Reflection for Sunday – August 16, 2026

Margot VanEttenSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Isaiah 56: 1, 6-7; Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15: 21-28  
Preacher: Margot Van Etten

God’s love has no limits. No matter how we try to squeeze the Divine into little narrow boxes our egos construct, God’s love bursts forth and wraps around all the people we try to keep out. Having looked at creation and found it beautiful and good (the Hebrew word means both), God insists that everyone is included, cherished, worthy of Divine regard.

We see this in our readings today: when “special,” holy, righteous us cast out impure, alien, worthless them—God blasts right through. For to God there is no them…. only the Beloved, unique in each person, cherished, an image-bearer of the Divine. “My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples…”  “God delivered all …that He might have mercy on all…”  

Beautiful Carole—my college classmate—poised, elegant, unflappable—was a wonder.  Carole broke barriers. We all were stunned when she convinced an exclusive Japanese club near the UN to accept her as their first non-Japanese student in arts of the tea ceremony and Geisha dancing.  The only barrier she couldn’t break …. was at my house.   I was shocked. My mom could not overcome her Southern upbringing, and “what would the neighbors say” was her response to my asking to invite a Black girl into my home.  (Mom grew out of this over the years, I am happy to say. But that memory still stings.) That was the first time in my sheltered life that I saw the arbitrary othering of racism strike someone I knew.  We so eagerly—or habitually – exclude “others.”

God does not do that.

Nor did Jesus. He touched, ate with lepers, tax collectors, women, a Roman centurion (occupying enemy!) … outraging the Pharisees to whom ritual purity was the absolute requirement in life.  He welcomed everybody.

Enter the Canaanite woman.

Odd story. Jesus has left Jewish territory, presumably to get some privacy (which we’ve already seen is impossible for him where he is known.) But this foreign woman has heard of him and cries for help. When she persists,  Jesus tells her his mission is limited to “the lost sheep of Israel”. But his speaking to her at all is an opening, and she leaps in. Jesus talks about not throwing scraps to the “little doggies” (the Greek word here, kunaria, in the text refers to little household dogs, not to the mangy street curs the usual epithet “dogs” described).  This is an opening: she jumps in and wins with her riposte about little doggies getting scraps. Like the Roman centurion before her, she gains Jesus’ praise for her faith—and her daughter is healed.

“Go and make disciples of all the world” the risen Christ commands. In Acts the Spirit insists upon including Gentiles. This is God’s way and our call.  The Kngdom is open to all.  If we want to grow into the Divine likeness, we too must include all into our circle of compassion. This is what God does. This is what God’s children must do.

Margot VanEtten
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