All In

Sunday was Freedom’s annual Missions Service.  We celebrated all that God has been doing worldwide and community-wide through the people and finances of our local church family. Missionary Steve Pennington shared. We turned in our faith missions promise cards.

Those are the straight facts.

Beyond the facts were layers of nuance and deep, life-changing truth. I am deeply altered by what the Lord spoke.

The text was Matthew 15:21-28. Every time I’ve ever come upon this portion of scripture, I either cringe or skip over it because as Steve mentioned, it doesn’t sound like the Jesus we know.

It’s the account of Canaanite woman who pleads for healing for her demon-possessed daughter. At first, Jesus ignores her. (Ahhh! What?!?)Then he says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:26).

Ouch, Jesus.

Upon dissecting this statement within the context of the culture, it smacks of racism and sexism. It’s ugly and vile.

But Steve pointed out, that in most other parts of the world, there’s a type of conversation that happens with which we are unfamiliar. Generally, we, as Americans, look people in the eyes and say what we need to say directly. In other parts of the world, if something important needs to be said, the deliverer of the message will say something cryptic to someone else within earshot of the person needing to hear the statement – kind of like subtweeting.

Steve proposes that perhaps Jesus’ harsh words to the woman were actually aimed at the disciples to reveal the ugliness of the current mentality of the culture.

The disciples needed to realize that they were bound by a mindset that kept them from reaching those who truly needed the touch of Jesus. In that day and age, interacting with the unlovely could result in being ostracized socially and financially, among other things. There was fear tied to that cultural mindset.

Fear hinders us. Fear devalues us. Fear keeps us from reaching the lost with the lifesaving message of Jesus.

This Canaanite woman, a gentile, – who scripture never names – knew Jesus could change her life. How did she know this? Because someone told her.

And then Jesus changed her life with a single sentence.  I want to be the catalyst through which Jesus changes lives with His words. Fear can hold me back. I don’t want to give in to that fear. I want to do all that I can to further that message with my actions, my words, my finances, and my life.

After church on Sunday, I was attempting to soothe my overloaded introvert brain, (because NO. ALONE. TIME. ALL. WEEKEND. LONG) by mindlessly scrolling through Facebook and I stopped at one particular post. A family had been discussing and analyzing the message (which I love, by the way). One of the older children in the family asked her younger sibling what he liked about the message. His reply, “I like that there was a happy ending. That she got the healing she asked for.”

So do I. My prayer is that I will be a part of many healings, salvations and miracles. And if you don’t mind, I’ll pray that for you, too.

Written by: Jaime Hlavin
Edited by: Tamara Sturdivant