Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 15 verses 21 through 28:
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 2Today's Da2Just 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.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.
This morning's Lesson is very famous story, mainly because it gives rise to debate around Jesus' mindset and perspective on foreign peoples.
I for one embrace the idea that Jesus' understanding of his mission and ministry expanded even as his understanding of the universality of God's love expanded. The Bible says, Jesus "grew in wisdom and in stature". Why would we think he ever stopped growing?
As for the woman in this story, she is a model of maternal love and sacrifice.
Just before this scene Jesus has had a spat with the Pharisees about his eating with unclean hands. He told the Pharisees that it is not what goes into the body that makes one unclean, but what comes out -- hatred, anger, jealousy, etc.
What comes out of this woman is love; and she is willing even to eat what the dogs eat for the sake of the child she loves. This is true love, which has so obviously come out of this foreign woman, and begs Jesus to open his heart and his mind to love universal.
"I'm not ashamed to beg for mine." That is what a mother I know said to me when she was asking for help covering medical costs for her child in need of a surgery.
Love is not ashamed. Love will do what is necessary. It will even beg with the dogs if it has to.
And love will break even Jesus' heart -- for good.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment