August 14 , 2005 Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Proper 15 Commentary by Nathan Mattox

See also: [2008] [2002]

Genesis 45:1-15
Psalm 133
Romans11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28

A theme which the lectionary seems to suggest this week is God’s call for unity that stretches our typical definitions of unity. The readings remind me of Griffin and Cobb’s vision for the experience of freedom within community that “must be bound by different kinds of ties, ties that are experienced as fulfillment rather than limitation.”[1]

Genesis 45: 1-28

In the Genesis passage, Joseph’s brothers who had sold him into slavery are surprised to find out that he now has tremendous power in Egypt. In the previous chapters, Joseph has tested his brothers to see if they will still back stab one another like they did him. Instead of seeking revenge on his brothers, Joseph welcomes them, cries with them, loads them down with treasure, and gives them a home. Instead of being “tied down” by the rejection and jealousy that Joseph had experienced at the hands of his brothers, he ultimately chose to be “tied together” with this group of stragglers looking for food. In this story, we are told that God’s people remain a family even when they have seriously wronged each other. Because our capacity to forgive has its limits, we are astounded by the example set by Joseph. Sure, he puts with his brothers through some turmoil before he reveals his identity, but it is in the form of a test of character.

Joseph can’t keep up the ruse when he is overcome with emotion for his brother’s willingness to become enslaved for the freedom of Joseph’s full brother Benjamin. Hence, the tie of family community in this case becomes a fulfillment rather than a limitation. Joseph once again experiences his family as a joy rather than a burden—and the twelve tribes of Israel are restored to coexistence—albeit in another land. Joseph invites his brothers to get his father and make a home in Goshen. The family identity is fulfilled in unity rather than being tied to a geographical location.

Psalm 133:1-3

This Psalm articulates familial unity as a sacred experience. The similes that follow the short statement, “How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity,” push the listener to expand the concept of “kindred” beyond the biological family structure. The imagery of the dew running down Mt. Horeb (which is in the north) furthers the imagery of oil running down the beard and shawl of Aaron and also brings to mind the hoped for unity of Israel and Judea. God’s pull toward unity transcends cultural difference when we acknowledge the roots that bind us.

Matthew 15: 10-28

The story of the Canaanite woman has always been difficult for me to reconcile with my belief (influenced by Dr. John Cobb) that in Jesus there was no tension between the divine initial aim and his own self-purposes of the past, and that Jesus so prehended God that God's immanence was "co-constitutive" of Jesus' selfhood. The reason for this conflict is because Jesus seems racist in this passage. It seems that Jesus’ own mind has not yet been opened to the culture crossing power of his own message. Now, perhaps (or probably) Dr. Cobb has resolved this tension in some work of which I am ignorant. Some of the excuses for Jesus’ behavior that I have heard are that “Jesus is testing the woman to see if she will profess her faith in him.” This just seems too benign to me. The text seems to show an about face on the part of Jesus. I also don’t like the idea, articulated by some, that the word Jesus uses for dogs is actually “puppies” in Greek, and therefore carries not the weight of the disrespectful tone of “dogs.” What a cop out!

Instead, I prefer to think that Jesus really does have his eyes opened by this woman. He opens door to the inclusion of non-Jews in his ministry by rebuking the Pharisees for their rigid adherence to laws of cleanliness in the first part of this passage, but in Matthew’s rendering he does not walk through that door until he is bested in an argument by a Canaanite woman. Perhaps it is a mistake for me to assume that God’s Logos must have zapped into Jesus at some moment in time that would allow Jesus to prehend God’s pull toward unity. Perhaps it is more sound Process Theology to instead observe the immanence of God that was co-constitutive of Jesus’ selfhood as a growing selfhood. The initial aim of God may indeed be verbalized by a Canaanite woman who happens across Jesus’ path!

The lessons gained for readers of this text seem to substantiate claims made by the tenants of process theology. Namely, that reality is an interrelated unity. Whereas Jesus does not at first recognize the connections between himself, a Jew, and the woman he meets, a Canaanite, he is persuaded into a new vision of the extent of God’s being. The connection is made so clear by the resolve of the Canaanite woman that Jesus is able to heal her daughter without even seeing her.

Matthew is willing to portray Jesus as someone who stands to be corrected in order to make a statement about God’s love surpassing our own boundaries.

Romans 11: 1-32

Paul also crosses boundaries on the other end of the spectrum in his admonition to the Roman Christians (who are mostly Gentiles)  to keep a humble perspective about their relationship with the Israelites who have not accepted the Gospel. Paul levels any sense of gloating in the gentiles by tying their very salvation as Gentiles to the “failure” on the part of Israel to see their Messiah in Jesus. Paul writes, in verse 12, “Now if their stumbling means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!” It is clear that Paul has respects the mystery of the covenant with the people of Israel as much as he intends to spread the news of a new covenant with the entire people of the world through the inspiration of the Christ. Once again, the unity toward which God pulls us shatters our own conceptualizations of boundary and stigma. Paul has been such a successful evangelist of the New Covenant, that it seems his people have completely disregarded the authenticity of the original covenant, and Paul wants the Romans to recognize some humility. It is striking how humility and unity work together! In all of the passages, humility must be shown in order for God’s pull toward unity to be recognized. Joseph’s brothers exhibit the remorse for selling him into slavery before Joseph reveals his identity and makes possible a new familial unity. Jesus listens to the Canaanite woman’s response to him and recognizes her point, which was contrary to his. Paul tells the Romans, “So do not be proud, but stand in awe!” Humility prepares us for the great humility in store for us when we see our place in the great interconnection of the universe!  Robert Mellert wrote,

Whitehead was very conscious of this interrelatedness of reality, and it is an essential part of his philosophical theory. In fact, he chose to call his philosophy the "philosophy of organism" because he based it upon a theory of the real relatedness of things. That is why his thinking tends toward integrating and synthesizing, rather than individualizing and classifying. Reality is first of all a complex unity, or organism, and each element in that unity is itself an organismic unity. One of his purposes for doing philosophy is to suggest how they all interrelate. The concept of organism provides the model for understanding this relatedness and integration of all reality. [2]

Indeed, the recognition of this organismic reality is one that shakes us out of our comfortable hierarchies of race, culture, and so on. It can be a balm on our fractured families, on our national conflicts, and on our imbalanced relationship with non-human creation. If there is any absolute toward which the Divine aims, it is certainly unity!

Nathan Mattox is a 2005 M.Div graduate of Claremont School of Theology. He is now serving an appointment in the United Methodist Church in Waldron, Arkansas. While attending seminary, Nathan was the program coordinator for the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Occidental College in Los Angeles . He is a member of the National Council of Churches Ecological Justice Fellowship and is also involved in the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. He is a new father to a 4-month old son and a husband for 5 years, and is every day discovering new aspects of God in these relationships. He is the author of the weblog, “Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Optimist,” where his sermons can be accessed.

 

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