Grits and the Gospel - August 16, 2026

Hello friends, welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and I am glad to be with you today All the animals were asleep, but now they're awake. So we'll see how this goes. I Know that all of you that listen to the podcast love to get animal updates. So there you go So we're wagging our tails and staring at mom today It is a good day to be with you It is the 12th Sunday after Pentecost and it is very hot outside And I'm ready for fall. I don't know about all of you, but I'm glad to be with you today as we worship together Let us come together now in a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you Today's epistle lesson comes from the letter to the Romans The 11th chapter we're starting with verses 1 through 2 and then moving down to 29 Through 32 here now the word of the Lord I asked then has God rejected his people by no means I myself and as as and I myself am an israelite a descendant of abraham a member of the tribe of benjamin God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience So also they have now been disobedient and order that by the mercy shown to you They may also now receive mercy For God has imprisoned all in disobedience So that he may be merciful to all Thus ends the first reading Let us now come together and be reminded of the things of our faith the things that we believe in and stand for Prince what do we believe? I believe in God the father almighty maker of heaven and earth And in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit Born of the virgin mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day. He rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of god the father almighty From this he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body And the life everlasting amen Let us pray Dear lord, we come to you today just humbled humbled that we get to read things that are hard and difficult and confusing and Find answers in our faith Be faithful to you with our love And have a stronger relationship because we can be Vulnerable and honest with you about our feelings Help us to do that today as we come together to hear this message Hear us now as we pray those words that your son Our lord and savior taught us to pray Our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen Today we are in the 15th chapter of matthew starting in verse 21 going through verse 28 Hear now the word of the lord Jesus left that place and went away to the district of tire 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 at us And he answered I was only sent 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 dog She said yes lord yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table Then jesus answered her woman great is your faith Let it be done for you as you wish And her daughter was healed from that moment The word of god for us the people of god Thanks be to god God This sermon is a little unhinged It was written on the day of the total lunar and star chart cosmic mashup It was written the day after my air conditioning went out and I was really Really hot for a really really long time But it was written with much thought and heart As I try my very best to do every week So buckle up Let's see what god has in store for us today Would you pray with me do lord this message this understanding this Passionate questioning comes from a place of deep love and relationship and confusion and understanding Understanding and wanting to be closer to you as you helped me May all that hear this message today be helped as well Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord Our strength and our redeemer I'm in I do not like this text I don't like this text at all. I don't like it for a lot of reasons I used to just ignore this text But I took a class at camler that made that absolutely impossible The professor spoke about this text every Single time we met as a class I came to resent this text not just because the class was really quite a bore and because we had the same lecture every single week But also because I don't like the man of jesus in this text I want to call him out on a few things and if he was sitting here with us in the flesh This is the passage I would have the most questions about I might even go to wagging my finger at jesus for this one scripture tells us just then a canaanite woman from the 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 First Why did you not answer her? Why did you ignore her? Why did you not even acknowledge? Her was it because she was making a scene and shouting was it because she was a canaanite woman She was asking for your help and you ignored her she acknowledged up front that she thinks you are lord So while the silence second When the disciples begged for you to send her away because she was making a scene What kind of answer was that? You said I was sent only To the lost sheep of the house of israel I am sorry Excuse me jesus You were what? Surely you did not need to learn this lesson for yourself before you encountered the woman at the well Remember over in john when she asked you about saving the samaritan who's clearly not a jew jesus says Yet a time is coming and has now come When the true worshipers will worship the father in the spirit and in the truth for they are all Kind of worshipers the father seeks So what the heck jesus what was different about this woman Third When this woman this mother Is pleading For help for her child And ask a second time for healing. Why did you say? It's not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs Excuse me like the people of israel are your children and the rest of us are dogs Including all of us who are hearing this sermon. I don't think I have any people who are of the jewish faith listening Is there a finite amount of love and healing and help in the kingdom of god? Is there a priority or a hierarchy? This does not Seem like a very jesus love your neighbor kumbaya helpful kind of response To a mother Who's trying to save? Her child Fourth Told you have a list You've already healed a woman who barely touched her cloak from massive hemorrhaging Remember back in matthew 9 it tells us that jesus turned and saw her take heart daughter He said your faith has healed you And the woman was healed at that moment We have no way of knowing if this woman was jewish or not both of these women believed in you Was it because this woman who touched her cloak was quiet and did not disturb the peace around you And the canaanite woman was trying so desperately to get your attention Why in the world would you gladly heal one woman and not help heal this woman's child? I have lots of questions Lots and lots of questions And four very distinct parts I'm not trying to blaspheme or to be heretical I'm genuinely asking these things. What the heck is this? Was it included in scripture and remembered by men who think that women should be put in their place And have to grovel for what they want This is a mother pleading for the life of her child not even for herself When I was working on my sermon this week, I got to this point And I stopped Beyond this I had no idea what to say I knew I had to do a lot more research and read commentaries, but that seems so academic and this Scripture is very emotional So I texted one of my closest friends that had sat in that very class with me and heard Week after week about this passage As you can imagine she and I had a wild time on the back row of our class There were lots of eye rolling there was lots of eye rolling and messaging back and forth I told her what the scripture was for this week And how I was really struggling to explain the clear issues and questions that come up with this passage She said the holy spirit will give you the right words. I have all the faith friend She then suggested that I put it away and go play with the dogs Which I did And on my evening walk, I started finishing the sermon out loud Working it out and walking it out with the dogs My theology does not align with my professor's ideas of the passage She had the idea that the person of jesus had to come down and figure out for himself as a human that he Was sent to save the world and not just the people of israel And I think that limits the power and foresight of god tremendously and it removes the deity from jesus and makes him more human Than he was divine And look, I don't have all the answers I still want to ask him about it when he when I get to stand in front of him Or maybe i'll just get it and understand it once I convince them to let me into heaven But here's what my heart and my head have worked out I love to think about what jesus sounded like when he laughed Or when he sang or when he told a story, but what about when he was being sarcastic or trying to make a point? Think about when you text someone something that you think is clearly sarcasm Are meant to prove a point and the person doesn't get it because it's just words with no inflection or tone I think scripture does that sometimes it's limiting because it's just these ancient words and no context can be seen What I hope and what maybe could have been the point was actually a lesson for the disciples Knowing every other story of jesus every healing and parable and lesson and sermon and dinner conversation that he had Means that we can see this is clearly not in line With any other story that we have of the life of jesus Yes He never ignored those who were suffering, especially children So why is this one different What if he was so tired of the disciples trying to push people away? What if he was trying to prepare them for the days of the early church when people of all races and nations would come Together after seeing his death and resurrection that he resorted to extreme measures and trying to get his point across What if ignoring people and calling them dogs was so far out of character for him That jesus was trying to test the disciples to see if they recognized the bad behavior Maybe jesus was always going to heal that child Maybe the screaming woman was the perfect opportunity to show them how horrid it was When you ignore and belittle people not like you That he took it as a teaching moment to show them what not to do Maybe the writer of matthew ended the story in such a neat bow Because he didn't want to share the chastising that they took for not recognizing That jesus was doing what they had done to others And how horrible it was wonder if matthew conveniently left out the part where he got scolded for his own behavior And made to feel belittled like the dog that jesus had just called this woman jesus And the rest of scripture is loving and kind and encouraging to those at the margins He talks about love and justice and planting seeds and loving neighbors and being a light So why in this passage? Why is This passage so different than all of the others Ignoring and name-calling I know how it makes me feel when i'm ignored or as the kids call it these days ghosted I know how I feel when people call me names and i've been called some doozies Loved and cared for or nowhere on the list of feelings I had when people called me nasty names So maybe just maybe On the walk around these sacred spaces where the veil is thin the spirit helped me To have an understanding of this passage beyond the words on the page I don't like this text I still don't like this text Because of my professor, I will never love this text but maybe Just maybe when I see it now I can try and understand it more My faith in god is great Just like the woman's And I do believe in jesus as a son and part of a larger trinitarian god I can also look for the lesson that jesus was teaching then and is trying his best to teach me now When people today at the margins those who are other Are ignored and called terrible names I should be just as angry as this passage makes me Because in the end jesus saves them all because of their faith Even the ones who are loud and make us uncomfortable Even the ones that come from different countries And heaven forbid Even the women amen if you would like to do as jesus did Then go out into the world And Love your neighbors The ones that shout on the street corners The ones that shout for help and make you uncomfortable The ones that need love and care the most because in life In death In life beyond death god is with us We are not alone Thanks to be to god amen