The mercy seat and the crumbs eaten by the dogs ......

When I lived in the Cathedral Close in Bradford I was often the subject of abuse.

Not for my preaching or my prayers or my sense of dress but because a frequent visitor to the Close was a man with Tourettes.

For some reason he often directed a stream of consciousness towards me. Not a particularly savoury stream at that as it often contained the words, language and commentary that is usually associated with Tourettes.

I was reminded of that person by the reaction of the disciples to Jesus petitioner in todays Gospel which is 'send her away because she keeps shouting after us'.

Jesus, it seems, simply ignores the woman.

But then there is the exchange which takes place.

There is a lovely joke about a man who is troubled, agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac he lies awake all night wondering if there was a Dog!

And of course in this story there was indeed a dog or dogs.

There were quite a few dogs. Domestic dogs who eat and sleep under the table. It sounds a little like the Vicarage here at Snods Edge!

Jesus uses the analogy of children's food being fed to dogs, the food reserved especially for the children of Israel, the lost sheep of the House of Israel, the Good News of God's promise of salvation being shared where it is not valued, as indeed was the case in Tyre and Sidon.

But the woman is quick witted and her reply causes Jesus to respond by acknowledging her faith and responding to her request and her daughter is 'healed instantly'.

So often we find ourselves at this or a similar place, at the intersection of our petitions and Jesus mercy, when we are rewarded with the fulfilment of our request for healing, for peace, for Justice.

The mercy seat is such a place, a Salvation Army Citadel will have a 'Mercy Seat'.

'The mercy seat is found in every Salvation Army meeting hall. It's a bench at the front where people can kneel. The mercy seat has two main uses. When a person decides to become a Christian they often make a public commitment by kneeling at the mercy seat during worship, it is also the place where it is possible to have a conversation with God'.

Biblically the mercy seat is where God's mercy and forgiveness meet human sinfulness:

And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat. Exodus 25

So we have a persistent woman, a gentile, a Canaanite from Tyre and Sidon, Canaanites were generally polytheistic, but this woman recognises that Jesus himself had forebears who were Canaanite so she acknowledges him as 'Son of David'.

Her petition follows an ancient pattern of Adoration, Confession, Supplication and ultimately, as her daughter is healed, Thanksgiving.

Quick witted, persistent, claiming healing and forgiveness from a Rabbi whose reputation has preceded him in the district where she lives we are left to wonder what happened next in the story.

In the lectionary we are graced today by Psalm 67 and maybe there is a clue as to how the Canaanite woman responded and how we also should respond whenever our request for healing, for peace, for justice meets God's mercy, as Pauls reminds us again in our reading from his letter to the Romans, in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Psalm helps us as we rehearse it's language that Blessing is God's gracious activity. Even in the midst of a pandemic, at the heart of personal suffering, we find God's gracious activity a sign of blessing.

It is easy to overlook, to dismiss God's Blessings. As I have heard said, what has God ever done for me?

The answer to that question is for each of us as individuals to answer, the beauty of nature, the birth of children, the love of parent's, good health, music and joy, art, the transforming gift of friendship.

But what the Canaanite woman and the Psalmist remind is that ultimately blessing is the very foundation of God's Mission in whom and with whom we are called as mission partners.

So we recognise that as her daughter is healed the Canaanite woman will bring her own thankfulness to bear on her understanding of what God in Jesus has done for her and we can join with her as we share the words of Psalm 67:

Your way be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.



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