Thursday, July 10, 2014

How I Changed My Mind - 4

Jesus Changes His Mind

Matthew 15:21-28 recounts a story of Jesus taking a side-trip to the cities of Tyre and Sidon. There a woman of Canaanite origin approached Jesus and called out for him to have mercy on her demon-tormented daughter. He doesn’t answer her at all, and says to his disciples that he was sent “only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” When she persists, he says, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

What’s going on here? That’s what I wondered when I spoke on this passage a year or so ago. In college I had heard of a pastor who said that Jesus had sinned in his way of treating this woman who asked him to help her. I know, of course, that some interpreters try to soften Jesus’ calling her a dog, saying it was a term of warm affection. I wasn’t convinced, though I understood why they needed to interpret things in that way. 

What eventually came to mind was this: The adult Jesus may well have never have had occasion interact more than superficially with a Canaanite person before this moment. His initial response to her was the usual Israelite reaction to one of the apparently sub-human enemies that Joshua and the ancient nation were supposed to have exterminated because of the magnitude of their idolatry and sinfulness. Jesus was simply responding to this encounter according to the culturally transmitted cues he had picked up as a child. He reacted automatically to the situation as any other person raised in that culture would react. 

But then something really surprising happens. The Canaanite woman stands her ground yet again, saying that dogs have a right to the crumbs that fall from the table. Talk about chutzpah!

Now Jesus seems to begin to see and hear her as a real person, not a stereotype. He stops, looks at her, and speaks directly to her for the first time. At this moment, Jesus is stepping outside his culture’s prescribed mindset and behavior toward a Canaanite and begins to perceive and respond to her as a fellow human being. Her assurance and confidence in his ability and willingness helps to break the stereotype Jesus had been taught. The wall goes down, and there is healing as well as reconciliation. 

This story portrays Jesus growing as a person. He is growing out of, and beyond, what he was taught, directly and indirectly, as a child. And it is a face to face encounter that gives him the occasion to do so. 

I concluded that the “sinned” or “didn’t sin” framework of the above-mentioned pastor regarding this story misses the point. As a human being, Jesus needed to continue to grow in maturity throughout his life, as the New Testament itself recognizes (Luke 2:52; Hebrews 5:8). 

This reinforced a question for me: Is it possible that continued growth and development over the course of our lifetime in a more useful framework for evaluating ourselves and others than that of sin and righteousness? 


(To be continued)

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