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The Master's Crumbs

8/18/2020

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Picture
 Matthew 15: 21-28

 
For the past few weeks, we have been following Matthew’s account of Jesus’ travels as he seeks some time of rest.  We witnessed Jesus feeding the crowds of thousands along the shore of the sea of Galilee. Last week we watched Jesus rescue his disciples from a terrible storm that arose on the Lake. Today we shall witness Jesus heal the daughter of an unnamed Canaanite woman, a Gentile, a despised foreigner, from the storms of her life.

Today we travel with Jesus as he makes a two-day journey to visit the Mediterranean Coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. This is the first  mention of Tyre and Sidon in the Gospels.  Tyre and Sidon were part of the Canaanite territory given to the people of Israel by God as part of the promised land, but it was never conquered. For most of Israel’s history, the Canaanites were enemies, worshipers of foreign gods.  As they are making their way to Tyre and Sidon, Matthew tells us that Jesus, is walking scribes and Pharisees, carry on a debate about what makes one clean or unclean in Jewish Law.  Jesus insists that what comes out of the heart is what defiles, evil intentions, murder, adultery fornication, theft false witness, slander. So, after this debate, Jesus deliberately enters the land of Israel’s foe, considered unclean land, gentile land. Foreign land.  
To make the situation more amazing, a Canaanite woman almost immediately approaches Jesus crying out, she’s shrieking, screaming, almost incoherent in her despair, shouting, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me, my daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.”  Here we have the unheard-of situation of a woman, a gentile woman no less, addressing a Jewish man, a rabbi. It was unheard of for a woman to address a strange man, let alone a foreigner, and a rabbi to bout. She is not asking anything for herself, but for her suffering daughter, her daughter who is in grave danger from a demon. What parent would not give their right hand to see their child whole, out of great love?   
      This gentile woman, has the presence of mind to address Jesus respectfully as Lord, she acknowledges Jesus as the Son of David, using the messianic title, never heard on the lips of Jesus’ disciples in Matthew and here the only gentile. This mother has a child suffering terribly from demon possession. We do not know the effects of this possession, but we can imagine the terror the mother witnesses, she has probably tried every cure under the sun every priest in her own religion and the situation has gotten worse. She takes a chance at this Jewish rabbi, whose reputation has somehow proceeded him.It is shocking to us that, Jesus, who looks upon the crowds and is filled with compassion, refuses to respond to this desperate, mother.  To us it seems absolutely heartless. What is going on?  Nowhere in the gospels do we see Jesus ignoring someone in distress. The only time Jesus remains silent is during his trial before the chief priests and elders, the governor, Pontius Pilate, before his enemies trying to trap him.  When interrogated, he said nothing. When facing a pleading mother, he says nothing.  Jesus either is heartless or as some think he is testing her, knowing the reservoirs of her faith, and is setting up an example for his disciples, whom Jesus frequently calls, “you of little faith!”  How often we feel God is silent when we are crying out.

In face of Jesus’ silence, the woman redoubles her pleas, so much so that the disciples also plead with Jesus “Send her away, give her what she wants and be done with it, she keeps crying after us.”    It reminds us how recently the disciples advised Jesus to send the crowds away, to get something to eat.  The disciples tried to send the children away.  When a situation gets to be too much, no answer seems to be found, the disciples solve the problem by dismissing it. The disciples grow impatient not compassionate with the woman’s cries. Get rid of her Jesus.

Jesus responds not with the same annoyance but with a clear, hard boundary he had set with his disciples earlier when he sent them out on their first mission journey: Jesus told them:   “Do not go onto the road of the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the loss of the house of Israel’ Matt. 10:6-7.  Yet in Gentile territory, Jesus confirms it is just not the time to reach out to the Gentiles. How ironic. That will come later. But for now, it’s tough luck. Why did Jesus go to Gentile land if he wasn’t going to help? To flaunt it over them? Quite the contrary as we see as this exchange with the Canaanite mother unfolds.

The woman hears Jesus’s blunt explanation. But this does not deter her. She  kneels before him, worshiping him, and says another prayer, short and important, that we should remember: “Lord, help me” Remember when Peter was sinking in the waves of the storm and shouted, “Lord save me?!!!” Here’s another prayer we need in our distress, “Lord help me.”  Lord help me. I ’ve turned everywhere I can. Only you can make a difference. Only you Jesus can heal my situation. Before receiving an answer, before Jesus does anything, she worships him, contrary to the disciples, who we saw last week worship Jesus after the storm ends. After the miracle happens.  This mother worships Jesus in the midst of her storm, before any sign of change, any sign of hope. We need to worship Jesus no matter how we are feeling no matter what we are going through.
Despite her amazing efforts, Jesus still ups the ante.  Jesus pushes the exchange to the extreme. He tells the Canaanite woman, in her own land, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs”  Dogs was a derogatory term for a gentile, the echo of the insult is here. However, the term here is really little dogs suggesting perhaps Jesus just acknowledges that gentiles did indeed keep puppies in the house. Still in the comment Jesus once again pushes her away. Is Jesus just showing us Jewish prejudice. Or is he preparing to expose the amazing faith the woman possesses?  By this time most of us would have given up. Three strikes and you’re out. But not for this Canaanite woman.

From the center of her personal storm, she remains steadfast. This mother delivers her knock-out pouch: “True Lord, but even the puppies eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.”

This woman went round and round with Jesus.  Nothing Jesus said made her back down.  Jesus, all you say is true. But all I need is a crumb to heal my daughter. All I need is to touch the fringe of his garment.  All you need to do is say the word.  A crumb. A word.  Would our faith be so great to know that we recognize that a crumb is all it takes, God’s power is so great and mighty, the tiniest speck, the shadow, a little morsel is all that is needed.

        Jesus finally reveals his purpose. Woman great is your faith! Jesus declares, in front of disciples who are continually reprimanded for their lack of faith. Never in the gospels are the disciples for their great faith. Only their lack. And here is a woman, a foreigner, an outsider, who understands what faith is about. And Her daughter in instantly cured.
We are called to have persistent, the faith of a gentile woman. Jesus says do not give up when God is silent.  Do not give up when things are not going your way.  Do not give up when you feel criticized or put down. Do not give up.  Be persistent. Jesus insists, [a]Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you (Luke 7:7), Paul says: 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing" We don’t know God’s timing, God’s will, God’s greater good at work.  We are called to trust, in our personal storms, especially when all the signs seems against us.

Does God seem silent to you sometimes?  Is there something you have brought repeatedly to the throne of heaven and silence seems to be the only answer you get?  Keep praying.  Do doors seem to be shut in your face?  Are you crying out for something for something or someone and getting no response? Are you interpreting this all as a No, a negative reaction from God? Sometimes a negative reaction is a test of perfection, to make our hearts ready to do God’s will. Or it is a test of protection, to save you from some unforeseen consequence. You will not know unless you persevere, unless you kneel and worship in the midst of your trials.

Keep crying out to the Lord. Do circumstances seem to be against you?   Get on your knees, worship God and pray even harder. Does the answer you get seem to put you off?  Despite it all, remember that God loves us unconditionally, and acts on our behalf.  He is there to bring forth what is best for us.  We are called to a bold faith, a persistent faith, to trust God enough that we will go round for round, confident that all we need is a crumb, a crumb is an answer to our prayer. We have this Canaanite woman as an example of prayer and faith.

So, pray for your crumb. Your crumb of healing. Your crumb of hope. Your crumb of grace. You crumb of promise.  At the right time, it will certainly fall from God’s table, and your great faith will be a reassurance that there are abundant crumbs for all who are crying out to the Lord. Amen


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Becoming a Blessing

8/4/2020

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Picture
 Matt. 14:13-21

 
Our passage today comes on the heels of death, the murder of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus.  We know about death; we have been living with death and profound loss for months. This past week COVID19 deaths have topped 155,000. A number that represents children left bereft of parents. Parents who have lost their children. Families decimated of grandparents, uncles & aunts, cousins, the loss of  friends.  To make the matters worse people have not been able to grieve properly.  No bedside visits to say goodbye to the dying. Limited or no wakes and funerals.  After almost 8 months of this pandemic, people are emotionally exhausted, hungry for normalcy, hungry to hug and touch and gather together again. Hungry to go back to work, to go back to school, to travel to get back to a semblance of normal.

Jesus knew death, now it again had hit home, with the beheading of his beloved cousin John. John was prophet to Jesus’ ministry. In Mark 1:7-8 John described Jesus as “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me I am not worthy to stoop own and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus in turn said of John in Luke 11:11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”  And now John is gone.   

Jesus understandably seeks to go away and spend some time in solitude to grieve his beloved cousin.   He got into a boat, with only his 12 disciples to get away. The text tells us Jesus wants to go deserted place.  The last time he went to a deserted place was the time immediately after his cousin John baptized him and Jesus was sent into the desert by the Holy Spirit where he prayed for 30 days.  But when Jesus has arrived at the place, he is met by crowds of people who have beat Jesus there on feet.  They have traveled over land, desolate land, of prickly plants and inhospitable shrubbery and sharp stones. They are hungry for Jesus; to hear him speak, to feel his touch to be in his presence.  They are waiting patiently, eagerly for him.  Would we be so eager to be with Jesus, so hungry for his  touch, so hungry for his word, that we would willingly travel to the inhospitable  places within ourselves, those lonely places, those uncomfortable places in life,  to endure the stony path, in order to be with  him.

Jesus, who longs for some quiet time is not angry or annoyed, like we might be.  When he sees before him a massive crowd, 5000 men. They didn’t’ count women and children in those days so there were perhaps 5000 women or more, at least 5000 children, probably more, 15,000 people and counting. Despite his own weariness of spirit, Jesus sees the crowds. The word here is not just to see, it goes deeper. Jesus perceives the crowd, he discerns the crowds and their needs, he intuits what drove them to walk miles to this desolate place. This touches Jesus deeply. It stirs him. Jesus has compassion for them.  His inner being is stirred to the depths of his being.  He heart is overcome with love. God Incarnate, who changes his plans to reach out to others. It’s such a powerful moment in Jesus ministry that it is the only miracle story that is contained in each gospel story.

So, Jesus begins to heals the sick who have traveled so far, Jesus restores the weak to strength and the broken to wholeness. We can imagine that Jesus teaches the people all afternoon. Imagine sitting at the feet of Jesus and having the blessing of hearing him speak. Listening to Jesus’ voice, taking in his words, feeling your burdens lift, your soul soothed.  The time goes by and the crowd, 15,000, even the children are fed by his words, comforted by his touch.   

        The hours go by and evening approaches. The disciples see the darkness looming. They are not perceiving and discerning the way Jesus does, so their hearts see the darkness, see the crowds and they are afraid.   Meanwhile there is not a word from the crowd. No complaining. No testing. No demands. They are just happy to be with Jesus. But the disciples are agitated, they do not trust, all they can see are the prickly plants, the inhospitable nature of the surroundings and an enormous crowds and afraid. they go to the Lord  and say, it’s an isolated place, so send them away, so they can get something to eat. They think they are doing Jesus a favor by bringing the problem to Jesus’ attention. Surely Jesus just got caught up in ministry that he’s lost track of time. It’s going to be dark soon Jesus.   Dismiss the crowd to go find food for themselves.   You’ve done enough ministry for the day.  Time to call it quits. Jesus sees it differently. And Jesus’ first recorded words on this passage are these; They do not need to go away, you give them something to eat.  Jesus shifts this impossible problem back to the disciples.

        Jesus doesn’t go away and Jesus doesn’t send us away.  He has compassion on us. Jesus shows us how to live in the midst of difficulty, in the places where we are lonely and broken.  We are surrounded by so many in need, the sick, the sorrowing, the unemployed, those who are spiritually empty and needy.  We want to close our eyes, we want to send it all away. And Jesus does not let us off the hook, even when we have problems of our own, even when our own hearts are heavy with worry or grief.  The only way to find that healing for ourselves the text tells us, is to follow Jesus.  To follow the God who sees, who perceives, who has compassion,  who  heals, and shows us in turn to focus on the needs of others -- not by our own strength, but through the grace of God working through us.

Jesus asks them to bring what food they have. The disciples have 5 loaves and 2 fish, little fish like sardines. Perhaps this represented their own meager dinner. Not enough to feed themselves let along produce even crumbs for the multitudes. Jesus directs the crowd to sit, or recline, to make themselves comfortable. Then Jesus takes their meal, blesses it, and instructs the disciples to distribute the bread and fish. In Jesus’ hands, through God’s blessing, there is enough for all 15,000, with 12 full baskets, one of each of the disciples left over. The word used here is abundance, the same word  Jesus uses when he declares, “I have come that they might have life, life abundantly.”(John 10:10b).

        God understands our time of grief.  Our desire to go away and be alone.  But there is no where we can go.  Everywhere we turn, is closed still to the pandemic. And during the pandemic, in the midst of the problems and worries, we are surrounded by need.  We are surrounded by riots and protests. We see the people’s want, we see lines of hungry. Will the children go back to school in September?  Will there be a second wave of coronavirus?  Will those laid off due to the virus ever have work again, how will they pay their bills?  Will our church survive this crisis?  Maybe we’re crying out for ourselves. It’s too much for us Jesus.  We are overwhelmed. Dark is falling upon us. Send the problem away. 

But Jesus takes those meager offerings, our meager offerings, looks up to heaven, blesses the bread, the little sardine fish, he gave them to the disciples the disciples passed them among the crowds, and there was enough. For all the multitudes.

The scriptures teach us, over and over, this is the way of Jesus. The scriptures tell us that he was a man of sorrows, afflicted by grief. Jesus wept. Jesus needed time to get away. But even in heartbreak, Jesus didn’t send anyone away.  He doesn’t send us away. Like God took care and fed the people of Israel in the wilderness with manna, so Jesus feeds those who come to him, in those deserted places. And Paul reminds us: the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)    We too, in our current worry and sadness, with our meager resources, are blessed and are transformed into the blessing that the world needs.

        So, we look at our world that is so overwhelming with need and hurt, and we are in the middle of the desolate time, and we feel darkness descending, and we just want it all to go away. But thank goodness we have a compassionate Lord and Savior who sees. He sees us. He sees our problems. All the problems around us. He sees our limited resources and the need all around us. But the problems we would send away is exactly where Jesus would have us minister.  They don’t need to go away Jesus Says. 

Let us turn to heaven. As we lift up the bread and cup in Holy Communion today, let us lift up our lives and resources and place them God’s hands. As we ask for God’s blessing, know it is God desire for us to become blessing for the all the needs around us. This is the holy mystery that is entirely God’s doing.  God’s compassion and blessing will work through what we have, because we have a God who sees not problems but our potential, and God’s promise is there will be enough. We are enough. 
​Praise be the Lord. Amen

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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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