Crumbs from the Table

Shock - back in level 2

What a week it has been?

I don’t think any of us expected to be back in level two. We all knew that this was a possibility at some stage in the future, we all knew it was even likely, but did any of us expect to be trying to remember the level 2 lockdown rules this week?

All of the information crashes over us like a tidal wave, and we’re left reeling, trying to figure out what on earth has happened.

Looking for someone or something to blame

Have our systems failed?

Has this been lurking in the community, undetected?

Is this the fault of some person, or some group of people who have let us down?

Ashley Bloomfield, Director General of Health and leading candidate for NZer of the year - “People are not the problem, the virus is the problem, people are the solution.”

Shock

At the press conference yesterday, someone actually called for Dr. Bloomfield to resign.

Shows how mad all of this has gotten.

Nothing less than perfection is tolerated. Learning along the way is seen as a sign of weakness - why didn’t you know already?

So we double down on our mistakes and our pre-conceived ideas in a vain attempt to save face.

It’s madness

shock

Jesus looks through her. Doesn’t respond, doesn’t want to listen.

So focused on the task in front of him, he misses the person standing before him

Wrapped up in his argument with the Pharisees - he’s been trying to describe to them the nature of the Kingdom of God, and they’re looking for loopholes. Fed up, he storms off, Peter & the disciples struggling to keep up - both literally and figuratively. And as he goes, this Canaanite woman starts calling after him. Not only is she not a child of Israel, but she is the old enemy, a member of the people that Israel have been striving with since the times of Moses.

He ignores her. He insults her. He demeans her.

This is not the Jesus we know.

How on earth did he end up in this situtation?

Is there anything that redeems it?

The good news is this: Jesus doesn’t stay in his rut of intransigence.

Unlike us, he doesn’t double down on his pre-conceived ideas.

Instead, he opens his eyes and sees the person in front of him.

Instead, he opens his heart, heals the girl, and sets her mother free.

This is a story that begins on the edge of a knife - it could go one way or the other, and it looks like it is set up for yet another write-off, yet another humiliation, yet another wedge drievn through the heart of our shared humanity, but Jesus finds another way.

What can we learn?

See the people in front of us

So caught up in our own problems, that unless we see the people we come across as “the same” as us, then we tend to look through them, or even to blame them for our own problems

Intercession works

We can learn from the Canaanite woman. She is ignored and insulted, but she has something more important than either of those things that she needs to have addressed - the plight of her child - and that gives her courage, gives her a foundation of dignity and purpose. Gives her mana.

I don’t even know how to say this

Who gets through to God? The abandoned, the disdained, the marginalised

In an increasingly fatalistic world,

we tend to double down on our ideas when presented with new information.

When challenged we get defensive and antagonistic.

Jesus changes his mind

Jesus starts out angry and brusque, no, downright rude, but he humbles himself to see the world in a new way.

Turning point in his ministry, and a turning point for the faith that shapes our lives.

Jesus has turned away in frustration from people who will not listen, and he becomes someone who listens - not just to the special few, not just to the people who look and act like him, but to everyone, no matter what has gone before.

Gives us room to breathe

It’s not what goes in, it’s what comes out

How we respond to situations we find ourselves in matters

Madness of politics

We can see that is a dead end.

Jesus finds another way

Ashley Bloomfield - People are not the problem, the virus is the problem, people are the solution.

Blame ourselves for winding up in unwinnable situations. But we are not the problem. Our broken and sinful world is the problem, and the solution? Drawing near to Jesus.

The hope of the Lord is our anchor.  

The love of Christ is our compass.  

The peace of God is our strength.  

Philippians 4:4–9 NIV

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.