Sermon - 8-20-23

<p>If this were the only Bible passage you had heard about Jesus, you might question for a bit who Jesus is. Even from everything that we have heard about Jesus this doesn’t fully sound like him, does it? Everything else that we have heard and read about Jesus had him holding up women with respect and loving all people. But that is not what we hear initially in this Gospel lesson.</p> <p>]Jesus basically calls the woman a dog and he doesn’t have time for her. She comes to Jesus out of concern for her daughter who is tormented by a demon. We don’t know what the demon was, but the Canaanite woman came pleading to Jesus for help. Out of respect for who she knew him to be, she addresses him Lord, Son of David.</p> <p>]Jesus ignored her and did not answer her. His disciples got into it and said send her away for she keeps shouting at us. Then Jesus finally answered and basically said that I am not here for you, “I was sent only to the people of Israel! They are like a flock of lost sheep.”.</p> <p>]The woman further acknowledged Jesus by kneeling before him and said “Lord, help me.” Jesus answered. It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. The woman replied, Yes, Lord, but even puppies get the crumbs that fall from their owner's table.. Jesus then answered her, “Woman great is your faith! I will grant your request. The woman’s daughter was healed instantly.</p> <p>Could it be for just a moment that we see a glimpse of Jesus’ human side? It seems that he lost his focus. Matthew’s Jesus was always talking about adding to the kingdom. Inviting more and more in. At times Jews called Gentiles dogs as they did not feel that the Gentiles measured up to the keeping of the law. In this moment it seemed that only the Jews were Jesus’ focus.</p> <p>Jesus as a human being lost his focus and for just a brief moment was drawing a smaller circle. Jesus was telling the woman at first that he did not come for her. His disciples really picked up on this and pushed the point to get rid of her. But, it was the