What makes you "dirty"?

What makes you “bad”?  What makes you “unclean”?

Have you read Matthew 15:1-20?  It was part of the reading for this past Sunday but my sermon focused on Matthew 15:21-28 and the Canaanite Woman.  You can find that sermon here … http://youtu.be/IHF4IvQStCg

I want to say something about the beginning of chapter 15 that there was simply not time to say in the sermon.

Maybe it is helpful to ask, what makes other people “bad” or “unclean”?  Our neighbor, stranger, etc.  

My son and I spent some time in New York City this summer.  We stayed in a hotel at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge and rode the subway all over Manhattan.  I vividly recall a moment when I was looking at those in the subway car with us.  There were couples fighting, spoiled children, people who looked homeless, individuals I kept an eye on for safety, etc.  Is that guy a pimp for the woman with bruises next to him?  Why is that guy sitting when that woman is standing?  I was beginning to feel unclean just being in the same subway car as these people.  It was disturbing.

Then I smiled.  

I wanted to share my smile with every person in that subway car for one very important reason.

I had just heard a small voice say to me that God loved each person on that subway car.  

Even me, the judgmental, middle-class, educated, divorced Dad lucky enough to be on a trip with his son, was loved by God.

Then I noticed the woman with bruises and how tender the guy was in making certain she was seated first, helping her up when they departed … rather the gentleman.  No clue about the bruises.

And I wondered, if I had time - would not all these folks have redeeming qualities?

Of course - they are creations of God and that makes them intrinsically redeemable.

I felt unclean and bad for being in the same space with these people who were different than me.  What MADE me unclean and bad was my judgement of them, God’s children.  What made me even more unclean was that my judgement of others became an obstacle of accepting my own status as redeemable.  My judgement stood between me and the gift of grace.

Jesus says it so much better … what defiles is what comes from the heart.  What God makes cannot defile you.

Set yourself free …. judge not.