“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know / What I was walling in or walling out, / And to whom I was likely to give offense. / Something there is that doesn’t love a wall. / That wants it down.”- Robert Frost, The Mending Wall
“Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from the vicinity came up to him, crying out. ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ “- Matthew 15:21-23 (NIV)
As John Ortberg moves on in Chapter 10 of Everybody’s Normal . . ., he talks about Matthew’s account of the Canaanite woman with the demon-possessed daughter. Pastor Ortberg believes that the passage centers on a master teacher trying to help His students understand God’s desire to exclude no one. To bring into Jesus’ embrace all those who will allow Him to do so.
Furthermore, in Matthew’s account Jesus tests His disciples as well as the Canaanite woman. Most significantly, the Jews despised those living in the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. Hence, Jesus’ disciples regarded the woman as an outcast. Yet, she comes to Jesus with the traditional cry of a beggar. In addition, the woman possesses some knowledge of the Jewish faith. Because she calls Jesus the Son of David.
However, Jesus responds with apparent silence, indifference, and rejection. And Matthew makes no attempt to hide Jesus’ response. Instead, Matthew deliberately calls attention to it.
Certainly, the woman could walk away at this point. She needs to decide how deeply she wants healing for her daughter, and how much she’s willing to trust Jesus.
In conclusion, Pastor Ortberg observes:
“Since Cain and Abel, the human race has been building walls. . . . There was a wall between a desperate Gentile woman and twelve self-important disciples. The apostle Paul called that particular wall ‘the dividing wall of hostility.’ It had been around as long as anybody could remember. Everybody figured it would last forever. But something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down.”
Today’s question: What Scriptures keep you from walling in or walling out? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: the Christmas Short Meditation, “Hail redemption’s happy dawn!”