Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Sermon Matthew 15:21-28 “Strangers at the Table”
August 16, 2020
Fifteen years ago I met and married Grace and began a new multicultural life. Since then I have had one foot in one culture and another foot in another culture. And most of the distinctions between those cultures center on what my mother would call table manners. We are going to look at table manners from a biblical perspective this morning. But first, will you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, we come to you this day as we have week after week for years and years and years. In that time little has changed. The way we do church is unchanged since our beginning in the 19th century. Bless us Lord with change. Help us, Lord, to try something new. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
Earlier you heard a wonderful story from Genesis 43. Joseph was the eldest son born to Jacob and Rachel. And when Rachel died, during the birth of her second son, the two boys were all that Jacob had to remember his family with Rachel.
Jacob loved these two boys very much. And he spoiled them. Jacob’s other sons became very jealous. And so when they had the opportunity they sold Joseph into slavery and lied to their father saying that Joseph was dead.
Joseph was taken to Egypt where, with God’s help, he became a famous dream interpreter and correctly predicted the seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine that Egypt and the surrounding countries were then experiencing. Joseph, wisely, had the Egyptians store up extra food during the years of plenty so that there would be enough in the years of famine.
Jacob and his family experienced this famine and his sons were sent to Egypt for food. There they were recognized by Joseph as his brothers. Joseph had already forgiven his brothers for what they had done to him because he knew that God had used their evil actions for good. So when his eleven brothers arrived in Egypt, Joseph honored them with a great feast.
Eating together is how we celebrate important times in our lives. I can remember the great feasts my mother would prepare for holidays and when the grandparents visited. Roast beef, turkey, or meatloaf with all the trimmings were on the table.
I can also remember pot luck dinners when families would gather in church every month. We sampled dishes from all the other families. My mother’s scalloped potatoes were always in high demand. I am so thankful that Ruth makes those same potatoes for our dinners here at Pittsgrove.
Fifteen years ago my eating habits changed. I met and married a wonderful Korean woman whose ministry for international students involved cooking Korean meals. I loved those meals. I loved eating with international students. So I decided to marry Grace and enjoy her cooking for the rest of my life.
Once I was eating in a Thai restaurant with a mixed group of Americans and Koreans. Although Thais do not use chopsticks, some were provided for the benefit of the Koreans who do use them. The waitress brought out platters of food that were served American style. They were passed from person to person who scooped out what they wanted on their own individual plates. We then ate from our own plates refilling them as desired.
Near the end of the dinner, I saw a single shrimp sitting on a serving dish across the table. Using chopsticks I reached across the table, grabbed the shrimp, and ate it. Immediately I was scolded by an American woman sitting across from me who yelled “Jeff, what are you doing?” I explained that in Korean culture food is placed in shared bowls all over the table and you use chopsticks to eat whatever you want directly from the shared bowls. At a Korean meal, there is no need for a plate. A Korean man sitting next to her was amused that an American man was getting into the same kind of trouble that he experienced as a new immigrant. These are the kinds of multicultural experiences I have had in the fifteen years that I have known Grace.
In Genesis, we see how the Egyptians handled multicultural experiences at dinner. They were avoided. No Egyptian would ever eat at the same table as a Hebrew. So the Egyptians ate at a table by themselves. The Hebrews ate at a table by themselves. And Joseph who had one foot in each culture ate all by himself. The rule was that strangers were not welcome at the table. And this brings us to an unusual and somewhat disturbing story about strangers at the table in the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 15:21-28 21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just 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." 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." 24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." 26 He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28 Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.
Many of us are disturbed by the words of Jesus. Why would Jesus not talk to the Canaanite women who came to Jesus to heal her daughter? Why would Jesus call her a “dog”? This does not square with our picture of a loving Jesus who welcomes everyone to the table.
To understand this passage we must first understand Jesus’ teaching style. Jesus usually began teaching by referring to the Law of Moses. Here the Law of Moses clearly states that a Hebrew man should not speak with a Canaanite woman. The reason was simple, according to Moses when the people of God entered into the Promised Land, the Hebrew men were not to marry Canaanite women because those women would take their children not to God’s tabernacle but to pagan shrines. To prevent this, Hebrew men were told to marry good Hebrew women. This Mosaic Law was what Jesus was referring to when he refused to speak with the Canaanite woman.
But after fifteen hundred years the laws of Moses had been perverted. A once sensible law that encouraged men to ensure that their children would worship Yahweh had been twisted into a rationale for hatred against the Canaanites. It was this racism that Jesus referred to when he said that sharing food with a Canaanite was like giving it to the dogs. This was a mean spirited perversion of the Mosaic Law which Jesus had come to condemn. Jesus was not going to tolerate racist attitudes against anyone and would not allow the Law of Moses to be twisted for that purpose.
Jesus, speaking from the position of authority as the Son of God, told his followers that no longer would race, ethnicity, nationality, or language, be used in deciding who would gather at his table. Everyone who places their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is welcome to share in his fellowship.
Today, we live in a society where monoethnic churches are the norm. Whites go to white churches. Koreans go to Korean churches. African Americans go to African American churches. The wealthy gather in wealthy churches, and the poor gather in poor churches. But the church of Jesus Christ should be multicultural. We should be inviting everyone to church.
Let me tell you a true story that happened to me. A black homeless man was living on the streets in Los Angeles. I saw him as I walked through the community. I recognized him but I didn’t know when or where we had met.
I saw him one morning and invited him to come to a prayer group that was about to meet. After the prayer service, we all went over to Burger King for breakfast. It was there that Joseph, the man we met, pulled out a sketch pad and showed us some drawings. That is when I remembered when and where I had met him before.
Ten years before I participated in a ministry serving lunch to homeless men in Washington DC at the Church of the Pilgrims. Joseph was coming for lunch each Sunday and I remember looking at his beautiful drawings. He got a job and we didn’t see him for lunch anymore. Eventually, Joseph took a bus from Washington DC to Los Angeles. He worked for a while in California but was now living on the streets. He started coming to my church.
I believe that a church that welcomes into its doors people from all ethnic groups and economic levels will be richly blessed by God. A church that welcomes everyone even the poorest, even the most despised, is a church that will be blessed with new members and increased giving. God is just waiting for the church of Jesus Christ to wake up and realize that it's separate ways must end and all must come together around one table. When the people of all nations, ethnic groups, and economic classes come together around the Lord’s Table then truly the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.
So what about Pittsgrove Church? How will this church take up this challenge and become multicultural? One place you could start is with the selection of a new pastor. According to the Church Leadership Connection of the 1700 pastors looking for churches 300 are racial-ethnic. So, there are 300 Black, Hispanic, Korean, or something else pastors looking for churches. But there are only 30 racial-ethnic congregations looking for pastors. So the racial-ethnic pastors must look for calls in white churches.
This would be a great opportunity for you. You could bring in a Korean pastor or a Hispanic pastor and begin to experience the richness of cultural diversity that I have experienced for these 15 years.
You have already experienced multiculturalism through my wife, Grace. Grace is a Korean racial-ethnic pastor. Remember what she did for you last year with a Christmas Open House in the manse. And remember the great party we had in the manse during our Lenten study. These were all wonderful multicultural experiences.
So I urge you to look for a pastor that will help you to become multicultural. Take a chance on a racial-ethnic pastor. You will be blessed far more than you can even imagine. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we ask that you help us to become multicultural. Help us to welcome everyone into our fellowship. And bless us with a pastor who will help us experience the great joy of diversity. We pray all this in your glorious name. Amen.
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