Bible Tuesday for Pentecost 10, 2017

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8

Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.

6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.
8 Thus says the Lord God,
who gathers the outcasts of Israel,
I will gather others to them
besides those already gathered.*

The terms “my holy mountain”, “Mount Zion”, and “Zion” are all synonymous for the hill in the city of Jerusalem. Called Zion, on which the Temple was built. Frequently Zion is also used synonymously with the city of Jerusalem and even the Temple itself.

When Israelites were released from captivity in Babylonia and returned to their native land, not only did they find their homes and businesses, farms and orchards, in shambles and occupied by other people, but they found the Israelites that were left in place by Babylon had intermarried with non-Jewish neighbors. This was abhorrent to the returning priests and religious leaders! They detested all the “goyim” (non Jews) living in their sacred lands.

In the above Isaiah passage, God reminds the returning Israelites that it was God’s purpose for Israel all along to welcome the alien and the foreigner so they may also receive God’s love and live in God’s covenant with all creation.

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Selah
2 that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.
Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.

6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
7 May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

This psalm begins by invoking the blessing that God gave to Aaron to say over the Jewish people, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.”

This is a marvelous example of “call and response” liturgy in the Jewish “hymnal” psalter. The leader states why all the peoples of the world should praise God and the congregation responds with an “amen” of sorts, an invitation to all people to join in praising God. Both leader and congregation join together in the final verses to affirm the benevolence and faithfulness of God.

Romans 11:1-2, 29-32

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 29for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now* receive mercy. 32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

In this passage Paul teaches that Jews were God’s chosen people, designated by the covenants God made with them, in order that all may come to God through their God-like love of all humanity. But the Jewish people failed at this task. God, himself, Jesus did that work instead. Those who believe into Jesus are now made beneficiaries of that same covenant and are now to evangelize to the Jews. But because both Jews and Gentiles are all fallen people, demented by sin to be ever self focused, if God wills to free us from ourselves and know God, God must grant mercy to all, Jew and Gentile.

Matthew 15:10-28

Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offence when they heard what you said?’ 13He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.* And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ 15But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ 16Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding?17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’

21 Jesus 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.

“It is not what goes into the body but what comes out the mouth that defiles.” – To be defiled in the Jewish religion meant to be filthy, too filthy to go to the Temple and worship God. The books of Exodus and Leviticus delineate what foods, deeds, and actions defile a person. Touching a dead body, having an active skin disease, bleeding, eating the wrong foods, having sex with someone other than one’s spouse, etc., all defile a person. But nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures does it say that thoughts defile. Yet, that is exactly what Jesus states in this text. Contact with certain things may make a person dirty, but that is what soap and water are for. What defiles a person, what makes a person unclean, repulsive to God’s perfection, is what comes from the mind and the heart.

After Jesus drove this lesson home with his disciples, they all traveled out of Jewish territory and into the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon. The gospel writer lists these cities to make clear the point that Jesus took his disciples into Gentile lands. While there, a gentile woman approaches Jesus to heal her daughter. This woman has several strikes against her in the eyes of faithful Jews. 1) She is a woman who is speaking for herself instead of having a male relative speak for her. 2) She is a non-Jew. 3) She is asking for healing for another female, worse yet, for a female child.

The exchange between this woman and Jesus is a hard one to read. Yes, Jesus really does call her a dog, compared to the Jews, who are children at God’s table. Why does Jesus, who came “that they might have life and have it abundantly” call a poor woman a dog? There is no good answer. Some scholars speculate that Jesus is playing devil’s advocate, saying to the woman what he knows the disciples are thinking. Other scholars thinking Jesus is pushing the woman to argue her case so the disciples must examine their own prejudices. Still other scholars argue that heretofore, Jesus believed himself to be sent to the Jews alone and that this faithful non-Jewish woman shows him God’s true calling, to all the world. There are mere educated guesses, however.

When Jesus and the woman talk about dogs, the word they are using is translated best “puppies” or “lapdogs” though it is not know if ancient Jews kept lapdogs.