Matthew 15: 21-28 - Walking Across the Room (8-17-08)

I was at a restaurant in St. Paul for a course on Teaching the Bible To Transform Lives. I was visiting with a pastor friend when we found out that Bill Murray was in the house. You know the Groundhog Day and Ghostbuster actor. I immediately got up and walked across the room to see him and meet him. He owns the St. Paul Saints Minor League Baseball team and he is a huge Cubs fan. When I met him, I said that I was a big Cub fan too, I was engaged at Wrigley Field. He said, “Crazy Place”. Then I said my wife met you when you did Groundhog day in Woodstock, IL which must mean we are best buddies. He just ignored the statement as he must for tons of people. I then said, “Can I take a picture with you?” He said, “hurry up”. He was looking at someone else when I just stood near him and waved at the camera. I was so willing to walk across the room to meet someone famous. Yet I ignored many other people in the place in this process.

Jesus took the disciples on a long walk across a roomy area and out of the comforts of Galilee and home. It was the first time Jesus left the Galilee area and walked over to the Tyre - Sidon region in what we would call modern day Lebanon. This was the only time Jesus the gospel of Matthew reports that he would go outside the comforts of the world of Jewish faith. When he arrived in one of the towns, he was immediately greeted by a woman who was in great need. The stench of her crying out could be sensed clearly by everyone. Wafting in the air was the odor of outsider and Jesus could also smell the candle of fear of the disciples. The smell of danger was wafting in the air. The hyper-allergenic smell of a dog was wafting around as they reached this town.

Son of David, help me. My daughter needs help! This woman turned to Jesus out of desperation. She had such a great love for her child that would shift all her priorities to help her daughter. This woman’s daughter was possessed by a power she could not control. She must have heard the stories of this Jewish healer named Jesus who had the power to set people free. The disciples are more annoyed than anything. They responded by encouraging Jesus to give her what she needed but primarily as a way of getting rid of her. You know, the here’s a few bucks now go away, kinda of compassion that stinks of disconnecting the need with a reel person.

Then Jesus said on the surface what appears to be a cold statement. “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Many think Jesus said this as a way of expressing what everyone was thinking and feeling about this woman but was afraid to say anything. What is interesting is that Jesus called this woman a dog, a pet that was only fed by what fell from the table for dogs then didn’t have there own bowl and food. Kinda of like the way my niece yesterday was pushing her food off her tray while we were camping which fell to the ground for the dog. Yet this woman was desperate for a crumb of help. She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Jesus then said, “Great is your faith. Let it be done as you desire” and her daughter was healed. This woman realized that they only thing that could free her daughter from the power of the demoniac was the truth of God’s grace and mercy. The most important thing a parent can give to their possession filled children is a faith that is rooted in life as a gift, a crumb of grace. You see, there are people all around us who have tons of possessions but who are possessed by a power and a force that causes them to do crazy things. There are times when we feel we are in this dog-eat-dog world and we become possessed not with grace but with a terrible force of evil. There are many of us hungry for healing and restoration in relationships.

Parents are being reminded today that our children need to be influenced by faith more than anything else. We might throw money and gifts at our kids in order to deal with the guilt of not having enough time with them. But faith in Christ is the greatest gift we can give them to deal with the great powers of marketing that convinces us that our dis-ease can be cured by buying more stuff. Our children have tons of possessions but they need to possess the faith in Christ that as parents we can encourage.

We are being called to be like dogs who gather at the table where the crumbs of faith are freely given. Faith in Christ still brings healing in our relationships. Come to the table for the crumbs of faith. We are called to be fed by the one who possesses our hungry souls. We are called to cry out to God for help in prayer. We are called to walk across the room[i] to places out of our comfort zone. Bill Hybels, in the book Walk Across the Room described these three things as 3D:

Develop relationship - Listen to the other; sense where they are at in the journey; Not judgmental but be open to developing relationship with your friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors. Remember that 1 Corinthians 4:3-9 talks about we each do some planting in the soil and others may water it and you may pull weeds; but God gives the growth

Discover their story - Ask people if they attended church growing up. If you do this with the desire to just get a notch in your Christian belt, you are doing this for the wrong reason and people will tell. Ask people about where they find hope and joy. If you get a negative response, don’t get judgmental or argumentative.

Discern next steps - What can you say or not say that shows empathy. What follow up question or information can you share? I just met a lady and she told me she was Catholic. I asked her the name of the church and we shared a few things. I said that we were all catholic with a small “c”. It’s like my large family growing up and we would say to one another that “You’re not my sister anymore.” When denominations do that I think we need to remember that even if we don’t like the fact that we are related, we are related. There is just one Christ and one baptism. This is the call to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to know what to say or not say.

The calling we have is to walk across the room toward others. Today we are training people on a new step that will reach out to people who have connected with Living Waters. We are basically just attempting those who are guests at Living Waters to let people know that God cares. We are attempting to walk across the room of distance that lies between us.

Max Lucado told a story about the time he took his daughter for a walk around the neighborhood when she was four years old. “Let’s cover some new territory”, Lucado said to his daughter as they went out beyond the safe harbor of their neighborhood into the unknown. The area was known to Andrea. They petted new dogs; saw a wilderness of new yards and home; meeting strangers and greeted them. At a certain point Lucado thought the changes might trouble Andrea. “Annie, are you okay. Sure she said. Do you know where you are? No! Do you know how to get home? No! Aren’t you worried? Annie said, “I don’t have to know how to get home, you already do”.

We gather today because we perhaps feel more like dogs than children of God. The people we are called to care for perhaps feel more like dogs than children of God. Yet today we see Jesus walking toward us after he left the fellowship of God and the angels to walk across the cosmos to demonstrate God’s great love for God’s people. Today we are barking up the same tree like cross to beg God for grace and mercy so that we may share that with others.

Let us pray: Gracious God, we gather to beg for your healing power for ourselves and our children. Help us to point them and others to your mercy, and help us to walk toward others the way you are walking with us today. In Christ we pray, Amen.

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[i] Theme comes from the Bill Hybels book of the same name