Weekly Devotion: Make Believe
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Wow. This has always been a hard text to preach on. It’s hard because, really, how do you understand this text? What in the world is Jesus up to here? Why does Jesus dismiss this woman?
Some scholars think Jesus was testing the woman. When Jesus calls the woman a dog his words weren’t bigoted, but a term of affection. But calling someone a dog always seems rather harsh. Was the woman schooling a Jesus who was acting like a jerk? Jesus was willing to heal the servant of a Roman soldier in Luke 7. So, why was Jesus initially unwilling to heal this woman’s daughter?
We really don’t know what Jesus was up to here. But we do know the woman. We know she is not a Jew but a Gentile. We also know she is desperate to heal her daughter. We know she’s shameless. She is a woman of profound faith. She believes Jesus is not just your average rabbi, but someone who could change lives.
The interesting thing you notice in Jesus’ ministry is how many times he tells someone that it is their faith that healed them. It was their faith that Jesus could heal them or a loved one that allowed for the miracle to happen. They had a faith that was unshakeable and were willing to do whatever for that faith.
Do we believe that Jesus can make a difference in our lives and in our world?
Modern Christians are too rational for our own good. We find it hard to believe in miracles or even that Jesus was the Son of God. And at times that makes me think of that line from the musical Auntie Mame, “Life is a banquet and some poor suckers are starving at the dinner table.” Unlike the woman, we don’t believe Jesus will show up in our lives and in our church. We might even silently think all of these healing and miracles is just make-believe.
This woman had no idea if she would succeed, but she did believe Jesus could make a difference. She trusted in Jesus. We can trust God no matter what.
We trust in God when loved ones become sick. We trust in God when our politics is polarized and hamstrung. We trust God when the economy is uncertain. We place our faith in Jesus even when the situation seems to scream that there is no hope. Just as the woman trusted Jesus would show up even in the direst of circumstances, we place our trust in God during the hard times in life believing God will show up.
I’ve read most of the books of the Chronicles of Narnia, but there is one that I haven’t read, the Silver Chair. Which is odd, because it contains a passage that has a lot of meaning to me. It’s a small statement from a character called Puddleglum, a Marshwiggle. He and three other characters are trapped in an underground world by a witch. She keeps telling her captives over and over that the world above doesn’t exist. The sun is just a light and Aslan, the great and good lion is just a cat that we wish was a better lion. Puddleglum decides to speak up and he says the following:
"'Suppose we have only dreamed or made up, all those things--trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world that licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."
The Syrophoenician Woman believed in Jesus even if he didn’t do what she wanted. She believed that Jesus could heal even when Jesus was trying to get rid of her.
In these uncertain times, we place our trust in God. Even it seems like God is far away. Even if it feels like make-believe. We believe God will make a way out of no way.
-Dennis Sanders, Pastor