HONEY AT THE BOTTOM OF THE JAR

Pastor Marissa preached this sermon on August 16, 2026 at Beechmont Presbyterian Church on Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28.

All the Way Down

N.T Wright, a well-known English New Testament scholar, starts one of his commentaries about Matthew 15:10-20 with a tale about Winnie-the-Pooh. He says that Pooh attempts to capture an Elephant, or as he mispronounces it, a Heffalump, by digging a hole as a trap and placing a jar of honey as bait. The problem is that honey is Pooh’s favorite food, and he can’t bear to leave a whole jar of it in the trap. So, he begins to eat some himself… excusing himself with the thought that it is important to make sure it really is honey, all the way down in the jar. After all, it would not do to have anything else, perhaps cheese or something, at the bottom.

Of course, by the time he’s quite sure it really was honey all the way down, the jar is empty.

Wright tells us that for Pooh, what matters is what the jar really contains, all the way down. If it is only honey at the top, but something quite different at the bottom, one needs to know. And he says that this lies at the heart of what Jesus says about being pure. We cannot be pure just on the surface. We have to be pure right the way down, down to the very depths of our personalities.

When he is thinking about words, he is saying that our words reveal what we are, deep down. But the problem is that sometimes, in the religious world, we focus on outwardly things: if we are eating with dirty hands… if we are eating things that we should not be eating according to the laws… if we are a different ethnicity that we should not be.

Some of these laws were placed there for the people’s protection. We should wash our hands before eating! But when we come up with laws to make some people more equal than others, that’s when Jesus has a problem. For Wright, the actions that Jesus considers that make someone unclean are things like murder, adultery, fornication and the rest mentioned in the passage. And the motivations which point towards those actions give themselves in thought and words said out loud, words that come up bubbling up from the depths of our personalities. It is like finding cheese at the bottom, instead of honey. And Jesus loves to challenge us so that we can really understand that honey has to be at the top… and at the bottom.

Jesus Challenges the Disciples

When a passage in the lectionary comes with a section in parenthesis, it means that the preacher has a choice to discard those verses and concentrate in the others. But I found it fascinating that Matthew chooses the passage about the Canaanite woman to come after the conversation about what defiles a person.

There are plenty of people that have interpreted Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman in different ways. Some classical interpreters believed that Jesus was not rejecting the woman but drawing out a faith he already recognized within her. Some others think that the story stresses the thought that Jesus is sent to Israel first, but not Israel alone. Some see this woman representing the Gentile church, those once considered outsiders that are drawn into the household of God through faith.

But there are two other ways that the story has been interpreted that connect it to the parable about words coming out of our mouths, and whether we are pure or not.

In the first interpretation, Jesus uses this encounter as a teaching moment, not for the woman, but for the disciples. Jesus has had a conversation with them about how out of the heart come evil intentions and slander among other things. These are the things that defile a person. Then after a few days, a woman comes and starts shouting: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon!” Jesus does not answer. But the disciples urged Jesus to send her away.

The first words that come out of their mouths are “send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” Cheese at the bottom of the jar. If the first part of this passage deals with “people who are socially accepted emphasizing external differences and missing matters of the heart” then in the second section of the passage, we might say that the disciples are missing matters of the heart.

Jesus seems to be pushing further when he answers to the disciples: “I was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” as if trying to provide a pop quiz to see if Peter and the others finally apply what they have learned before. If they understand that what is important here is not what it’s on the outside, but what it’s on the inside.

The disciples carry all the prejudices of their time with them. Differences of ethnicity, heritage, religion, and gender separate this woman from the social norms they grew up with. And on top of that she is shouting, which is a social offense, and her daughter is possessed by a demon, which marginalizes her daughter.

Still… the woman shows what some scholars have called exemplary behavior in contrast to the disciples. She is an example of a great faith that does not quit. Jesus has not found this type of faith in the religious leaders he has encountered… and the disciples’ first reaction is not promising. But the woman’s reaction to the disciples’ dismissal and to possibly overhearing Jesus’ words to them is a courageous, bold, persistent and remarkable faith. She kneels before Jesus and says, “Lord, help me.” And then Jesus takes it up another uncomfortable notch.

The Woman Challenges Jesus?

And this is when another interpretation of the passage challenges us and maybe even challenges Jesus. Anna Case-Winters, in her commentary to this passage says that the woman’s “boldness, persistence, and remarkable faith empower the Canaanite woman to cross the boundaries that circumscribe her, and in a sense, she empowers Jesus to do the same.”

When Jesus speaks about it not being fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs, he may not be expecting the woman to answer back. Maybe he is being influenced by the same prejudices that his disciples are dealing with. Maybe he is still pushing his disciples to see what they answer. But it is possible that the woman’s answer surprises Jesus: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Talk about words that reveal who she is deep down! There’s honey at the bottom of the jar! We pay attention to what the woman will say because what comes out of the mouth is more important than what comes into the mouth. Jae Won Lee says that “in the first incident, Jesus has the punch lines that enlighten his questioners, whereas in the second, the woman has the punch line that alters the way Jesus responds to her.” The woman demonstrates precisely what Jesus taught: true defilement comes from the heart’s condition, not from external categories like ethnicity or ritual purity.

Therefore, the woman challenges Jesus and Jesus learns from the woman. As some have said, the woman wins a theological argument with Jesus and her persisted and humility when being open to accept even crumbs of mercy, shows Jesus, the disciples and us that a faith that is deep in her heart, can transcend the ethnic and religious boundaries of her time and ours.

Love the Same

The initial title for the sermon that is in the bulletin has changed, but it comes from a commentary to Psalm 133 by the Rev. Carmen Rosario. In it she states that...

“Unity does not mean thinking alike but loving alike. It does not mean avoiding difficult conversations but engaging in them with humility and grace. It does not mean denying our differences but allowing the Spirit to transform them into gifts for our shared mission.”

These passages show examples of difficult conversations. Conversations that are challenging in such a way that they open the way for transformation of hearts and minds. They challenge us to keep on digging to see if there’s honey all the way down. We will always be different. God is creative that way. But we must be open to allowing the Spirit to work in our lives in such a way that we are always open to learn and to change. The disciples change. The woman changes. Jesus changes. And when are changed… there is honey at the bottom of the jar. There can be unity in our lives because unity will not mean agreeing on everything or thinking alike, but loving alike. And that, after all, is what a pure heart is all about.