August 16, 2020 11th of Pentecost

 Matthew 15:21-28  (The Message)

21 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. 22 They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, "Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit." 23 Jesus ignored her.  The disciples came and complained, "Now she's bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She's driving us crazy." 24 Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel." 25 Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. "Master, help me." 26 He said, "It's not right to take bread out of children's mouths and throw it to dogs." 27 She was quick: "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table." 28 Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!" Right then her daughter became well.

Jesus ignored her.  She was a Canaanite, a nobody.  How unlike Jesus that is.  How unlike the God who came to be among us.  But she did not let this push her away.  She hung in there - with the silence, perhaps waiting, hoping for a different answer.

When the disciples put on pressure to get rid of her she took action.

She put on her own one person protest as to the unfairness of what Jesus was saying, for even the lowliest get some scraps, some attention, some goodness.  And He heard her - blessed her - and fulfilled her quest for the healing of her daughter.  She got the full doss of goodness and grace!

Sometimes protest works.  We are seeing a lot of it in our country today and it is mostly good people asking for goodness in their lives too.  Asking that they be treated as a part of those who have been created equal and deserve the same inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We who seek to walk with Jesus are called to help fulfill their dream and show the same fairness as Jesus did.  This is our calling.  We are not to continue to send them away again, and again, and again as the disciples wanted to do with the Canaanite woman.  We are to welcome them with open arms as Jesus did, and included them as equal with us in all things!  All things!  

For indeed, ALL LIVES MATTER!      

Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, give me the courage to follow you even if it means I have to repent of my lack of caring for the ‘Canaanite woman’ in my midst.”