Matthew 15:10-28

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.[a] And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 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.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Cake and Crumbs

A story of sheet cake and crumbs:  Tina Fey, the brilliant, the hilarious, my hero, made me laugh and cringe this week.  She went on a TV show to talk about the terrible things happening in the world:  White Supremacist gatherings at Charlottesville, Virginia, political responses and a general feeling of hopelessness, and her character’s advice was instead of going out to engage the White Nationalists in a protest that could potentially be violent, to instead stay home and eat sheet cake.  She recommended going to a nice, minority, locally-owned bakery, ordering a sheet cake covered in the American flag and then eating it while ranting with increasing despair about the wrongs of the world.  She continued with increasing mess and agitation until the cake was flung, flung about the studio with rants, raised hands and that overwhelming feeling of bluch.  And I watched her and I said, “Yes, you are me because (a) I like being at home, (b) I like cake and (c) I am really good at ranting at headlines.”  Josh can attest.  And so how much do I find myself embodied in the newly-coined term sweeping the people of “sheet caking?”

And we know that this has a certain degree of an edge because you need to have a certain degree of safety and comfort to be able to indulge in despair covered in frosting.  Folks have responded to this piece because, apparently, sitting at home and yelling at cake does not technically actually do anything and its part of a privilege of a nice white lady to be able to channel anger into confections rather than controversy.

So here is my true confession: I was kind of hoping for a comforting scripture this week, one that gave us a breath in the midst of trouble.  There are a lot of scriptures like this:  God the good shepherd watching over us, maybe something that promises that no matter what it’s going