding of what’s going on, but there are times when that simply isn’t going to work. It is shrugged off as something less important, and perhaps they even project it back onto another person as their issue.

However, we know that Christ was without sin, so if His words offend us, then it’s time to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask, why am I offended, what aspect of my life is He speaking into which needs more attention.

We could leave our examination of this passage here, but to do so would mean that we miss the opportunity to learn an important lesson. And if we put this into the context of what has just happened with the Pharisees, we see a very different response to Christ words.

In many ways the Canaanite woman has as much, if not more reason to be offended with Christ likening her to a dog when he says, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’

I think that if any of us had approached Christ to ask Him to help us, and received the response that he gave, then it would probably have floored us. This woman had a lot on her mind her child was in desperate need of His help, and He had shunned her request.

It is likely that if any of us had been presented with the same situation, deep offense would have set in and we would have probably stormed off in disgust. But not this woman, instead she thought about His words and replied, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’

It’s one of those pure moments of clarity where you inhale deeply in awe of what’s just happened. The woman wasn’t offended, she wasn’t hurt by what had been said, and she remained focused on what she needed to do. Her thoughts weren’t about nursing a bruised ego, or feeing hurt by Christ’s blunt dismissal, her faith told her that she needed His help, her daughter needed his healing and nothing was going to get in the way of this happening.

Her actions speak of a deep enduring faith, a faith which isn’t shaken by any obstacles which are thrown into their path.

Christ heals her daughter because he is so moved by her absolute faith in him, which is even more remarkable when you consider that she is not a Hebrew, but rather a Canaanite, a race regarded as second-class citizens.

The two aspects of our Gospel are completely opposed. The Pharisees immediately saw the insult, took it to heart and were offended by the fact that they were challenged. The woman, considered the situation and entered into a reasoned conversation with Christ.

These two stories should move us deliberately out of our comfort zone, and force us to look deep within ourselves and say how do we react to the situations around us.

Are we like the Pharisees and immediately go on the defensive, or are we like the woman, who considers the situation before reacting?

Up to this point in the Gospel, Christ’s mission was solely to the house of Israel, to help them to understand that he was the promised Messiah.

Here in this scripture we see the beginning of Him opening himself up to everyone, Christ demonstrates how we can all receive his grace in our lives.

As Christ’s mission was to bring salvation to everyone, he opened up his church, his body to anyone who calls upon him. No one is beyond redemption and as grace renews us, we are reminded that whenever we may feel offended because of the way someone has acted towards us, our first response shouldn’t be to condemn them but to forgive them as hard as that may be and then to ask ourselves why are we offended?

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

Prayers

Living God, we thank you for all you have done for us in Christ.
You have given a new dimension to our lives, a hope and a purpose not of this world,
A taste of eternal life with all the fulfilment that offers, a resource to meet whatever challenges we may face.
Lord of life…. hear our prayer

We praise you that through faith we are able to glimpse things as yet unseen,
That we are part of the great company of your people in heaven and on earth,
That we are pilgrims together in a journey of discovery, that we are in Christ
Lord of life…. hear our prayer

But we thank you also that you have given us life in this world,
That you have called us to serve you in a particular place and time,
That we are Christians here in together.
Lord of life…. hear our prayer

We thank you for all that this… (please name town / village you live in) has to offer,
for all the ways we are part of it and all the people who live here.
Help, us to work out our faith in this place, offering service to the community in which we are set, making the Gospel real in our activities, our relationships, our attitudes.
Lord of life…. hear our prayer

Living God, help us to anticipate your kingdom, but help us also to keep our feet on the ground, remembering that this begins now and not at some distant point in the future, on earth and not simply in heaven, here in (name of town / village)

Lord of life…. hear our prayer

Merciful Father accept these prayers form the sake of your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

And so sealing our prayer together, we pray the prayer that Jesus Christ taught his disciples… the Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.
Amen

Revd Kevin. Priest at St.Wilfrid and St.Thomas