The Rev. Dn. James Wesley Holcomb III- Beyond All Barriers

August 16, 2026. The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. Year A, Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28.  Intro played by Dr. Debbie Deas

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Transcript

Homily

SPEAKER_00 0:46

My friends, may I speak to you in the name of our one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. You may be seated. Beyond the barriers, we think for a moment of the ways in which God calls us and compels us, and also the ways God meets us beyond the barriers. And in this morning's gospel, we encounter a woman at the end of the text that comes to Jesus carrying something heavy. She's carrying her daughter's suffering. And Matthew calls her a Canaanite, an ancient and politically charged name associated with a group of people that were clearly Israel's enemies. And to those around Jesus, this woman doesn't belong. She's an outsider. And the disciples hear her cries not as a voice drawing attention to the knees, but they hear it as an interruption. She's a problem. She's a whole problem, as my grandmother would say. And the disciples are urging Jesus to simply send her away. And yet, in this encounter, we see a central truth revealed. That in Jesus Christ, no human barrier can ever place anyone beyond the reach of God's mercy and God's love. Let me say that slowly for the people in the back. No human barrier. Immediately before this encounter with the woman, we see Jesus teaching that defilement doesn't come from without, it comes from within. From within the human heart. And basically, in his own words, he recounts the summation that all the woes and desissitudes and weights that we experience in life and in society can be traced back to what is in the hearts of people. Then he meets this woman who has been judged by who she is and where she comes from. And their exchange that we see, this dialogue, it brings the clear division that exists within the context of this lesson. It brings that to the surface. And it highlights who in that day and time, who belonged, who didn't, who was accepted, and who wasn't. It brings all of that into the open. And Jesus answers with words that trouble us. After the woman asks for help for her daughter, there's some choice words that he has, and it's a little hard for us to hear those words with our 21st century ear. He says it's not fair to take the children's food and throw them to the dogs. Ouch. That won't land well in today's time. And we should not skip over this and pretend that the language is harmless. Israel is represented by the children that are within this covenant household of faith, this Abrahamic covenant, while this Gentile woman who is not of the Jews is compared to a dog. But to be clear, in the Greek, it's not this wild animal or street dog that's roaming around. It's actually a word that's similar to it to describe a house pet, but still a dog, nonetheless. And this raises a question for us to consider: does Israel's place at the table mean that God's mercy can't reach her? Is she suddenly beyond the reach of God simply because of where she was born, where she was raised, and the experiences that form her? And yet, even though she meets what seemingly is a wall of resistance, she doesn't walk away. Neither does she ask for Israel's place to be taken away. Instead, she, as the young people says, she claps back. She buckles down. And she takes a little snarkly uh position. I know some of us probably wouldn't be bold enough to do it if we were standing in front of Jesus, but this woman had the courage to say, wait a minute, brother, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. And she trusts that the mercy of God is not scarce, neither is it delegated to only a selected people. Grace is extended to her daughter and to her, and it does not diminish what God has promised Israel. She sees her rightful place within the promise. Even what falls from the table is big enough to carry all the mercy and grace needed to meet us where we are. Now, to be clear, her faith does not purchase the healing, it's not forcing Jesus to act. Her faith reveals that her trust is in God. It's beyond the boundaries that human society has constructed and restricted her to. She trusts that God's mercy is greater than these barriers, and Jesus does not leave her beneath the label that society has placed on her. So his decisive word, as we view the bigger picture, is not all. And in response, honors the prayer and heals her daughter. The barrier does not have the final word. Jesus has the final word. Let it be unto you as you have asked. Before judging the disciples, because now I know that as this is unfolding, we're looking at all the disciples as being a bunch of jerks, if the truth be told. But before we get too hasty to land on that, we should also recognize where we may be, just like the disciples sometimes. We also find the cries of other people to be a bit disruptive. And we at times can treat people as if their problems and their needs are inconveniences for us. We tend to sometimes other people, whenever we reduce them to what makes them different, and decide that their voices, their needs, and their presence matter less than our own. And while we can think of a million ways how this happens in popular society, it can also happen in the church. When we have people that come and they visit and they join and they desire to be a part of the community, and we learn just one small piece of the story. And then we fall into the temptation of labeling and categorizing. Well, you know, she was born Baptist. Well, he isn't a cradle episcopalian. Or even within our own tradition, we'll say, well, you know, they come from a more progressive diocese. He's too evangelical, she's too high church. You see how all these labels begin to come in and divide and conquer. And yeah, such labels, they may describe how a person began their journey and they may describe how a person was formed, but they become barriers when we use them to determine what God is doing in their life. When we begin to use those labels to determine where and how their voice matters among us and whose belonging goes unquestioned. Yet the grace of God that we find not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ, does not belong to any one singular tradition or denomination. And as much as I have a very high opinion of us Episcopalians, I have enough God sense to know that we're not the only ones that will inherit the kingdom. That the grace and mercy of God goes beyond all barriers, beyond denomination, beyond creed and race and ethnicity, beyond churchmanship, beyond economic status and social class, beyond who's been here the longest and who just walked in the door. Where someone comes from, yes, it shapes them, but it does not determine whether or not they belong among us. And so as we close this conversation, I challenge us this week to notice the people that we may be tempted to send away. Notice the people whose pain we ignore and who cry and their cries we begin to feel as if they're inconvenient and indisruptive. Notice the people whose background makes you suspicious. Notice the people who you've labeled before listening to their story. Accept an invitation to stop and listen and learn one another and try to do what the Bible says to forbear one another in love. Offer welcome, offer support, and be the hands and feet of Jesus that embodies how the grace and mercy of God extends beyond all barriers. Because you know what? One day Jesus made room for you, and he made a whole lot of room for me. And we can find it within ourselves to make room for somebody else. And if you feel like you can't, well, you're in the right place at the right time to get that sacrament to sustain you and to nourish you, to be able to do this work because Jesus makes room for all. And his grace goes beyond all boundaries because he sees, he receives, and he restores. He sees, he receives, and he restores everybody. Me, you, and them. So let us allow the mercy of God to become visible through the way we love and through the way we treat one another. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.