Devotion by
"A Canaanite woman…came to
[Jesus] crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me.' … He answered, 'I
was sent only to the lost sheep of
This has always been a puzzling text. It makes Jesus appear
to be prejudiced and uncaring of people who did not belong to his nationality,
yielding only very begrudgingly to the needs of foreigners. And it sadly causes
the woman who does not belong to the acceptable class of people to be
self-denigrating. How does this jibe with John 3:16, which proclaims that God
so loved the world that He gave his only Son?
Matthew 15:22-28 is a reflection of the narrow nationalism
of Jesus' own fellow countrymen. The horrific nature of that prejudice and
nationalism is accentuated by Jesus' conversation with the person of Canaanite
origin. It is as if Jesus was pointing out just how ignominious and
unacceptable such an attitude, so widely held, is. By the end of this episode,
it becomes clear that such a disposition is unacceptable to Christ, and we are
relieved to see that he ministers to her, not on the basis of race or nationality,
but on the basis of her faith – her trust – in him.
In the ELCA, we want to be an inclusive church - a church of
diversity –that is accepting of different cultures and a variety of
peoples. What holds us together is that
in the midst of our rich diversity we are all children of God called to faith
in our one Lord, and it is a wonderful thing that that faith can be given
expression through such a variety of cultures and ways. That is one of the things that have given me
much joy and excitement in my four decades of ministry as God has allowed me to
be in ministry with people of African, Indian, Indonesian, Laotian, and
Hispanic as well as American Caucasian identity. My own faith has been lifted
as I have been privileged to work among people of so many different colors,
people who speak Spanish, Laotian, Dutch, Hindi, Sranan
Tongo, English. May God
empower this church to embrace in ever increasing measure His children of all
descriptions, and may we know the lavish blessing of being in fellowship in
Christ with one another.
Pr.
Prayer Petition:
God
of all,
We
see in you the boundless love for all peoples everywhere. We give you thanks for the joy and strength
you and given to the people whose mother tongue is Laotian and who now reside
in Des Moines, which we see in St. Paul Lao Lutheran Mission. We pray that you would equip Pastor Bounma and all leaders of this new ministry to fully
participate as partners among us through the ELCA, and
that you build a place for future generations through their efforts. Strengthen the fellowship extended through