One of the most important breakthroughs in biblical scholarship was the recognition that Saint Paul was not the author of several late New Testament writings, including II Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, and pastorals. The clues were obvious: references in these books to historical events that had not happened during Paul's lifetime, vocabulary and theology foreign to those of the genuine apostle, and perhaps most significantly, the fact that these texts sometimes sharply contradict the teachings of the real Paul.
Today's epistle reading [Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32] asks whether God has rejected the Jewish people. The answer is pellucid: "God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." Pseudo-Paul in Colossians spouts nonsense about the Jewish Law being nullified by Jesus, nailed to the cross. Pure rubbish. The genuine Paul loves to speak of the incorporation of Christians into God's People by having been grafted onto the old Jewish vine. not displacing it. Beautiful! During the past week I watched an episode of a famous televangelist's tv program and listened to him stating that only a few Jews ("Jews for Jesus" - converts to Christ) would avoid the fires of hell. Certainly I wonder whether these kinds of sad, uninformed articulations were not part of the anti-semitic pap that contributed to the slaughter of six million Jews in World War II, accused of being "unsaved" and "Christ-killers."
So a review of Saint Paul tells us that the two covenants, Jewish and Christian, stand side-by-side, both with integrity. But what about even outside the Judaeo-Christian universe?
Let's look at today's Gospel [Matthew 15: 21-28]. Jesus is in Galilee, to the North, near the border shared with Phoenicia, the land of early seafarers and inventors of the first phonetic alphabet. But, as non-Jewish Canaanites, Phoenicians retained the old pantheon of gods, so they were by definition "pagan." As a good Jewish rabbi, Jesus maintains proper decorum. The woman has a daughter tormented by "a demon," likely epilepsy, mental illness or chronic depression. The woman then asks Jesus for a healing, even addressing him in Messianic terms, "Lord, Son of David." Jesus does not answer. That is expectable, because in Jewish culture, a man does not speak to an unrelated woman (unless accompanied by a male relative), a rabbi certainly does not speak to a Gentile (thus risking profanation), and, as Jesus says, he is called to minister only to Jews.
The woman persists. When ignoring her doesn't work, Jesus tries an insult, telling her that the food of children (of Israel) is not to be fed to dogs. She replies that even dogs get the scraps from the master's table. That is the coup de grace. Jesus remarks at her amazing faith and grants her request. This is a watershed moment, and notice the line has even been crossed is into pagan territory! God can work among persons not even Judaeo-Christian!
The best biblical articulation on the point of inclusion appears in the Book of Acts where Saint Peter says, in so many words, that he finally gets it -- God does not have any preference of persons but the one in every nation who loves God and tries to do right is acceptable. Wow, what a concept! One might conclude that God loves and accepts all his children who respond to the call to love and justice.
Given these insights, I am quite comfortable with the Episcopal Church's orientation towards loving and accepting all people, not judging others, leaving judgement to God. And I can do that in a spirit of respect and forbearance without setting aside my own commitment to foloow the road to God that is found in Jesus Christ through two thousand years of Catholic Christian tradition.
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