Offended or blessed

Matthew 15:1-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ² “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” ³ And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” ⁶ he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. ⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

⁸ ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
⁹ ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

¹⁰ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. ¹¹ It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

¹² Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” ¹³ But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵ Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? ¹⁷ Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? ¹⁸ But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. ²⁰ These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

²¹ Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and beganto cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” ²³ But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” ²⁴ But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” ²⁶ And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

A couple of days ago, in Matthew 11:5-6 Jesus said:  “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”  In today’s text it says:  A Canaanite woman from that region came out and beganto cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.”  But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.    Surely this woman could have been offended by Jesus. If something like this happened today, Jesus wors would be called racist, bigotted and predjudiced. Even if the woman herself did not take offense, many would be offended for her. The account of what Jesus said would go viral. There would be cell phone videos and the mainstream media would carry the story. Entertainers and politicians would speak their opinion and the name of Jesus would be defamed. They of course would not tell the whole story. The video accounts would not include what Jesus said after the womans response: “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.”  Surely those who wished to condemn Jesus would not include the part of the account which says:  And her daughter was healed at once.   This woman was a perfect example of what Jesus says: “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”    People are not usually offended by the good that Jesus does, but many are offended by the truth of His words. The woman was blessed because she did not take offense at the truth, but rather she humbly pressed in and persisted in faith. Her humble response was:  “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”  She didn’t take offense and shout her rights, she said yes Lord. Many people today declare their rights concerning God, but are offended by the righteousness of God. They are offended by the truth of His words, so they miss His blessing .   

In today’s text there is another account of offense taken at what Jesus said to the pharisees:  “…You invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.  You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:  ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.  ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’” After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”   Even the Pharisees were offended by the truth. They held tradition over truth. Like many today they created their own truth. They taught their own preferences and precepts as doctrine. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  There are many today, in our society and culture; sadly even in the church, who because of offense at the truth, relax the commandments of God and teach others to do the same. Jesus says: “They are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Many are offended by the righteousness of God, but Jesus says: “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We each must choose whether we will be offended or blessed by God and Christ. We need to know and tell the whole story. James 4:6 says:  "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."      If we, in pride, oppose the truth of God, if we take offense and relax His commandments, God will oppose us. But, if we will humble ourselves, like the woman in today’s text, if we will acknowledge that what Jesus says is truth, if we will say yes Lord, we will be blessed. We will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your word, Your truth and Your righteousness. I humbly say yes Lord. Thank You for the cross, where You took the offense of the sin of the world upon Yourself so that I could be blessed by Your righteousness and truth and enter the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.