Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

Our text for today’s meditation is the Gospel of Matthew 15:21-28.

The disciples were wondering where Jesus was leading them. He left Galilee after a confrontation with the Pharisees. The disciples noticed they were heading North East toward the border. As they were crossing the border into Gentile territory they commented "Jesus doesn’t venture outside of Galilee very often." Suddenly a woman approaches; the disciples are beside themselves that a woman would dare approach them much less approach Jesus a rabbi. As she draws closer the disciples recognize her as a gentile. They can’t believe what is going on. The disciples look at her as if she is a dangerous half wild mangy dirty scavenging dog and say to themselves, "how dare she even come close to us." She is despised by the disciples almost as much as pigs. As if the situation wasn’t bad enough she speaks. She said, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon."

The disciples see the woman is in great pain and look to Jesus to see how He will respond; they wait and see Him respond in silence. The disciples are thinking, "That’s right, how dare you try to talk to a rabbi." You can see on their faces that they are pleased that Jesus is responding appropriately by ignoring her. Jesus has started two things with His silence. He is educating His disciples and at the same time giving the woman a critical test. By His silence He is not putting her down; he wants her to struggle through this challenging exam. In Jesus’ silence the disciples heard Him say "Of course I want to get rid of her! We have no time for such female gentile trash." So the disciples jump on the band wagon and tell Jesus, "Send her away, for she is crying out for us." The gentile woman heard something very different in Jesus’ silence. She heard him saying, "You are a Canaanite and a woman. I am a son of David. You are not part of my divine mandate. Why should I serve a Gentile like you?" There is a long tense pause; the disciples thought, "Would the woman catch the hint and leave?" The woman stood there thinking, "He didn’t mean it." Jesus is pleased that she didn’t go away, He thought, "She passed the first part of her exam, now, is her concern so deep and her confidence in Jesus healing power so profound that she will proceed with her request in spite of the apparent slamming of the door in her face?" She came closer to Jesus and fell to her knees and in anguish said, "Lord, help me."

Jesus decides to vocalize the disciples attitude in order to push them. He turns to her and says, "It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs." In effect, Jesus is telling the disciples, "You will be happy if I get rid of this woman, and limit my ministry to Israel." He thinks this will give the disciples a chance to observe the ‘unclean’ Gentile woman’s response. Jesus’ statement is in fact a concrete theological statement of the narrow-minded disciples, who want the Canaanite woman dismissed.

The woman rises to the challenge of the unknown exam and says, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the little crumbs that fall from the table." She could have responded with a corresponding insult against the haughty Jews but instead she humbly accepts the insult and her place and turns it into a renewed request. This one little statement says volumes. She acknowledges she is not part of Jesus’ priority in His ministry and deserves nothing but she knows of Jesus abundant compassion and ability to heal and declares Him her Lord and master.

Jesus answers her, "O woman, great is your faith!" Jesus is thinking, "Yes, she passed the exam." The disciples are devastated by her response. In all Israel they have never seen such total confidence in the person of Jesus in spite of His harsh words. Their prejudices against the woman and Gentiles are crushed. They see Jesus extend His love to the Gentiles. Jesus sees that the woman’s faith is expressed in her unfailing confidence in the person of Jesus and the agent of God’s salvation for all, both Jew and Gentile. She is willing to pay any price, even public humiliation, to get Jesus’ grace.

Jesus says, "Be it done for you as you desire." And at the speaking of His words her daughter was healed and her pain relieved.

Three Sundays in a row the Gospel has been a miracle. Each miracle revealing a different aspect of Jesus. The feeding of the five thousand revealed Jesus’ compassion and ability to provide for our daily bread, the bread of life. The walking on water revealed that He is God and has command over the earth and sky and that He doesn’t need our faith to do miracles. This miracle is the Paul Harvey of miracles, the rest of the story. This miracle reveals who the recipients are of His saving Grace, the Jews and Gentiles. Jesus grants the Bread of Life to the gentile woman and heals her daughter and relieves her anguish. The disciples realize Jesus didn’t come only for the Jews but also the Gentiles. We too are Gentiles

Imagine the dirtiest, filthiest animal; for Laurie that would be a cockroach. Do you feel the disgust when you think of that animal? Imagine feeling that much disgust for a fellow human being. Now imagine putting yourself in a position of accepting that same disgust for the sake of Jesus’ grace, the forgiveness of sins that only He can give through His crucifixion and resurrection. That is faith. This miracle shows that we as the dogs of the earth have Jesus forgiveness and hope of eternal life. There is plenty of the bread of life for all of us.

How do we respond to the people in our lives? We know Jesus is for all people, is he really? He loves all people but what about the person with a questionable past or someone currently experiencing problems like addiction to drugs or alcohol, adultery, someone who gossips, does he love them too? Yes, He does and we should too. What about other cultures? Are they loved by Jesus and welcomed here? Yes, they are. The disciples had to get past their cultural prejudices to realize that Jesus’ ministry was to everyone. We can be confident that we are made a part of the household of God through our faith and we are here to boldly proclaim the bread of life of Jesus saving grace to the whole world. Our faith can bring us through any struggle or exam. Jesus is ready and waiting to say, "Yes, they passed the exam!" Amen