Matthew 15

Even The Crumbs

Posted on by Betsy

My husband and I were blessed to take a trip along the Seine River in France last year. It was a good opportunity for me to revive (resuscitate?) my college French. Somedays it worked well, but other days I had that “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore” feeling. Several days into the trip we ventured into a Creperie Restaurant. I had noticed less English speaking in that small town, so I worked very hard to construct our order in what I hoped was acceptable French. After my delivery, the waitress gave me a blank stare. Finally my husband pointed to the menu and indicated “two” with his fingers. She beamed with comprehension at him and scowled at me. I was in a foreign land for sure.

In our reading today, Jesus was in a similar situation. This scene takes place on the Gentile side of Galilee. Mark called this location the Decapolis, i.e. the Ten Cities, indicating a wilderness spot on the east side of the Sea of Galilee (See Mark 7:31). The people there were heathen or semi-heathen, yet they confidently and boldly sought out Jesus for healing. And they were healed, every one of them.

Matthew 15 (Common English Bible)

29 Jesus moved on from there along the shore of the Galilee Sea. He went up a mountain and sat down. 30 Large crowds came to him, including those who were paralyzed, blind, injured, and unable to speak, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those who had been unable to speak talking, and the paralyzed cured, and the injured walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

This raises an uncomfortable question for us about the value of our faith. These folks had no faith in Jesus, no frame of reference to the messianic prophecies, no connection with God, and yet they were healed. Do we need faith to be healed?

We see a clue in the stories that come before and after this one. In the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4.000 there were many in the crowd who had no idea who Jesus was. And yet they were fed. They came from pagan faith systems or no faith systems and yet they were healed. They were freely offered “even the crumbs” of Jesus’ ministry regardless of the fact that they weren’t Jewish. Do you remember that story? A Canaanite woman asked Jesus to heal her daughter. He told her he couldn’t because he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The mother reminded Jesus that even the dogs get to feast on the Master’s crumbs and Jesus was impressed with her persistence. The daughter was healed, unlocking grace in an earth-shattering, universal way.

The healed people praised “the God of Israel,” confirming that they were saved by someone else’s God. But by praising God, they were now included in this crumb ministry that went forth and changed the world.

How important is faith in our healing? Does it bother you that Jesus’ salvation is offered to unbelievers? Remember, grace is just that: Freely given and freely received so that all might be saved.

Freely Given by Kathy Anderson Weeks

Word-Sensitive

Posted on by Betsy

When you were growing up, were there words in your family that were forbidden? As a parent, are there words you won’t let your kids use?

The two unacceptable words in our house were hate and stupid. Naturally profanity was never allowed, but we also outlawed these two words because they were often used as weapons. Whoever wrote the ridiculous line, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” did not grow up as a child in America. Words hurt.

Jesus was word-sensitive. He chose his words carefully in every situation. Whether he was expressing anger, frustration, love, encouragement, or chastisement, his compassion always came through in his word choices. The rabbi in him brought out a precision of communication that was both loving and instructive.

In today’s passage, Jesus is teaching a crowd of learners a new understanding of “clean and unclean.” Many things were considered unclean in their Jewish tradition. But his arrival was the catalyst for turning those traditions on their heads. He teaches them to think about matters of the heart instead of meaningless practices.

Matthew 15 (Contemporary English Version)

10 Jesus called the crowd together and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. 11 The food that you put into your mouth doesn’t make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

12 Then his disciples came over to him and asked, “Do you know that you insulted the Pharisees by what you said?”

13 Jesus answered, “Every plant that my Father in heaven did not plant will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Stay away from those Pharisees! They are like blind people leading other blind people, and all of them will fall into a ditch.”

The Pharisees had come along and taken the Ten Commandments and turned them into 613 laws of minutiae. It was exhausting to keep all 613 laws straight, so they missed the two big commandments of loving God and loving neighbor. Jesus took issue with this. Their elaborate rituals of eating certain foods, their time-consuming hand and face washing, the way they studied the law while ignoring the plight of the poor, and their practice of judging the sins of others were problematic for Jesus. He ate with the sinners and focused on their needs.

15 Peter replied, “What did you mean when you talked about the things that make people unclean?”

16 Jesus then said:

Don’t any of you know what I am talking about by now? 17 Don’t you know that the food you put into your mouth goes into your stomach and then out of your body? 18 But the words that come out of your mouth come from your heart. And they are what make you unfit to worship God. 19 Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. 20 These are what make you unclean.

At the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. If your heart is unclean, your words will be unclean, and no amount of ritual hand washing will fix that. But please, for the sake of the world, do wash your hands.

Where is God calling you to account for the uncleanliness of your heart? Where are your words betraying you? Where have you hidden behind a facade of righteousness that is covering up your sin? Choose your words wisely today.

God’s word invites us to truly “come clean.” What can wash away your sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

No Other Fount I Know by Kathy Schumacher