Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 is the lectionary text for next Sunday.
After a pointed rebuke of the Pharisees whose theology of purity and holiness falsified God's will, in which Jesus also took a shot at empire's value of status over others, Jesus taught his disciples a further lesson about worthiness and God's Grace.
Pietistic rituals that offer appearances of uprightness, purity and holiness are based on a belief in self-righteousness or earned merit for those who practice them. Jesus' message is about Agape Love and Grace.
Jesus in particularly graphic terms, destroyed any notion of ritualistic purity by pointing out that it is what is in one's heart, soul and mind that is pure or impure, and that it is in bringing out impure motives, attitudes, ideologies and beliefs through our words and actions that we are defiled.
Agape Love does not allow us to hide our greed, lust for power, desire for status or hatred through pietistic practices. Those rituals do not cleanse us from evil intentions or actions. Agape Love transcends our impurities because it is ACTION, COMMITTED ACTION on behalf of the other. Grace is in it. The Grace of undeserved loving mercy for the object of the Agape Love and the Grace of undeserved loving mercy for the one living Agape Love. Make no mistake, we are not working our way to salvation through the living of Agape Love, either. No. Quite to the contrary, we live Agape Love as a response to receiving it, live Grace out of gratitude for being recipients of it, as a response to the originator of it in our lives. Furthermore, we are transformed in the living of Agape Love and Grace, so that what defiles from within us is challenged and then neutralized by the obedient living of Agape Love toward the Shalom of others around us. Sanctification is happening, by the Holy Spirit of God who drives us to the living of what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us in Agape Love and Grace, as we have witness in the Gospels. The sanctification is not completed until we return to God or Jesus returns to us. Until then, the living of Agape counters the things that defile within us, and helps to transform the world, this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
Collusion by religious leaders with empire leads to false beliefs in prosperity, church power, superiority, purity and holiness and the like. Empire is built on the few above the many, and counts on the many aspiring to be the few. False piety elevates some over others in the eyes of believers. A false sense of being more worthy than others of blessing and favor, of being entitled to monetary wealth as a blessing of God, of the church's mission being to grow in influence, power or wealth and of being more pure or holy than others in the Kingdom come directly from empire and not Kingdom values. Jesus rebuked pietistic rituals, blessed the most marginalized and disenfranchised, taught that having enough is enough and made the mission of His followers self-sacrifice in humility. Jesus taught, commanded and modeled committed action on behalf of stranger and enemy, and especially the most vulnerable in the world as the practice of true believers. Jesus' Kingdom values unified and built community. Empire values divide and destroy individual lives and community.
The application of Jesus' teaching regarding what defiles or what is considered "unclean" came swiftly in Matthew's Gospel. The Syrophoenician woman represented what was unclean in ethnicity, religion and culture. She represented the enemy and not just stranger, and she and her daughter were most vulnerable. Jesus, in baiting her, was baiting his disciples who were watching the encounter and encouraging Jesus to abandon her in her distress. Jesus said what He knew His disciples wanted to hear about "us vs. them" and being among the "chosen." Jesus insulted her with an air of superiority, thus pointing out her unworthiness. But she persisted. Even recognizing her "place" in the hierarchy presented her, she acknowledged her need and Jesus' ability to make her and her daughter more complete and whole. And Jesus, in front of His disciples, claims her as an example of real faith. Let me be clear - Jesus, for the benefit of His disciples and their learning, declared this "unclean" woman to be faithful. Matthew set the drama up beautifully. Did they get it?
Do we get it?
Worthiness is for God to decide. Blessings are for God to decide.
God does not value wealth, power or status. God does not call us to live those empire values and thus be divided and hateful with one another. Instead, God calls us to be beneficiaries of Agape and Grace, and benefactors of it with one another.
God does not call us to strive for self-righteousness through pietistic rituals or practices, and does not call us to try and merit or earn our salvation through works, even works of Agape Love. God is not concerned with purity or holiness on our part. God wants obedient faithfulness in the living of Agape Love and Grace. Just as God has given us that Agape and Grace, as we have witness in the Gospels, so as a response in gratitude, faithfulness to God is the living of that Agape and Grace with those in the world around us, this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
So, what actually defiles us? Our attitudes, ideologies, beliefs, words and actions that run contrary to the living of Agape and Grace in the world. Empire defiles, and the embrace of empire values defiles us. And who can save us, wretched fools that we are? Not our own merit or status, pietistic rituals and practices, purity or holiness, power or wealth. Out of Agape and Grace, Jesus.
Want to be faithful? Follow Jesus - Jesus' teachings, commands and examples for how to live in this part of God's Kingdom, here and now.
Pastor Jamie
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