Matthew 15:21-28 The Dogs Under the Table (Wigmore) – Bible study

Sermon Matthew 15:21-28 The Dogs Under the Table

By Fr. Bill Wigmore

(This sermon was delivered to a group recovering from alcohol and drug addiction.)

Once again, welcome. Hows everyone doin tonight?

They have an expression in the Program,
that if you cant remember your last drunk
it might be because you havent yet had it.

Sometimes things happen during our last drunks that have a way
of staying with us for the rest of our lives.

Maybe were drunk and theres a car wreck.
If were blessed, nobody gets killed;
and maybe if were really blessed,
were left with a small scar to look at
and to remind us of that night.

Or for some of us, that last drunk can find us doing things to ourselves or to a loved one
that we swore was never gonna happen;
but then, with that one last drunk, it did.

And maybe for others,
we wake up in some dirty bathroom near dead
with a needle hanging out of our arm.

We look in the mirror and we dont even know the face
thats there looking back at us.

Weve hit a moment of truth and that truth has the power to
cut through all our defenses and all our lies
Somehow we know sobriety is now or never.

I remember one fella being told by Dennis
here in our admissions office
that there was a long waiting list to get in
and hed have to come back again in about two months.

The guy said, You dont understand, Mister!!
If I leave here today, Im gonna die.
Im not leaving this place!

Pain opens us up to change
and that pain can sometimes change us like nothing else can.

When I crawled back into the Program my second time,
my old sponsor Floyd wanted to know just one thing from me:
Does it hurt enough this time? he asked.
Was I now ready to do
what I wasnt ready or willing to do the last time?
I told him: I was ready! He said, Good, maybe this is your time.

In tonights gospel we meet a woman whos hurting bad
Her time to change had come
and now nothing is going to stop her.

We hear that Jesus is passing through Tyre & Sidon
and those are cities deep inside Syria.Its a dangerous land for Jews to be traveling in

Today, itd be like someone from Israel passing through the Shiite section of Baghdad.
Its a region where suspicions of neighboring tribes are high
and where old hatreds run deep.

Now its not exactly clear why Jesus is here
In last weeks gospel, we heard about John the Baptist being
killed by King Herod.
Herod had Johns head chopped off and now
Herods also coming after Jesus

Its no longer safe for Jesus to be seen;
But no ones likely to find him in Syria where Jews are scarce
and where theyre mostly hated
and surely nobody here is likely to ask Jesus for a healing.

But pain also has a way of trumping old resentments
and theres a woman we hear about whos in danger of losing her daughter.

The womans terrified
Shes tried everything she knows to help her daughter;
but nothings worked.
Her own people have all given up.

But now she hears about this Jewish stranger a healer
who, for some unknown reason, is passing through her home town.
If shes seen talking to him shell create a scandal in the
neighborhood. People will probably call her a traitor.

But you dont understand, shed say;
This guys my only chance – and if he leaves here without
helping me, my daughters surely gonna die.

The gospel writer wants us to make no mistake about her – this is a gutsy woman!
The Jews would say shes got chutzpah!
In Tex-Mex shed have: cahonnes!
Shes one tough Momma
and Jesus can spot that in her right away.

Now some scripture scholars say that the dialogue that follows
between these two is meant to be read tongue in cheek. Both she & Jesus know what this meeting is all about

Its about life or death; and for them a little thing like the old hatred between their
two peoples isnt gonna stand in the way of their doing business.

The woman makes her move she throws herself at Jesus feet
She begs for her daughters healing.

Jesus knows good & well that she aint leaving the scene
without getting what she came for

And he knows good & well that her request is gonna be granted
But not without first seeing what shes really made of.

So Jesus answers her saying:
You want a healing for your child?
But what about all the hatred & all the distrust that
stands between our two people?
My healings are reserved for the Children of Israel
not for you people here in Syria.
Dont you know what we Jews sometime call you people:
We call you: the dogs!

But this dog is sharp & shes ready with a comeback.
We may be dogs, she says, and you Jews may be the rightful children
but even us dogs can catch the scraps that fall from the
childrens table! Jesus, I aint leaving here without my scrap!

The woman got what she came for.
Her daughter was healed.

And the guy who wanted into treatment here –
He got in that very day.

I remember the admissions people telling me that just about then
one of the Rightful Children
one of the guys who already had a bed in detox and a place
at the table, he decided:
Maybe he wasnt really that bad after all
Maybe he didnt really need to be here!

So he walked and when he did, a bed opened up
and when that happened
then that hungry puppy grabbed hold of the scrap.

He was hurting and he was ready
He trusted that somehow he was going to get what
he needed that day and he did.

Recoverys like that.
Recovery doesnt come just because we need it
It comes because something changes inside of us
and now were ready to ask for it and to receive it
like weve never been ready to ask or to receive before.

My first time in treatment I was still very much in charge
Not nearly enough of the ego-stuffing had been knocked out of me.
If I prayed for sobriety at all
my prayer didnt sound anything like the womans in this story

My prayer probably went something like this:
O, God, I really hate to bother you
as a matter of fact, Im not even sure you really exist,
but just in case you do
and in case your so inclined –
maybe you could possibly find it in your heart
to help me get sober.

But not to worry God,
cause if youre too busy I can certainly understand
and Ill take care of this thing myself
just like I always have before.

This alcoholic-puppy didnt ask for any scraps
and so I didnt get fed
I was drunk again within a few weeks.

I was doing some reading the other day,
and I came a cross a definition of humility
It was a new definition for me
but the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

This guy said humility is made up of two simple things.
The first is knowing what it is you cannot do
and the second is asking for the help you need to do it.

The woman in tonights story
some people might say she sounds pretty arrogant.
She sounds like shes demanding a miracle
like shes really got some nerve.

But according to that definition I just gave
shes really being very humble
She knows what she cannot do she cant save her daughter
and so shes come to the one who can help.

Sometimes were taught to be very formal in our prayers.
Be respectful to God and all of that good stuff.

But if Ive learned anything over the years in recovery
its really just the opposite thats true.
God meets us where we are
and when we cut through the formal prayer
when we get down to really asking him in our own
language and in our own way for the help we need

When we dont really care about what others think
or how it all looks
thats when the change happens
thats when we get healed.

Jesus says to the woman: Your trust has saved you.
Where did she put her trust?
She put it in God through the stranger he sent into her life.
She put it in Him when everything and everyone around her
was telling her not to put it there.

Thats the change.
God is everything or hes nothing.
We need to give him everything weve got
and maybe thats especially easy for us
if what weve got feels like weve got nothing at all.

About forty years ago my wife did what sounded like a really strange thing
but shes an Al-Anon and so Ive learned that thats OK.

She was new to the Program
and having a really hard time getting over her own religious upbringing
and finding the God who was real and whod accept her right where she was.

And so one day she closed herself off in a room
and she shouted out every filthy-dirty word she could possibly
think of (and her vocabularys almost as extensive as mine!)
and then she turned and said, OK, whatever God is still here
Im ready to do business with you! (Shes got cahonnes too!)

God meets us exactly where we are.
When we want him badly enough well find that Hes there.
But that means making a change in how we do business with him.

Make God real Talk to him just like you would a friend
and if he isnt yet your friend then remember tonights story and talk to him anyway

Everyone who asks gets fed at his table.
And we always wind up with a lot more than scraps! Amen.
Copyright 2008 Bill Wigmore. Used by permission.