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Are you aware that from crumbs there can be a great feast?
Are you aware that it is not what you put in your stomach that corrupts you and
your life but rather what you hold in your heart and let out of you that makes
you unrighteous? What you speak and ask for, affects your life and the lives of
those around you, including what you have with God. In the Gospel this week
(Matthew 15:10-28) we get a vision of were the men following Jesus are in their
faith and following of the Lord Jesus.
In the first part of the story, the Twelve communicate to
Jesus that those listening to his teaching, especially the Pharisees, were
offended by what he said. Jesus was questioned by those who followed his as to
whether or not this is a concern for him. In reply, Jesus told this friends
that he was not because the blind will lead the blind into the ditch, and they
will not get where they are going in spite of the best of intentions. They will
not catch nor pass you on the way to the Kingdom. I perceive this as a reminder
to the Church that you can claim to have faith and therefore trust in the Lord
but unless you exercise that trust and step up to do that thing God is asking
of you, your faith is dead. If you are doing lots of things at Church but are not
taking the time to spend not only with the Lord but also with in the community
of believers to which you belong, then your works, however noble, are empty.
Moreover, I have been taught that when one preaches, the
preacher needs to make the congregation glad that the came to hear or angry at
what they have heard. I have had people over the years tell me that preaching
is boring, is irrelevant, is pointless. I suspect that the reason for this is
that such folks have tuned out because, if there is clear teaching of the
Scriptures and there is clear proclamation of Jesus Christ, that what they here
is going to make them angry because it is not going to match with what they
believe personally. So they choose to be deaf and blind so that they do not
have to be responsible for what is going on. Difficulty is, in failing to hear
there is no opportunity to go and do and therefore to obey God. This makes
members of the Church, not disobedient but rather irrelevant. We miss out on
all those things that God has prepared for us. We do the Lord’s will not
because we want to be blessed to receive. We have been saved, blessed, and
enabled to see and to serve. Failing to do so has consequences not only for you
but for those who need to be rescued, healed, and made whole.
This brings us to the rest of the lesson for this week.
There is a woman who understands who and what Jesus is and is determined to
find mercy for her little girl. She has the faith that is needed to persist in
asking Jesus to do for her, what her daughter needs. What does she need? The
little girl needs to be released from evil. She works at things, calling out to
Jesus for mercy and is met with silence. Finally, the Twelve ask Jesus to
dismiss her because she is being disruptive to what they are doing and there is
no rest for her and no avoiding her demand. She was willing to stand between
the life of her daughter and her daughter’s destruction so that she might save
her life. Is this not what the Church should be doing? Comforting the grieving,
feeding and giving drink to those who hunger and are thristy, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick and those in prison, and befriending the lost and the
lonely where we find them?
In a real way, we are being shown what it means to trust in
Jesus and it does not mean that we have to feed five thousand people. It doers
not mean that we have to heal hundreds of people. Trusting does not even mean
that you need to walk on water with Jesus. Seeking for jesus to have mercy on
another is not just about that one life but about us all. It is especially for
that one life and for the lives that this one life will touch over a lifetime.
It is about the children that can come and jointhe nation and the nations
welfare. It is not just about the present predicament but all that is to come.
This woman persists because she can see by faith that there is enough for her
daughter and for herself. This is the reverse of Jesus challenging his
disciples to feed that multitude on the other side of the lake. The unnamed
woman actively proclaims the same things that the Twelve did in the boat.
Jesus finally answers her, showing her faith to the Twelve.
Jesus gives the woman the mercy and the relief she seeks. She returns to her
home to find her daughter whole.
Where does that leave us? We don’t have to plead with Christ
to make people whole, but we do need to ask and we do need sometimes to persist
on praying, caring and sharing with people so that they can receive
whatever it is that God has for them. As
the Scriptures remind us, Jesus said, “Go and learn what this means, I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.” God desires to feed, heal and bless his people. Let us
go, that we might join in that feast, crumbs, and all.
Jason+
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