“But the woman came and did him homage,
saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of
the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the
dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.””
(Matthew 15:25-27)
How do you
determine if a person is trustworthy?
Can you actually perceive another person’s determination? How long do you have to know somebody before
you realize they’re truly loyal? Great
friendships are built on honesty respect, acceptance, trust, sincerity,
generosity, and probably 25 other important and key ingredients. Why is this any different than our
relationship with the Lord? Another
important component is the element of time.
Great relationships are also built over a long period of time. This also is no different than our
relationship with the Lord.
The
beginnings of relationships don’t always have that luxury of time. Take for instance hiring someone for a
job. I had the responsibility of
interviewing applicants and/or hiring them or recommending them for hire for
over 40 years. I learned that the
hardest part of choosing the best applicant isn’t necessarily finding out what
they know; the greater challenge is getting a handle on the character of the
person, finding out who they really are.
And the same is true for the applicant, as well. If there is no foundation to build trust
upon, the relationship won’t last. Both
parties have little time to size up these intangibles.
I don’t
think it was any different in Jesus’ day.
If I put myself in that time, I wonder; after hearing others tell me
stories about this man Jesus, I’m anxious to meet him. Then I hear that he’s coming to my
village. I have to ask myself how much
time will it take me to build trust in this man that I’ve only heard about, but
never met?
I think
about this in terms of some of the stories from Matthew’s Gospel; specifically,
the story of the unnamed Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28). This is a great story of faith. It’s finding the determination within oneself
to push the envelope. This determination
comes from within her. It’s motivated with a voice which says, you Jesus, can
do something about my daughter! She’s
driven—she pursues Jesus! It’s not that
their paths crossed haphazardly. She
seeks him out because her daughter is tormented by a demon. Also, she doesn’t allow religion to get in
her way nor their differences in gender or culture. These differences aren’t going to be an
impediment. She pursues Jesus because she
knows He’s a man of authority. He has
authority over unclean spirits. Her
daughter is tormented by a demon. She
calls upon the authority of Jesus to do something about her situation.
The media
today easily focuses on and capitalizes on how polarized and divided we are as
a society and a human race. We’re
divided politically, religiously, economically, educationally, in addition to
categories of gender, race, language, location, age, music, and the list goes
on. Frequently, we use these categories
to set ourselves apart from others, to put others down, or to justify
ourselves. There certainly were
categories in Jesus’ day. But human need
and desperation has a way of breaking down the heavy stones of these
categories, opening the doors to compassion.
We can learn
a lot from this non-Jewish woman, like how to approach Jesus out of our need
and not out of our agendas. If we want
to build a lasting relationship with the Lord, it’ll never work if we’re
banging our personal gavels. The end result is a much tighter relationship with
the Lord and a more authentic faith.
Putting down my agendas and my gavel means the only thing I have as I
stand authentically before God are all those important and key ingredients for
building relationship.
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