WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:03.850 So we are talking about miracles, and we turn 00:00:03.850 --> 00:00:07.370 now to a miracle from Mark's gospel. As we do, 00:00:07.469 --> 00:00:11.390 just a bit of a prologue to this story. When 00:00:11.390 --> 00:00:14.429 we lived in Michigan, our home, our lot had... 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:17.570 four large black walnut trees, and every three 00:00:17.570 --> 00:00:21.390 or four years, a black walnut tree drops walnuts, 00:00:21.390 --> 00:00:23.429 lots of them, but they come down looking like 00:00:23.429 --> 00:00:26.730 green racquetballs. They're big and round. They're 00:00:26.730 --> 00:00:29.690 surrounded by this fleshy pod, and then inside 00:00:29.690 --> 00:00:33.530 that fleshy pod, which has the black dye in it 00:00:33.530 --> 00:00:35.950 that is really useful for staining wood and kids' 00:00:36.070 --> 00:00:39.719 clothing. There is a nut, right? So you have 00:00:39.719 --> 00:00:42.579 to get through that mess to get to the nut. But 00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:44.460 then once you get to that nut, it's not like 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:46.539 a regular walnut where you can take a nutcracker, 00:00:46.579 --> 00:00:49.240 break it open, pick out the meat of the nut, 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:51.380 the part you want to eat. Black walnuts are... 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:55.219 tough, tough things. And I had some advice from 00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:56.979 people who'd lived in Michigan a long time that 00:00:56.979 --> 00:00:59.359 they like to use the vice clamp on their workbench 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:02.460 to crank the thing, to crack the nut. But once 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:04.340 you get inside, you really have to pick through 00:01:04.340 --> 00:01:07.760 the narrow veins of the shell to get at the nut, 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.799 all of which is to say, that's what this story 00:01:11.799 --> 00:01:15.340 is this morning. The story is not like a walnut 00:01:15.340 --> 00:01:18.420 where you just break it open and enjoy the fruit, 00:01:18.739 --> 00:01:21.730 right? You have to work a little harder with 00:01:21.730 --> 00:01:24.390 this story. So with that preface in mind, let's 00:01:24.390 --> 00:01:29.170 pray. God, let us hear what you want us to hear 00:01:29.170 --> 00:01:33.349 so that we might be who you want us to be and 00:01:33.349 --> 00:01:39.209 do what you want us to do. Amen. So our reading 00:01:39.209 --> 00:01:42.290 is from Mark chapter 7, starting with verse 24. 00:01:42.430 --> 00:01:44.870 Let us listen together for God's Word to us. 00:01:46.540 --> 00:01:49.140 From there Jesus set out and went away to the 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:53.480 region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:56.920 want anyone to know he was there, yet he could 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:02.060 not escape notice. A woman whose little daughter 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:04.480 had an unclean spirit immediately heard about 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:08.780 him, and she came down and bowed at his feet. 00:02:09.819 --> 00:02:13.840 Now the woman was a Gentile of Syrophoenician 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:17.270 origin. She begged him to cast the demon out 00:02:17.270 --> 00:02:22.210 of her daughter. He said, let the children be 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:26.009 fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's 00:02:26.009 --> 00:02:31.530 food and throw it to the dogs. But she answered 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:35.310 him, sir, even the dogs under the table eat the 00:02:35.310 --> 00:02:39.289 children's crumbs. Then he said to her, for saying 00:02:39.289 --> 00:02:43.490 that, you may go. The demon has left your daughter. 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:46.750 And when she went home, she found the child lying 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:50.710 on the bed and the demon gone. This is the word 00:02:50.710 --> 00:02:55.409 of the Lord. Thanks be to God. So is Jesus just 00:02:55.409 --> 00:02:59.990 kind of a jerk? Last week, in the story where 00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:02.250 Jesus turns water to wine, do you remember Mary 00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:05.349 goes to him and says, they've run out of wine, 00:03:05.409 --> 00:03:10.439 and Jesus says, woman, not my problem. eventually 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:13.139 goes on to turn the water to wine, as we know, 00:03:13.240 --> 00:03:16.319 and now a woman comes to Jesus desperate for 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:20.120 the healing of her daughter, and he says, let 00:03:20.120 --> 00:03:24.639 the children be fed first. Now, every parent 00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.300 has had the experience where their child comes 00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:30.800 up to them asking a perfectly innocent, normal 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:34.680 question, but just asks at the wrong time, right? 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:39.699 And we, as parents, fallible as we are, our response 00:03:39.699 --> 00:03:43.500 might be less than gracious. We might snap at 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:46.120 our children. Is this what's going on? Is Jesus 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:50.439 just irritable in this story? Jesus is far from 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.259 home. He's among Gentiles. Is he just letting 00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:59.039 centuries -old prejudices overrule his compassion? 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:04.219 If any of us were in his shoes, in any of these 00:04:04.219 --> 00:04:06.360 kinds of scenarios, it's an easy call. We're 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:09.289 just irritable. We're just judgmental or we're 00:04:09.289 --> 00:04:14.689 just a jerk or all of the above. It's not a hard 00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:17.589 call for us. But for Jesus, it's different, isn't 00:04:17.589 --> 00:04:20.269 it? It seems unlikely that any one of these explanations 00:04:20.269 --> 00:04:23.550 would be satisfactory in understanding why Jesus 00:04:23.550 --> 00:04:27.269 responds this way. Also, it's too easy. It's 00:04:27.269 --> 00:04:30.170 too easy to just say, Jesus was having an off 00:04:30.170 --> 00:04:32.910 day. Jesus woke up on the wrong side of the bed. 00:04:33.069 --> 00:04:36.160 We just let the interpreter off the hook. We 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.079 take the easy way out if we say that about Jesus 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:42.899 in this story. So there are two related issues 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:45.500 that we have to tangle with in this story. One 00:04:45.500 --> 00:04:49.019 is what Jesus says to the woman, and the other 00:04:49.019 --> 00:04:54.160 is who this woman is. We'll start with the second 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:58.639 of those, who this woman is. Mark tells us that 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:01.040 Jesus and his disciples have gone to the region 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:05.360 of Tyre. It's a coastal city. It's in a region 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:08.439 called Phoenicia, which is controlled by Syria. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:14.420 This is well north of Galilee, Jesus' home area, 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.100 his home turf. And Galilee itself is well north 00:05:18.100 --> 00:05:24.579 of Jerusalem. Jesus has gone far afield. And 00:05:24.579 --> 00:05:27.120 Mark tells us that Jesus did this on purpose. 00:05:27.180 --> 00:05:30.079 Jesus was getting out of Dodge. Mark says he 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:34.930 went away. He did not want anyone to know that 00:05:34.930 --> 00:05:39.470 he was there. So he's not in Judea. This is Gentile 00:05:39.470 --> 00:05:44.449 country. And Gentiles are simply the not Jews 00:05:44.449 --> 00:05:48.790 of the ancient world. Any people in the ancient 00:05:48.790 --> 00:05:53.509 world who is not Israel is a Gentile. They have 00:05:53.509 --> 00:05:56.209 different customs, different diets, different 00:05:56.209 --> 00:05:59.569 beliefs, different gods. They are the embodiment. 00:06:00.910 --> 00:06:06.110 of the threat that outsiders pose to the identity 00:06:06.110 --> 00:06:11.589 and the faithfulness of God's people. The people 00:06:11.589 --> 00:06:13.970 of Israel are instructed throughout the Old Testament 00:06:13.970 --> 00:06:17.750 to keep a kind of distance from the nations, 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:23.209 the Gentiles. The best thing to do is to avoid 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:28.050 them. And this is who this woman is. She is one 00:06:28.050 --> 00:06:33.819 of them. So now, let's look at what Jesus said. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:39.519 Now remember, this woman's little daughter, her 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:45.300 little daughter is suffering. She bows down at 00:06:45.300 --> 00:06:51.459 his feet. She begs him to help. And Jesus says, 00:06:51.699 --> 00:06:55.319 let the children be fed first, for it is not 00:06:55.319 --> 00:06:58.540 fair to take the children's food and throw it 00:06:58.540 --> 00:07:02.209 to the dogs. The children here are the Jews, 00:07:02.529 --> 00:07:09.069 God's people, right? The Gentiles are the dogs, 00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:14.319 everyone else, them, this woman. Now, dogs was 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.660 a fairly common insult that Jews would often 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:19.839 level against Gentiles, but it doesn't seem to 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:22.660 be how Jesus is using it here. The word Jesus 00:07:22.660 --> 00:07:25.139 uses is not the normal word for dog that might 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:27.860 call to mind those animals scavenging around 00:07:27.860 --> 00:07:30.860 trash heaps in the ancient world. Jesus uses 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:34.040 a slightly diminutive version of that word which 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:37.160 would be used for, among other things, a household 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:43.399 pet. And that actually fits. the analogy that 00:07:43.399 --> 00:07:46.939 Jesus is using pretty well. The analogy that 00:07:46.939 --> 00:07:51.759 Jesus uses is about dinner at home and children 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:58.180 and, as it turns out, pets. Now, I have read 00:07:58.180 --> 00:08:00.160 a number of commentaries to try to make sense 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:02.959 of this story, and there are two common interpretations 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:06.000 that we need to just set aside right out of the 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:10.519 gate. One... is that because this is a pet dog 00:08:10.519 --> 00:08:13.980 that Jesus is using in that word, it makes it 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:18.420 endearing. That what he says to this woman has 00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:21.779 a sweetness to it because it's a little dog. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:25.360 Let the children be fed first because it's not 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.379 fair to throw their food to the puppies. I'm 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:33.000 not sure puppies makes it any better. The other 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.720 interpretation that some prefer is that Jesus 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.139 said this with a twinkle in his eye. We can't 00:08:39.139 --> 00:08:41.299 hear how Jesus said it. We can only read the 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:45.980 words on the page. But Jesus said it warmly to 00:08:45.980 --> 00:08:50.080 the woman. The problem with these answers is 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:53.679 that they imagine Jesus being somehow coy or 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.460 lighthearted with this woman. And those stories, 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:58.519 when we read the words on the page, they just 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:02.820 don't pass the smell test. Also, Here is a woman 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:07.080 who is desperate. She is desperately worried 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:11.379 for her little daughter. This woman is not in 00:09:11.379 --> 00:09:16.019 a joking mood. And it would be the coldest kind 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:21.019 of compassion for Jesus to joke with her while 00:09:21.019 --> 00:09:24.019 she is on tenterhooks waiting to find out if 00:09:24.019 --> 00:09:27.059 she will get the healing for her daughter that 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:32.549 she is seeking. The best approach here is to 00:09:32.549 --> 00:09:39.309 accept that Jesus means what he says. But then 00:09:39.309 --> 00:09:44.450 we have to make sense of what Jesus says. When 00:09:44.450 --> 00:09:48.029 you or I encounter a stranger, which happens 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:51.809 all the time, we often notice the differences 00:09:51.809 --> 00:09:58.090 between us and that person. Gender, age, class, 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:02.460 ethnicity, culture. We're not passing judgment 00:10:02.460 --> 00:10:04.940 necessarily. Of course, sometimes we do, but 00:10:04.940 --> 00:10:07.740 really we're just absorbing, taking in a variety 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:10.960 of different signifiers from another person that 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:14.620 help us form an impression about this person. 00:10:14.659 --> 00:10:18.340 We do this all the time. It happens subconsciously. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:23.940 Now, if we were to make a comment based on that 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:29.320 impression, a comment, say, similar to Jesus' 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:32.460 comment to the woman, we would be accused of 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:37.600 profound insensitivity, a kind of insensitivity 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:40.279 that probably has a label to go with it, a label 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:44.720 that probably ends with "-ism." Sexism, ageism, 00:10:44.899 --> 00:10:49.980 classism, racism, take your pick, right? Now, 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:51.899 we read a story like this, and we have a hard 00:10:51.899 --> 00:10:55.379 time not seeing Jesus in this light as being 00:10:55.379 --> 00:11:01.159 profoundly insensitive to this woman. Now today 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:04.440 we live in a more or less, more or less, egalitarian 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:09.299 society, a pluralistic society. Many differences 00:11:09.299 --> 00:11:12.340 exist, but we don't typically treat those differences 00:11:12.340 --> 00:11:16.299 as essential, as fundamental. We don't see them 00:11:16.299 --> 00:11:19.700 as the sort of things that should define a person's 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:22.759 place in society. We don't see them as the sort 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:27.019 of things that should dictate how and whether 00:11:27.019 --> 00:11:32.470 we interact. or share common spaces. These differences, 00:11:32.549 --> 00:11:36.009 we understand, they call for tolerance. They 00:11:36.009 --> 00:11:40.549 call for sensitivity because we recognize that 00:11:40.549 --> 00:11:42.809 beneath all of these contingencies of race and 00:11:42.809 --> 00:11:47.370 class and so on, there is a fundamental commonality, 00:11:47.470 --> 00:11:53.149 a shared humanity. And this is not the world 00:11:53.149 --> 00:11:58.070 that Jesus lived in. The differences between 00:11:58.070 --> 00:12:03.250 Jesus and this woman are profound. And both Jesus 00:12:03.250 --> 00:12:07.429 and this woman are well aware of those differences. 00:12:07.629 --> 00:12:11.149 And they are precisely the kinds of differences 00:12:11.149 --> 00:12:16.029 that should, at that time, define status. That 00:12:16.029 --> 00:12:21.450 should dictate whether and how social interaction 00:12:21.450 --> 00:12:24.990 should take place. Common spaces should be shared. 00:12:26.190 --> 00:12:29.289 If this scene happened today, the woman is the 00:12:29.289 --> 00:12:33.149 bold hero and Jesus is the insensitive villain. 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:36.570 But in the first century, that assessment fails 00:12:36.570 --> 00:12:41.149 completely. Jesus purposefully went to a place 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:45.509 not only where no one would know him, but where 00:12:45.509 --> 00:12:49.320 the cultural And the religious and the ethnic 00:12:49.320 --> 00:12:52.679 gulf between him and the people of that place 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.879 would be the widest he could possibly achieve 00:12:55.879 --> 00:13:03.200 so that he could be left alone. And so what is 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:09.080 violated in this story is not sensitivity, but 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:15.759 propriety. The woman, in her need, improperly, 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:21.639 crosses that gulf between her and this Jewish 00:13:21.639 --> 00:13:27.019 man. And Jesus could have sent her away. Jesus 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.840 should have sent her away. In fact, in Matthew's 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:32.899 gospel, that's what his disciples tell him to 00:13:32.899 --> 00:13:38.220 do. They say, Jesus, send her away. But instead, 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:42.529 Instead of naming her impropriety, instead of 00:13:42.529 --> 00:13:44.750 saying, look what you've done, you can't do this, 00:13:44.809 --> 00:13:47.649 instead of naming, listing the things that separate 00:13:47.649 --> 00:13:54.049 her from him, instead, he uses an analogy to 00:13:54.049 --> 00:13:57.570 express how wide the distance is between her 00:13:57.570 --> 00:14:06.029 and those to whom his ministry is directed. It's 00:14:06.029 --> 00:14:09.389 about the distance. Between the children of a 00:14:09.389 --> 00:14:16.370 household and their pets. And the woman, notably 00:14:16.370 --> 00:14:21.970 in this story, is not offended. She should be. 00:14:22.309 --> 00:14:26.129 By our standards, she should be offended. But 00:14:26.129 --> 00:14:30.529 she's not. She hears what Jesus says for what 00:14:30.529 --> 00:14:34.049 it is. A statement of fact. Yes, in fact, there 00:14:34.049 --> 00:14:39.000 is a wide gulf in between us. She seems to know 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:44.679 that she is improperly crossing that gulf. And 00:14:44.679 --> 00:14:47.879 since she is not offended by what Jesus says, 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:53.679 we should not be offended either. So we have 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.879 finally cracked open the walnut. It took us a 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.740 while to get here, but now finally we can get 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:04.480 to the heart of this story. Because behind... 00:15:04.779 --> 00:15:07.919 And underneath Jesus' apparent rudeness, there 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.879 is something else there that offends us. It's 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.659 the theological elephant in the room. Does Jesus 00:15:16.659 --> 00:15:21.000 really only care about Israel? About God's chosen 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:25.919 people? Is that really the only reason He's carrying 00:15:25.919 --> 00:15:28.799 on this ministry? Is His ministry that limited? 00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:35.820 Is His purpose that narrow? Even healing this 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:37.960 woman's daughter really doesn't settle these 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:41.019 questions. She might just be the exception that 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:43.519 proves the rule. He happened to do it that one 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.080 time, but that was special because he was so 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:52.120 far out of the Judean world. Among the many tensions 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:56.700 that exist in this brilliant story is the tension 00:15:56.700 --> 00:16:00.980 between the particularity of Jesus and the universality 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:06.960 of the gospel. We are going to see that universality 00:16:06.960 --> 00:16:10.059 next Sunday. Next Sunday is the day of Pentecost. 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:14.620 And if there is one crystal clear example of 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:18.460 the universal scope of the gospel, it is Pentecost. 00:16:18.460 --> 00:16:22.980 But today, it's the particularity that is on 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:26.720 full display. One of my favorite movies growing 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:29.740 up was The Karate Kid. the original. There have 00:16:29.740 --> 00:16:32.559 been lots of them since then. But in this story, 00:16:32.659 --> 00:16:35.500 a young boy, Daniel LaRusso, moves from New Jersey 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:39.460 to the Los Angeles area. He starts getting picked 00:16:39.460 --> 00:16:42.539 on by kids at school, and he wants to learn how 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:45.620 to defend himself. And so he finds Mr. Miyagi, 00:16:45.799 --> 00:16:50.080 an aging war veteran who knows martial arts. 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:54.340 And Daniel prevails upon Mr. Miyagi to teach 00:16:54.340 --> 00:17:00.230 him karate. And Mr. Miyagi gives him two rags 00:17:00.230 --> 00:17:05.609 and shows him how to wax his car, right? Wax 00:17:05.609 --> 00:17:09.529 on, wax off, right? Maybe the most famous scene 00:17:09.529 --> 00:17:13.430 from that movie. He makes Daniel do other things 00:17:13.430 --> 00:17:16.430 as well. Daniel has to paint the fence up and 00:17:16.430 --> 00:17:20.089 down, up and down. Daniel has to get on his hands 00:17:20.089 --> 00:17:23.549 and knees and sand the floor. Eventually, it 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:27.490 all becomes too much. And Daniel vents his frustration 00:17:27.490 --> 00:17:31.269 to Mr. Miyagi. Why are you making me do all these 00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:34.730 ridiculous things? And Mr. Miyagi suddenly shows 00:17:34.730 --> 00:17:39.049 him that all along Daniel had been learning some 00:17:39.049 --> 00:17:42.589 of the basic movements of karate. And Mr. Miyagi 00:17:42.589 --> 00:17:46.309 shows him how the wax on, wax off movement repels 00:17:46.309 --> 00:17:48.309 an attack. And I don't remember how the rest 00:17:48.309 --> 00:17:50.009 of the stuff works, but apparently this is good 00:17:50.009 --> 00:17:56.210 for karate. Mr. Miyagi has a narrow strategy 00:17:56.210 --> 00:18:01.970 with Daniel that accomplishes a much broader 00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:05.250 purpose. And that strategy, when it's poorly 00:18:05.250 --> 00:18:09.630 understood, is frustrating. But only until that 00:18:09.630 --> 00:18:14.950 broader purpose starts to come into focus. Out 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:18.849 of all of the peoples of the world, God chooses 00:18:18.849 --> 00:18:24.289 Abraham and Abraham's descendants. A very narrow 00:18:24.289 --> 00:18:28.450 strategy. But God chooses Abraham so that all 00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:30.809 the families of the earth will be blessed. A 00:18:30.809 --> 00:18:35.549 narrow strategy, but a broad purpose. God is 00:18:35.549 --> 00:18:43.170 incarnate in Jesus Christ. One man. A Jew. At 00:18:43.170 --> 00:18:46.890 a particular place. At a particular time. A very 00:18:46.890 --> 00:18:50.769 narrow strategy, but through this Jew. And through 00:18:50.769 --> 00:18:53.470 his ministry to the Jewish people, God's saving 00:18:53.470 --> 00:18:56.509 love goes out to all the world, a narrow strategy 00:18:56.509 --> 00:19:01.450 with a broad purpose. The problem that we often 00:19:01.450 --> 00:19:04.849 have is we look at a narrow strategy and we assume 00:19:04.849 --> 00:19:09.470 a narrow purpose. And as long as we count ourselves 00:19:09.470 --> 00:19:15.470 among the chosen, we're good. God's work throughout 00:19:15.470 --> 00:19:19.720 history, more broadly, And Jesus' work, His ministry 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.799 in particular, they are for the benefit of a 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.279 select few. And we happen to be one of those 00:19:26.279 --> 00:19:29.660 select few. This understanding of God requires 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:34.680 a very small view. Small view of God, a small 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:38.119 view of Jesus, and a very small amount of faith. 00:19:39.380 --> 00:19:42.440 From the inside of the chosen people, things 00:19:42.440 --> 00:19:45.079 are comfortable. We don't have to expand our 00:19:45.079 --> 00:19:48.900 understanding, narrow, small, it's all fine with 00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:56.500 us. But this woman comes along with a very different 00:19:56.500 --> 00:20:02.000 perspective. She sees in Jesus a ministry that 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:07.980 will break down barriers. She sees goodness that 00:20:07.980 --> 00:20:12.970 will not be contained. She sees the possibility 00:20:12.970 --> 00:20:17.089 of healing not just for Israel, but for the whole 00:20:17.089 --> 00:20:22.190 world. In short, she sees Pentecost long before 00:20:22.190 --> 00:20:25.630 the disciples have even begun to imagine how 00:20:25.630 --> 00:20:30.569 big this thing is going to get. When Matthew 00:20:30.569 --> 00:20:33.529 tells this story, Jesus says to the woman, great 00:20:33.529 --> 00:20:42.559 is your faith. Now, it's not lost on me. We are 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:46.240 about to share this meal. And what we are about 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.480 to eat amounts to crumbs from the table. Quite 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:51.279 literally, we're only going to give you this 00:20:51.279 --> 00:21:01.500 much bread. Right? We are Gentiles who have been 00:21:01.500 --> 00:21:07.799 made children of God. We are the fruit of that 00:21:07.799 --> 00:21:12.359 narrow strategy. and that universal purpose. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:17.279 We are a testimony to that woman's great faith. 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:23.380 And when we gather around this table, we reaffirm 00:21:23.380 --> 00:21:29.460 her vision and we make it our own. We receive 00:21:29.460 --> 00:21:33.299 the goodness of God, goodness that has been shared 00:21:33.299 --> 00:21:40.339 freely, widely, universally. And then we go out 00:21:40.339 --> 00:21:48.259 into the world to do the same. Let us pray. God, 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:52.980 may we see in the work of Jesus, and may we see 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:58.500 in the witness of this unnamed woman, the broad 00:21:58.500 --> 00:22:02.900 scope of your work in this world, the depth of 00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:08.650 your love, and the breadth of your mercy. In 00:22:08.650 --> 00:22:10.690 Jesus' name we pray. Amen.