Okay, did today's reading make anyone else chuckle like it did me? I admit that I have a sense of seventh-grade humor and any time certain words are said, I laugh a little. Sorry to burst the bubble that I am a well-sophisticated gentleman. I just am still getting used to the language of The Message and don't really expect to read about "defecation."
Now, here is what bothered me this morning. In the middle section of Chapter 15, Matthew recounts a story of a Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus begging for him to heal her daughter who is stricken by a demonic spirit.
Jesus ignored her.
Then she comes back to him and he tells her that for him to help her would be like taking bread from a child's mouth and throwing it to the dogs!
Her response to Jesus is priceless. She agrees with him and says "but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table." He is taken aback by her response and heals her daughter immediately.
I am going to have to wrestle with this a little today. I may come out with a limp at the end of this, but I don't have a good "pastor-answer" for this. If you have one (pastor-answer that is), keep it to yourself, but if you have some honest thoughts about what Jesus might be meaning hear post away!
This aspect of Jesus' personality is really jumping off the page as I read Matthew. Like it or not, Jesus is willing to say and do things that are offensive/hurtful/confrontational if he sees that it will help him get a point across or teach a lesson. I don't think he was racist, but he was certainly willing to play the part of a racist for a moment to see how the woman would respond, and to teach his Jewish disciples a lesson that race isn't as important as faith and obedience. As a communicator, I am shocked at how utterly fearless he is. He has no fear of being misunderstood. He has no fear of hurting someone's feelings. He has no fear of saying something that will get him in hot water. You're looking at the only man who ever lived who was completely free of concern over what other people thought about him. The more I think about it, the more I realize how much my communication is filtered by all these concerns all the time. I don't think Jesus functioned this way, and still doesn't. If he needs to confuse me or offend me in order to grow me, I don't think he flinches. Ugh! If I weren't convinced of his love, this would be really, really hard to accept.
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