{"id":20583,"date":"2023-02-24T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotionfriday-24th-february-2023"},"modified":"2023-02-24T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T06:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-friday-24th-february-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-friday-24th-february-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion\u00a0Friday 24th February 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

St Matthew 15: 21 – 28<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, \u2018Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.\u2019 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, \u2018Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.\u2019  He answered, \u2018I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u2019 But she came and knelt before him, saying, \u2018Lord, help me.\u2019 He answered, \u2018It is not fair to take the children\u2019s food and throw it to the dogs.\u2019 She said, \u2018Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters\u2019 table.\u2019 Then Jesus answered her, \u2018Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.\u2019 And her daughter was healed instantly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This passage when read in isolation often leads to contemporary commentators suggesting that Jesus learned, from the pagan woman, to move on from his Jewish racism.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Leaving aside the problems in suggesting that Jews were racist and had power over the dominant pagan culture surrounding them (which is nonsense), a careful reading of Matthew shows that the editor, and Jesus himself, were concerned to expand the notions of who is included in the Kingdom – even in a work written for a Jewish audience. In Chapter 8 Jesus heals a Centurion\u2019s boy (another can of worms) and commends the Centurion\u2019s faith.  After this encounter Jesus foretold people coming to the Kingdom\u2019s feast from all the corners of the earth – hardly a position of prejudice against Gentiles.  Matthew wove pagans into his genealogy and mysterious foreigners followed the star to the newborn Jesus.  In his early ministry (Chapter 4) Jesus included people from Syria and from ten Gentile cities.  In Chapter 8 Jesus healed two demon possessed Gentiles.  So, if this woman was teaching Jesus about being open to Gentiles she\u2019d not understood him very well!<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead it might be rather more interesting to see Jesus\u2019 teaching the woman and helping her increase her self confidence.  As a tutor at the Scottish College I can be provocative to encourage students to reach beyond themselves, to see their potential, and to push back in argument as they find a stronger sense of ministerial identity.  Perhaps Jesus was doing this with the woman – he commends her faith and delights in her answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t to say that Jesus didn\u2019t learn.  He learned carpentry from his father and Aramaic on his mother\u2019s lap but never ceased to be the eternal second person of the Trinity.  In his humanity, Jesus certainly learned but did not need to learn moral truth from anyone. He was, and is, moral truth.  The only instruction that Jesus needed was from God\u2019s Eternal Majesty – and this He always heard clearly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Eternal Majesty,<\/span>
you guide us through Your Voice,<\/span>
enfleshed in Jesus,<\/span>
made present by Your Abiding Spirit,<\/span>
help us to learn when we\u2019re pushed and provoked,<\/span>
help us to see you both through and beyond our cultural assumptions,<\/span>
that we might share our faith in Your immortal truth.<\/span>
Amen.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St Matthew 15: 21 – 28 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, \u2018Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.\u2019 But he did not answer her at … <\/p>\n

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