Life of Christ 78
Jesus is in the last
summer of His ministry. He will spend these six months or so avoiding Judea
completely, and Galilee quite often, by taking occasional side trips outside of
Galilee's borders. Once again, His purpose is not just to avoid Israel's
religious and political leadership, but also to spend time alone with the
Apostles training them.
In this story (Matthew
15.21-28) He is looking for the private opportunity with them that He had tried
to set up across the Sea of Galilee in Bethsaida. That one was ruined, so to
speak, when a crowd of thousands showed up, wholly uninvited, at their rural
retreat. This time He and the Apostles travel west of Galilee into the Gentile
region of Syria close to the Mediterranean Sea in which the cities of Tyre and
Sidon were located (Mark 7.24).
Upon arrival, word gets
around that He is there, and even in these Gentile towns along the edge of
Israel everyone knows who He is. Almost immediately, He is approached by a
Gentile woman, the mother of a girl possessed of an unclean spirit.
I can imagine the sudden
hope that flooded the breast of this weary mother. For years she has battled
with her daughter. For years she has run from false hope to false hope seeking
desperately for a cure. For years she has held her daughter when the fits come
upon her, held her back from hurting herself and others, held her back from
school, from worship, from the market, from the neighborhood, from everything.
She has heard, as have all, of this new Man claiming to be the Messiah in
Israel, and that He has the ability to cast out devils, but she isn't a Jew nor
does she have any means to chase Him down.
Suddenly, against all
hope, there He is, big as life, in her town. Screwing her courage to the
sticking place, she respectfully approaches Him, and grants Him the title of
Israel's Messiah, Son of David (Matthew 15.22). She explains the situation and waits
hopefully for His response.
Finally, He deigns to
speak, not even addressing her, but addressing the Apostles, seemingly agreeing
with their startlingly naked Jewish prejudice. 'But he answered and said, I am
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matthew 15.24).
Compassion? Hello?
Her response is very
simple, and, at this point, probably driven by sheer desperation. Otherwise,
why would she put up with this? The text implies that she falls down at His
feet, and cries out with great emotion, 'Lord, help me' (Matthew 15.25).
Again, He answers her
roughly, now finally addressing her directly, 'It is not meet to take the
children's bread, and to cast it to dogs' (Matthew 15.26). Not only is He here
refusing to help, but He is also calling her a dog, which in any language or
culture is unflattering. Compassion? Jesus? No, not Him.
I love this un-named
woman. She reminds me of the guy in that old movie clip who approached a girl
clearly out of his league.
'What are the chances
we'll end up together?'
'Not good.'
'What, like one in a
hundred?'
'More like one in a
million.'
Then, with a big goofy
grin, he says, 'So you're telling me there's a chance.'
This Gentile woman's
optimism and perseverance in the face of such blatant hostility is precious
indeed. 'And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall
from their masters' table' (Matthew 15.27). At this, Jesus promptly shifts gears,
heals her daughter, and commends her very highly.
There are all sorts of
unseemly characters and disreputable theologians that point to this story as
the be all and end all justification for their own inherent racism. Others
simply seek to use it to make Jesus look bad, stating that this shows us the
real Jesus, one unmasked of His pretense of compassion and tolerance. I could
not possibly disagree more strongly.
It doesn't show an
uncompassionate Jesus at all. An intellectually honest observer will note that
Jesus did heal her daughter and commend her highly at the end. Nor does it show
a racist Jesus. I suppose if this was the only story about Jesus that history
shows us they might have a point, but it isn't, not by a long stretch. He
repeatedly, in other stories, proves to be the opposite. After all, this is the
same Jesus who dealt so wonderfully with the Gentile Samaritan woman at the
well at the very beginning of His ministry. It is the same Jesus who healed the
Roman centurion's servant when requested to do so. Furthermore, it is the same
Jesus who went out of His way to assert the equality of the Gentiles with the
Jews in the Kingdom (see my blog post Life of Christ 58). Additionally, this is
the same Jesus who will shortly found the Church, an institution made in His
likeness and emphatically against racism of all types.
Well, if He isn't being
uncompassionate and prejudiced here then why is He treating her so harshly?
Very simply, for this reason: to test her faith.
My kindergarten teacher
still holds a sweet place in my memory, lo, these 35 years later. I can still
remember my fear the first day of school, and she greeted me so kindly. She
passed out hugs like candy. She gave me juice and graham crackers. She read me
stories. For crying out loud, she let me be the gingerbread man in the school
play that year. She was nothing if not compassionate. Yet she had the
unmitigated gall and unfounded harshness as to expect me to pass the occasional
test!
Tests aren't an
indication of harshness or prejudice. They don't reveal a lack of compassion.
To the contrary, tests are actually an equal opportunity leveling of the
playing field. They are a necessary means of revealing precisely where the
student is at, and are absolutely essential to growing that student. I've been
on both sides of the desk, as student and teacher, and I know that tests aren't
a curse but a blessing. They aren't a hindrance but rather a help. They aren't
a mistake born of the flaws of the teacher, but instead are actually the expressed
wisdom of an experienced mentor.
It was good for me to be
tested way back in kindergarten, and all the way through. That doesn't mean I
always enjoyed the tests I experienced over 19 years of formal education, but
it does mean that they were designed to help me. And they did.
This is exactly what we
see in this story. Jesus is testing her faith, and after putting before her an
exam of a very high level of difficulty what grade does He give her? 'Then
Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith' (Matthew 15.28).
Discouraged Christian,
weary mother, lonely adult, frustrated teacher, saddened parent, questioning
young person, worried senior citizen, homesick immigrant, poverty stricken
young couple, let God test your faith.
It is the only path to a
great faith.
If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you are out of luck. It hasn't been posted yet.
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