We see how a Canaanite woman incessantly cries out to Jesus, " Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.... Lord, help me!"In answer to her, Jesus seems to be silent, while His disciples show their reluctance to entertain her presence, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us." Then Jesus breaks His silence only to say "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of the Israel... It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." But she does not seem to have lost her courage, for she replies, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus acknowledges the depth of her faith and grants her request, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish!"
Jesus heals Jews as well as non-Jews and males as well as females. He heals in and out of Palestine. Jesus' healing power goes beyond all man-made boundaries of ethnicity, gender and geography.
The repeated cries and the undaunted following of the Canaanite woman have to be noted. More not worthy and remarkable is her reply to the Lord: " Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." They all manifest the depth of faith and confidence she has had in Jesus the Healer. She neither doubts nor questions what Jesus says. She acknowledges her littleness or nothingness and the Master's greatness. She accepts her "dog role" of waiting for God's mercy as dispensed by Jesus. She is a faith - filled mother. It is this faith, professed in a Gentile land by a Gentile woman, which is rewarded at the end. It is this prrsistent, dogged spirit that is paid off dramatically.
How ready are we to confront the odds to achieve something we esteem? "What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - It's the size of the fight in the dog" says Dwight D. Eisenhower.
How are we to respond when God seems distant and does not answer our prayer? Faith impels us to keep calling to God, even it may seem futile. Jesus seems to be silent, ignoring and unfavourable while the disciples show reluctance or annoyance. But the woman keeps crying out after them. She is persistent!
The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus not for herself but for another, her own daughter. She comes out of love. She comes as a loving and faith-filled mother. Following her example, today we need to go to Jesus in praying asking His blessings upon our own children, parents, brothers & sisters. Let's also ask, "How often do we approach God with selfish and self-centered demands that He do what we would like done?"
The apparently harsh language of Jesus needs clarification. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel... It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." It is true Israel is God's chosen people. Hence they need to be found and fed first. But does Jesus exclude the Gentiles from mission? It is clear Jesus observed the limitation of "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" during His ministry. It was kept for practical reasons since His ministry was very much limited by time. It was not that He excluded the Gentiles on ethnic grounds as His fellow Jews would do. He had the Gentile mission already in mind to be given to the disciples in future. In fact, by healing the centurion's servant and the Canaanite daughter He anticipated the mission to the Gentiles.
Out of contempt, the Jews called the Gentiles dogs or swine. Does Jesus despise the Gentiles with the term, "dogs"? Can He be charged with bigotry and racism? What Jesus uses here is a diminutive form, 'kunarion', which refers to lap or house or little dogs, not street dogs, 'kuon'. So He seems to use the word so affectionately just as we today use the word 'rascal' so affectionately, when we say, "You, my little rascal!".
The woman's response indicates this affection of Jesus. She seems to say, "I know your priority must now be with Israel. But as you feed Israel, could you not slip food to their pets when their parents are not looking?"
There are various other views which need some attention:
1. In the encounter, Jesus is deliberately provocative so as to evoke faith on the part of the woman. He doesn't mean what He says. He tries to draw more from her.
2. Jesus takes this opportunity to teach His disciples something new. He voices deliberately the typical Jewish attitudes about the Gentiles so that the disciples could recognize their inadequacy.
3. Jesus the Jew learns and grows from this encounter. He realizes that God has bread for Gentiles too. His horizons are widened at this threshold moment.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar