I rarely share my faith publicly. In today’s world it gets messy pretty fast. But this week as I did my daily Bible reading and devotional and came across a story of a woman who had the courage to confront (yes, confront) Jesus, I felt moved to share. I realize this might not be your cup of tea, but I encourage you to be open minded and give it a go anyway.
Hate has been on my mind a lot recently. It’s a hot topic. There are lots of stories in the news revolving around it. We see the world through our own personal experiences and society around us, and y’all, I have to believe that hate is learned. No one is born with hate in their heart. Society teaches us to hate. I’m convinced of that.
I also think hate can be spread from the pulpit. Oh, we couch it in “God hates sin” or “God hates ______”. The problem is, God doesn’t hate.
Hate isn’t new. It happened in the Bible too. Even Jesus saw it, learned of it. Let’s look at that.
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Quick history lesson: Jesus came for his chosen people. The Canaanites were not those people. Instead they were people who practiced child sacrifice and temple prostitution. Yeah. So when Jesus says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” The dogs are the Canaanites – ancient enemies of his people. Jesus knew that God had ordered their destruction long ago. That helps us put the rest into perspective.
Instead of backing down and slinking off dejected, this woman stood up to Jesus. Uh yeah. Even on my bravest day I don’t know that I could do that. But she did.
My favorite bit:
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread (the spiritual food and healing provided for his people) and toss it to the dogs (the Canaanites).”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Even among her own people as perverted as they were, she had heard of Jesus, heard of God, heard of his miracles and wanted that for herself. She addressed him as Lord. She recognized that. For her faith in him, her daughter was healed – despite being who she was.
Reread that last part.
This struck me. She had picked up the crumbs left by the few believers she had been around and gobbled them up – and she believed and received healing from Jesus himself because of it. This woman didn’t have a church or a minister or anything we have today. And I highly doubt anyone had gone out of their way to minister to her. She just picked up the crumbs.
Now fast forward to today. You can’t go a day without someone shoving “morals” and “righteousness” in your face. Judgement is everywhere. People are condemned because of the color of their skin, where they eat, who they associate with and who they love. It’s not hard to find someone in the news claiming “religious freedom” when they spew hate or when they make moral judgments on how someone is living their lives. Are those the crumbs we want to leave behind? Instead of living our own lives well and treating each other with kindness and love we spend our days telling people how evil and horrible they are and how they are going to burn in hell. Really? That’s what you want to be remembered for? How you picketed a funeral because the world was full of evil and you made it your job to condemn people? How you refused to do your job because you hated the people you had to interact with and be kind to? I don’t know many non-believers who would grab those crumbs and be nourished by your hate.
Oh but people are picking up those crumbs – and guess what they are learning. “Christians” hate. They hate people of other races. They hate same sex couples. They hate poor children. They hate the needy. They hate people who live different lives than they do. They hate.
Jesus could have easily hated this woman. He could have easily told her to buzz off, but instead of looking at her as A) A Canaanite (evil) and B) A woman (less valuable than men) and C) Pagan he stopped and listened to what she had to say.
What crumbs are you leaving behind you?
photo credit: All gone via photopin (license)
2 Comments
Fabulous post hun. The thing Ive noticed happen because of Christian hate is that it turns people off Christ. Really if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard “if that’s Chrisianity I want nothing to do with it” Id be very rich. Truth is it’s not my job to tell others what to do even if I disagree with their life, none of us is “perfect” because it says all have fallen short. To those haters Id say remove the log from your own eye before trying to get rid of the speck in your brothers.
As a Christian, I try to always remember that only people Jesus got upset with was religious hypocrites and He only gave us two commandments – love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. It’s that simple (and impossible), no more no less.