作者Revd Angela Sheard, 聖馬田助理牧師 幾個月前,我從聖馬田回家,沿著基爾本大街向我的家走去。 那街道很擠逼,當我穿過忙碌的人群時,見到一位在路邊徘徊的男士,我與他相對而視。 他沒有剃鬍子,眼神疲乏並帶著絕望。 我也許察覺他可能想從我這裡得到什麼,所以我幾乎立即移開視線,繼續前行。 沿著大街走了幾步,聽到身後有聲音叫我。 「小姐! 牧師!」 我突然一震,才記起自己戴著牧師衣領。 我想,現在我不能置之不理了。 「你能給我們買點食物嗎? 我們已經兩天沒吃東西了。」 他向他的女同伴招手,女同伴離街上較遠,望著我,眼神恐懼。 我同意給他們買食物,我們一起沿著大街走,我的眼睛掃視商店尋找超市。我細聲說: 「我想再往前一點,那裡有一家Sainsbury’s。」 我躊躇地想:也許我可以給他們買一些三文治?這時他的女伴已經跟上來了,並對我說: 「但是我想要熱食——我可以吃熱食嗎?」 她看著我們面前的咖啡店和餐廳。 我猶豫了,想知道這整件事是否好主意。 晚上我要開 Zoom 會議,我夠時間幫助他們嗎? 那位男士看著行人道上擺放的特餐牌,問: 「我們可以吃一份全套愛爾蘭早餐嗎?我們二人吃一份。」 我同意了,當我們等待食物時,他告訴我他的故事。 他也想了解我的背景,我們最後談了很久。 我向他介紹了聖馬田的無家者慈善機構 the Connection,他說他會去那裡看看,以了解他們是否可以提供幫助。 最後,食物到了,我將食物交給他們。他們離開時,他說道: 「謝謝妳——我不會忘記這件事。」 我也沒有忘記這件事。 我們剛讀到的福音書, 同樣講述耶穌和他的門徒在路上不情願地與某人相遇的故事。 最初,他們的反應不僅是懷疑,而且是徹底拒絕。 耶穌根本沒有回答她,門徒敦促耶穌打發她走。 當時,耶穌在公開傳道期間在路上遇到很多人,他幾乎都會留意到他們,並與他們交往。 那麼他為什麼沒有理會這個婦人呢? 為了更好地回答這個問題,讓我們稍微回帶。 我們讀這福音書之前的部份時,耶穌教導他的門徒說,歸根結底,污穢人的不是某人是否用未洗手的手吃飯,也不是他們吃的東西,而是他們嘴裡和心裡發出的東西。 耶穌隨後進入了外邦人的地土,似乎是要強調這一觀點。 不僅如此,他還前往推羅和西頓的地土,這些地土代表了以色列歷史上具威脅力的敵人。馬太也把這個婦人描述為迦南人,這是希伯來聖經中識別以色列敵人的傳統方式。 所有這些都凸顯了耶穌和他在路上遇到的這個婦人之間的對比。 什麼是污穢人和什麼不污穢人的問題,已經到了緊要關頭,不是用言語,而是用現實生活的情況把問題帶出來。 這樣的話,耶穌的反應就更加令人費解。 耶穌為什麼不把他的教導付諸實踐呢? 如果我們想想這故事的真正中心人物是誰,就會更容易明白耶穌所說的和所做的。 在他公開傳道的大多數福音故事中,耶穌無疑處於中心位置——正是他的行動,以各種方式,帶來了天國。 但在這故事中,耶穌不是中心人物,迦南婦人才是。 當耶穌到達推羅和西頓時,迦南婦人大聲喊叫以引起他的注意。 正是她的大聲和引人注目的表現促使門徒向耶穌談論她,要求將她打發走。 當耶穌回答這個婦人,但沒有答應她的請求時,她跪在耶穌面前,用身體擋住了他的路。 她拒絕接受「不」作為回答! 這一次,被耶穌兩次拒絕之後,她成功引起耶穌與她談話。 迦南婦人在呼喊中直接命令耶穌說:「可憐我!」和「幫助我!」 這些話可能會讓我們想起聖經的其他部分——哀歌詩篇。 在哀歌詩篇中,詩人直接向上帝說話,表達詩人的怨憤,並請求上帝糾正這種情況,有時會給上帝理由,以激發上帝採取行動。 迦南婦人與耶穌相遇時,直接稱他為「大衛的子孫」,告訴耶穌她的女兒被鬼附,並請求耶穌直接提供幫助。當耶穌沒有答應她的請求時,婦人的回應是給耶穌一個理由,以激發他採取行動:「是的,主啊,但連狗也吃主人桌子上掉下來的麵包碎」。 因此,在馬太福音中,迦南婦人是哀歌詩篇的化身。她的話與這些詩篇互相呼應,更甚的是她整個人也與這些詩篇互相和應。 這個婦人勇敢而誠實地把自己和女兒的憂傷帶到上帝面前,並堅持要求上帝解決這個問題。 哀歌詩篇還有一個共通點:詩人在說出他們的痛苦和他們被遺棄之後,他們會讚美上帝,因為上帝回應了他們的祈禱。 在迦南婦人不斷地催迫耶穌之後,耶穌答應了她的請求,說:「照你所要的,給你成全了吧」,並醫治了她的女兒。 這就是由哀嘆轉為讚美;是她祈禱所得的答案。 這個故事極為令人驚訝的諷刺,就是這個迦南婦人,她表明自己是以色列哀歌傳統的完美繼承人,她實際上不僅是一個女人和一個外邦人,而且是一個迦南人,是以色列的敵人! 事實上,她比耶穌自己的門徒更充分地體現了猶太傳統,而耶穌的門徒試圖打發她走。 她大膽而有力的信仰,將她與以色列所有堅守上帝信實應許的人聯繫在一起。 她不是猶太人,但是,馬太將她描繪成一個完全的猶太人。 但迦南婦人還有更令人驚訝的地方——就是她對耶穌的影響。 她知道耶穌到底是誰——耶穌帶來天國——她的堅持讓耶穌得以完全地成為耶穌自己。 在這個故事中,迦南婦人是解放者。 在這個故事中,耶穌拒絕醫治她的女兒,也拒絕給她吃「兒女的食物」——即是以色列的食物。 然而,在這個故事之後,耶穌立即醫治了許多病人,並餵飽了 4000 名男人、女人和兒童。 當我向你們講述我在基爾本大街與那兩個人相遇的整個故事時,我基本上是從自己的角度出發去講述這個故事。 但我認為我所遇到的這兩個人,才是這故事的核心。 起初我不願意答應他們的要求——也許我內心有些害怕,他們太大膽,也太絕望。 但通過他們的堅持,他們促使我變得比我預想的更加慷慨,在金錢上,在時間上都更慷慨。也許這個故事邀請我們思考,我們如何像耶穌一樣,通過那些我們很容易忽視或忘記的人的大膽請求來改變自己。 耶穌被召為救主,而迦南婦人那種堅持和熱切的信心將耶穌轉變成為救主。 同樣,我們被召為聖徒,而也許我們與那些可能是局外人的人的互動,真的可以將我們轉變為聖徒——上帝的聖潔子民。 Several months ago, I was on my way home from St Martin’s, walking up Kilburn High Street towards my flat. It was a crowded street and as I weaved my way through streams of busy people, I locked eyes with someone else in the crowd, who lingered by the side of the road. He was unshaven and had a certain tired and desperate look in his eyes. Perhaps sensing that he might want something from me, I almost immediately looked away and kept moving. A few paces further up the high street, I heard a voice behind me.
“Miss! Reverend!” With a jolt, I realized that I had forgotten I was wearing my clerical collar. No turning back now, I thought. “Can you buy us some food? We haven’t eaten for two days.” He gestured to his companion who was further away down the street and who looked at me with fear in her eyes. I agreed and we walked together down the high street, my eyes scanning the shops for a supermarket. “I think there’s a Sainsbury’s a bit further down” I mumbled. Perhaps I could get them some sandwiches? I thought anxiously. “But I want something hot – can I have something hot?” replied his companion, who had by this point caught up with us. She surveyed the cafes and restaurants in front of us. I hesitated, wondering whether this whole thing was a good idea. Did I have time for this before my evening Zoom meeting? The man who spoke to me initially looked at a specials board out on the pavement. “Could we get a full Irish breakfast – to share?” he asked. I agreed, and as we waited for the food, he told me his story. He wanted to know about me as well, and we ended up having an extended conversation. I told him about the Connection, the homelessness charity at St Martin’s, and he said that he would visit and see if they could help. Eventually, I collected their order and handed it over. “Thank you – I won’t forget this” he said, as they walked away. I haven’t forgotten it either. Our Gospel reading tells a story of Jesus and his disciples also being reluctantly dragged into an encounter with someone on the road. Initially, they respond not only with suspicion but with outright rejection. Jesus doesn’t answer her at all, and his disciples urge him to send her away. Now, during his public ministry Jesus meets a lot of people on the road, and he almost invariably notices them and engages with them. So why does he ignore this particular woman? In order to better answer this question, let’s rewind a little. In the earlier part of our Gospel reading, Jesus teaches his disciples that ultimately, what defiles is not whether someone eats with unwashed hands, or what they eat, but rather what proceeds from their mouth and their heart. As if to underline his point, Jesus then travels into Gentile territory. More than this, he travels into the territory of Tyre and Sidon, regions which represented Israel’s historic and threatening enemies. The woman is also described by Matthew as a Canaanite, the traditional way that Israel’s enemy is identified in the Hebrew Bible. All this accentuates the contrast between Jesus and this woman that he encounters on the road. The question of what defiles and what does not defile has been brought to a head, not in words but through a real-life situation. But if anything, this makes Jesus’s reaction even more puzzling. Why hasn’t he put his teaching into practice? I think that what Jesus says and does makes more sense if we consider who is really at the centre of this story. In most of the Gospel stories from his public ministry, Jesus is undoubtedly at the centre – it is his action that, in various ways, brings about the kingdom of God. But in this story it is not Jesus but the Canaanite woman who is at the centre. When Jesus arrives in Tyre and Sidon, it is the Canaanite woman who shouts to get his attention. It is her loud and provocative presence that then prompts the disciples to speak to Jesus about her, asking that she be sent away. When Jesus answers the woman but does not grant her request, she physically places herself in his way by kneeling before him. She will not take ‘no’ for an answer! And this time, after two rejections from Jesus, she succeeds in drawing him into conversation. In her outcry the Canaanite woman commands Jesus directly saying, ‘Have mercy on me!’ and ‘Help me!’ These words might remind us of another part of our scriptures – the psalms of lament. In these psalms, the psalmist addresses God directly, makes known their complaint and asks God to rectify the situation, sometimes by giving God motivating reasons to act. In her encounter with Jesus, the Canaanite woman addresses him directly as ‘Son of David’, tells him of her demon-possessed daughter, and asks him directly to help. When Jesus fails to grant her request, the woman responds by giving him a motivating reason to act: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”. The Canaanite woman is therefore, in Matthew’s Gospel, the embodiment of a psalm of lament. It is not just her words that resonate with these psalms – it is her very being. This woman courageously and honestly places the brokenness of herself and her daughter before God and insists that God fix the situation. The psalms of lament have one other common feature: after naming their distress and abandonment, the Psalmist praises God for having answered their prayer. After the Canaanite woman’s persistent impinging upon him, Jesus grants her request with the words, “Let it be done for you as you wish”, and with the healing of her daughter. This is the lament turning to praise; the answer to her prayer. There is a surprising and rich irony in this story – this person, who has shown herself to be the full heir to Israel’s tradition of lament, is in fact not only a woman and a Gentile but a Canaanite, an enemy of Israel! Indeed, she is a fuller embodiment of Jewish traditions than Jesus’s own disciples, who try to dismiss her. Her bold and vigorous faith links her to all in Israel who cling to God’s promises of faithfulness. She is not a Jew; nevertheless, Matthew portrays her as fully Jewish. But there is something even more astonishing about the Canaanite woman - the effect she has on Jesus. She knows who Jesus really is – the bringer of the kingdom of God – and her insistence frees Jesus to be fully who he is. In this story it is the Canaanite woman who is the liberator. In this story, Jesus resists healing her daughter and feeding her with “the children’s food” – the food of Israel. And yet, immediately after this story Jesus goes on to heal many people who are sick and to feed 4000 men, women and children. As I told you all the story of my encounter with two others on Kilburn High Street, I narrated the events very much from my own perspective. But I think the two people that I met should be at the centre of the story. I had been initially reluctant to grant their request – perhaps something in me was afraid of their boldness and their desperation. But through their persistence, they pushed me into becoming far more generous than I had intended to be, both with my money and with my time. Perhaps this story invites us to consider how we, like Jesus, can be transformed through the bold petitions of people who we might easily ignore or dismiss. The persistent and vigorous faith of the Canaanite woman transformed Jesus into the saviour he is called to be. Likewise, perhaps our own interactions with those who we consider outsiders can transform us into the saints – the holy people of God – that we are called to become.
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