 Covenant Network of Presbyterians Conference Speaker: Testimonies can change church like Canaanite woman changed Jesus By Patrick Jean Staff Writer The Layman Online Tuesday, November 13, 2007 ATLANTA – Just as the Canaanite woman's testimony changed Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, people's testimonies can change the church today, the morning worship speaker said on the second day of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians' 2007 conference. "Our most powerful testimony comes in each one of us joining with the Canaanite woman and all of those she represents," the Rev. Jessica Tate, associate pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Va., said Nov. 2 in the sanctuary at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, which hosted the conference. "We join her in kneeling before the church, the Body of Christ in the world today, and saying, 'This much I know is true: The world is broken and fearful. But Jesus is Lord; God's love is abundant; all are welcome," she said. Tate prefaced her sermon, titled "Something to Talk About," by reading the story of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28:
"Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.' 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.' He answered, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' But she came and knelt before Him, saying, 'Lord, help me.' He answered, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.' She said, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed instantly." "Jesus changes. Why can't the church, the Body of Christ in the world today?" Tate asked. "Jesus changed. Why can't we?" 'Something compelling' in Presbyterian Church Tate opened her sermon by telling worshipers she was in the Presbyterian Church (USA) because she had grown up and was nurtured in a Presbyterian church. "Some might say that's not a good enough reason to be part of a church, or the Body of Christ, let alone a good enough reason to commit one's life to serve it," she said. "I counter that it is even more powerful that I have grown up in the church that was chosen for me by my parents, have seen it in good times and in hard times, and yet I have chosen to remain part of it." Raising children in the church "sometimes keeps us there," Tate said. She said as a child, she watched adults "express the power of faith in their own lives." "As a pastor's kid, I assure you, there were problems and times I did not want to go to church," she said. "But more often than not, I found something compelling in the people of faith that surrounded me, loved me and showed me they were committed to something bigger than themselves." Tate listed examples of our being a witness as the Body of Christ in this world:
Beating Jesus at His own game The Canaanite woman's testimony is bold on three fronts, Tate said:
Convention wisdom might dictate, "Don't mess with Momma," Tate said. But the Canaanite woman's actions are remarkable even for a mother, she said: She stands her ground first when Jesus ignores her, then when the disciples tell Jesus to send her away. She kneels before Him and asks again for his help even after He says he is there only for "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." "Now what happens next in this encounter is awful and amazing all at once," Tate said. "It is awful that Jesus, after ignoring this woman, rebuffs her, and when that doesn't work, He calls her a dog. … And it gets even worse because the woman replies to Jesus' insult, saying, 'Yes, Lord.' Rather than claiming her personhood and dignity, she seems to accept His insult." But then the woman beats Jesus at His own game, Tate said. "Usually, He is the one to turn a hostile remark with a reproving statement that the opponent can't deny," she said. "But here, the woman responds to Jesus' hostility and speaks a truth that Jesus can't deny. She says, 'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.' Her reply is really a statement of faith, testimony again that Jesus is Lord and testimony that God is abundant in love." The Canaanite woman's testimony, in action and words, is "the kind of powerful and humble demonstration we need in our faith communities," Tate said. "It is the kind of bold and honest demonstration we need to be witnesses to the world of our faith in God." Brokenness is all around the Canaanite woman, Tate said, with her daughter's condition, her taking action in a man's world, her being a Gentile coming to the Lord of the Jews, and His insulting her when she asks for His help. "She is boldly saying that regardless of the brokenness in the world, the world that would seek to demean and destroy, this much she knows is true and is willing to act on: Jesus is Lord, God's love is abundant," she said. Join with the Canaanite woman Tate recounted hearing a great preacher teach a class on preaching at the Alex Haley Farm in Tennessee a few years ago. In the question-and-answer session that followed, he was asked whether homosexuals should be ordained. "His answer stuck with me because he replied with respect, humility and conviction," Tate said. " 'What I know,' he said. 'is that Jesus' love is big and inclusive. That's what I preach: the bigness of God's love." The bigness of God's love emanates from the Canaanite woman in her final profession of faith, when she says that "even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table," Tate said. Jesus is changed and "His ministry is suddenly boundless," she said. If Jesus can change, then why can't the church in the world today? Tate asked. She then told the story of how, as a youth, she nominated a gay man to serve as an elder in her church. The nominating committee wrestled with what to do when they realized he was gay, Tate said. After prayer, discernment and deliberation, they decided to ask him not to run, she said. That's when the committee received a letter that the man had written to the pastor, withdrawing his name from consideration for the well-being of the church. "One committee member read that letter and said, 'This man is exactly the kind of faithful leader we need as an elder of this church,'" Tate said. "'And if he runs, my wife and I will have to leave.'" Tate then asked again why we can't change if Jesus changed. Our most powerful testimony might be like the action and words of the Canaanite woman who changed Jesus, she said. "Our testimony does not have to be an eloquent theological treatise on sin and redemption or the doctrine of the Trinity," she said. "It does not need to be Biblical exegesis on justification by grace or Christian hope. It does not need to be a loud and forceful proclamation of how right we are. It does not need to be developing workable solutions to society's problems. "Our most powerful testimony comes in each one of us joining with the Canaanite woman and all of those she represents," Tate said. "We join her in kneeling before the Church, the Body of Christ in the world today, and saying, 'This much I know is true: The world is broken and fearful. But Jesus is Lord; God's love is abundant; all are welcome. "That is something to talk about," she concluded. "Can I get a witness?" Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@layman.org. |
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