Skip to main content

"This is a test, this is only a test...."





Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
        There's a story recorded in Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 that seems to me to be about two tests. Jesus and his disciples had been working for a long time. Jesus' cousin, John had been beheaded. The Pharisees were causing problems. Jesus' solution was to take the disciples on a vacation to the land of Tyre and Sidon.
         As I picture it, the disciples knew that if anyone came to Jesus with a need, Jesus would set up shop and start helping. It wouldn't matter if that person was a pagan. They surrounded him not only to hear what He might say, but to keep others from approaching. Then, someone spotted a woman coming toward them. Was it the look in her eyes, or the way she walked that gave her away? Clearly, she had business to conduct with Jesus. As she began pleading with Him, He didn't say anything. When she didn't give up, the disciples coaxed Jesus to send her away. He told her that He was send only to the children of Israel. She didn't give up. According to Mark, they went into a house and closed the door. She walked right in and continued pleading her case. Finally, Jesus said to her that it was not right to give the children's bread to the dogs. She answered "Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (Matthew 15:27).
        For the disciples, the test was about what they had learned about how to respond to others. Each step along the way, the disciples answered the same way. They needed to protect Jesus from Himself and from these people who weren't His people. They were caring about Him, but failed to care about the things He cared about.
      For the woman, the test was all about faith. What would she do if He ignored her? If others tried to make her go away? If He closed the door in her face? If He insulted her? Each step, the woman answered the same way. It seems to me that Jesus acted precisely the way a rabbi would be expected to act. It was inappropriate for a rabbi to talk to anyone but his disciples, and especially not a foreigner and even more especially not a woman. When He didn't talk to her, that was to be expected, and He hadn't said "no." She kept asking for what she wanted. When the disciples tried to have Him send her away, that was precisely the way she expected them to act. Jesus didn't say "no," so she kept asking. When they closed the door, she didn't look for another door or a window, she tried the door they'd just closed, and found it unlocked. He hadn't said "no." She kept asking. When He insulted her, that was precisely what she would expect from a Jew, from a rabbi, from a man. She was from an educated area. She was a woman. She was used to haggling and bargaining and playing games.  She answered His challenge, and received what she had gone there for. The disciples failed their tests. She passed with high praise and a reward.
      Did Jesus give those tests because He didn't know how they'd do? No, I suspect that He gave those tests to show them how they would do, and to show the disciples how the foreign, pagan woman could do, and to show us how they did. The test wasn't for His benefit, but for theirs, and hers, and ours.
     There was a time when I could not pray this passage. I couldn't say, "Come on in have a look around. Go through everything, and if You see anything You don't like, feel free to make changes. Pull out the microscope, and if you find any cancer cells of sin, cut them out."  It wasn't that I didn't trust God. It was that I trusted Him to do exactly what I was afraid I could not survive His doing: searching, testing, seeing and leading. Over the years, I have learned to fear being searched and tested less. I still don't want to face the struggle or pain involved, but I've begun to learn to say with Job, that "when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) I have also begun to learn to say with Esther, "and if I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16.)


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Birthday of Anton Chekhov


          "One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake."


Birthday of William McKinley


            "Our earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity, happiness, and peace to all our neighbors, and like blessings to all the peoples and powers of the earth"


 Birthday of  Thomas Paine


       "The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection"



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more