The Faith of the Rejected Ones

This Week's Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, Psalm 67, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-31, Matthew 15:10-28

Most parents would do anything for their children.  I don’t have kids of my own yet, but I know I still feel that way about my niece and nephew.  And I’ve always had a sense of the length my parents would go for me.  I’m sure you all have people in your life who you’d do anything for and who would do anything for you.  Luckily, most of us in middle class America aren’t usually confronted with dire situations and decisions about such sacrifices.  But we all understand the lengths people will go to help their family and loved ones.  The sacrifices people will make and the risks they’re willing to take to give their loved ones a better life. 

When I was in Honduras earlier this year, I saw extreme examples of people who made sacrifices for their loved ones.  People living in widespread poverty, forced to make decisions and sacrifices we might not be able to imagine.  Due in large part to American corporations exploiting the resources of Central America, people in countries like Honduras have been left scrounging for crumbs.  And so, many Honduran fathers, for example, make the difficult decision to leave their wife and children and make the risky journey to the US because they want to work hard and earn money to provide a better life for their families.  They face not only the physical challenges of the journey, but also the mental and emotional toll of loneliness and isolation, and the complicated legal hurdles of an unwelcoming and intentionally burdensome immigration process.

One new Honduran friend told me about getting caught on the US-Mexican border and deported back to Honduras.  He described the guilt and shame he still had from that experience and wanted to assure me that he had never done anything illegal in his life up to that point.  Later he went to Spain, hoping to find a job as an English teacher.  But this man with a bachelor’s degree and professional teaching experience, couldn’t even find a job as a day laborer there and eventually returned to Honduras with the help of some American friends, through whom he connected with our group from the Synod which hired him as a translator.  I couldn’t help but be impressed and deeply moved by how hard he was trying to better his life and that of his family.

The woman Jesus encountered in today’s Gospel reading had a lot in common with my friend from Honduras.  She was willing to do anything for her daughter.  She was willing to take risks, to face rejection, to put herself out there.  She was desperate for anything that could free her daughter from the demon tormenting her.  This woman knew Jesus had the power to heal her daughter.  So she begged for his help.  But at first he ignored her.  And when she persisted, he told her he wasn’t sent to help people like her but only lost sheep of the house of Israel.  She desperately said, “Lord help me!”  And he responded, “It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

Let’s pause right there and recall our first three scripture readings this morning.  First, we heard from the prophet Isaiah.  This passage makes it very clear that it’s not just Isaiah’s own Israelite religion that God cares about.  Isaiah declares that God cares about people of all nations.  “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” God says through Isaiah.  It’s an idea that is stated over and over again in the latter part of Isaiah: that God is the God of all people and not just one religious or national group.

The same theme appears in the psalm we recited this morning. Verse 2: your saving health among all nations.  Verse 4: you guide all the nations of earth.  Verse 5: let all the peoples praise you.  The psalmist is clear that God is the God of all people and calls on all people to praise God.

Then in Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul addresses the question of whether God accepting non-Jews means that God has rejected the Jewish people.  And Paul emphatically says “No, by no means!”  Just like Isaiah felt the need to explain that God accepts non-Israelites, now Paul feels the need to explain that God accepts non-Christians.  In this part of the book of Romans Paul goes into great detail about how the Jews are loved and accepted, even those who don’t follow Jesus.  

So the creators of the lectionary (the ones who select which reading are read each Sunday) have presented us with an obvious theme to work with today.  Isaiah and the Psalm say that God is the God of all nations, all religions, all ethnicities.  And in Romans Paul says that even though God is the God of the Christians, God is still the God of the Jews too.  God doesn’t need to reject one religion in order to be present in another.  God doesn’t need to reject some people in order to save others.  God is the God of all people. 

The Gospel reading continues this theme, starting off with Jesus teaching that what defiles a person is not unclean foods that go in, but rather the words and actions that come out.  This seems to be another nod to the Gentile non-Israelites who don’t follow the Jewish kosher laws.  Jesus says that what comes out of your mouth matters, your words make a different, what you say to people is important.  Matthew places this teaching right before Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman—and slander happens to be the very last item on his list of things not to do. 

Now let’s pick up where we left off with the Canaanite woman.  The woman begged Jesus for help.  First he ignored her.  Then he explained he’s only here to help Israel.  And then he insults her, referring to her and her people as dogs.  It seems like Jesus has forgotten what he’s just said about not slandering people, about not using defiling speech.  It seems Jesus is acting contrary to everything we’ve heard in all our scripture readings.  Acting contrary to everything he taught about the love of God for all people. 

Some suggest that this is the point when Jesus realizes that his mission is for the whole world and not just for Israel.  That Jesus changes his mind here and learns something from this woman.  It’s possible that an encounter like this helped Jesus further understand his mission.  Although, Jesus had already helped a Roman officer and two Gentile men earlier in Matthew’s Gospel.  So, another view is that this isn’t a learning experience for Jesus but rather is some kind of test to see if the woman’s faith is strong enough to warrant her daughter’s healing.  That’s problematic in its own ways, as if she needs to earn Jesus’ approval or pass a test before he helps her. 

But a third way of looking at this is through the lens of spiritual growth.  In his book Crisis of Faith, Crisis of Love, Catholic monk and spiritual teacher Thomas Keating explains that on the spiritual journey we will all have moments when it seems like God is rejecting us.  Moments when we no longer feel God’s presence in our life.  Moments when our faith is challenged by the hardships of life.  Perhaps, in this story, Jesus is giving the Canaanite woman such a moment.  Not to test her, but to push her to grow to new levels of faith and trust and love.  She trusts Jesus in the face of apparent rejection.  She trusts Jesus in spite of all evidence to the contrary.  She believes in Jesus’ love and acceptance and compassion even when he doesn’t give her any reason to.  And even after Jesus insults her people as dogs, she demonstrates trust in him beyond anything we’ve yet seen in the Gospels.  And so, Jesus says “Woman great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish” and her daughter was healed instantly. 

And so, I think this story does two things.  First, it reminds us that God’s love is for all people, for Jews and Canaanites, for Americans and Hondurans, for modern Israelis and Palestinians, for people of every nation, every religion, every way of life.  And second, the story invites us to trust Jesus in the face of apparent rejection.  In those moments when it seems like God’s not there for us.  In those moments when we feel like outcasts, rejects, the ones God doesn’t care about.  In those moments when we feel like God doesn’t care enough to help, or like God might not even be there at all.  In those moments when our faith is challenged, remember this story, and invite the Spirit to guide you through your own crisis of faith.

The lesson here is that God doesn’t reject us when we feel rejected.  And God doesn’t reject those others who we think are rejected.  Whether it’s a Canaanite woman in first century Palestine or a 21^st century man from Honduras, God cares deeply for them and calls us to care too.  We are called to follow Jesus in welcoming all people, embracing the outcasts, and making sure everyone gets more than crumbs.  And we are also called to recognize that in times when we feel rejected, at times when we feel like God’s forgotten about us, at times when we wonder whether God even hears our prayers at all—at those moments we’re invited to consider look at our situation as an opportunity to grow in faith, to trust on a deeper level, and like the Canaanite woman to never lose hope, never lose trust, never lose faith in Jesus’ love. 

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

Pastor Brian Rajcok | Sunday, August 16th, 2026 | Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost