The Faith of an...OUTSIDER

 

Friday, August 21, 2026

When Jesus left there, he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.  Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.” Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”  He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!” He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was healed.  Matthew 15:21-28^(CSB)

I know what it’s like to be an outsider, looking in.  As a young man I dated a beautiful girl in my high school class.  Her family was of Italian descent, and it was large.  Her mother was the oldest of 13 children!  THIRTEEN!  My family was miniscule by comparison.  Even I the 1960’s ethnic lines were important.  I later compounded my crossing of those lines by marrying that beautiful girl…in a Methodist church!  I eventually confirmed every doubt and fear held by her family that an outsider had stolen an Italian princess by moving our little “mixed” family a thousand miles away to the strange land of rural Florida, and joining a Baptist Church…light years removed from the religious tradition of my bride’s heritage, which was connected to the Vatican in Rome.

I can identify closely with the Gentile woman who approached the Jewish rabbi, Jesus; it was more than awkward; in Jewish culture it was an affront to every accepted and deeply held rule of propriety.  Likewise, in 1965, New York Italian girls did not bring non-Italian boys home to meet the family!  If they did, there was that risk of being branded with a Scarlet Letter.  (There was also some not so tongue-in-cheek tales told of non-Italian boys disappearing…something about trunks of big black cars and cement shoes).

Needless to say, I always felt like something of an oddity on display at Elizabeth’s family gatherings; kind of Ripley’s Believe-it-or-Not non-Roman freak show.  Elizabeth’s cousins were like Jesus’ disciples encouraging Him to send the Gentile woman away; she just didn’t belong!

What is an Outsider to do?

Well, like the woman Matthew (the tax-collecting Jew/outsider extreme) wrote about this Gentile woman…keep the faith and press-on!

For You Today

So, are you living the “outsider life”?  Maybe this postscript of my experience with outsider-ship will help.  My move wasn’t just a thousand miles away, it brought me to a calling, into the pulpit.  Twenty years later, as Elizabeth’s mother, Sofie, lay dying, it was the outsider she called to her bedside.  She wanted me to read Scripture to her and pray for her…and share comforting words of faith and hope. 

Sometimes, when faith in Christ is held dearer than the next breath, an outsider will find himself at the table with much more than crumbs!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors  and Heart Image by DesignByDessie

[1] Title Image by Daniel R from PixabayUnless noted, Scripture quoted from Christian Standard Bible^©    

When You Need a Friend

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Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.  But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David, told him what his father was planning.  “Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields.  I’ll ask my father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll tell you everything I can find out.”  The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him.  “The king must not sin against his servant David,” Jonathan said.  “He’s never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could.  Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result?  You were certainly happy about it then.  Why should you murder an innocent man like David?  There is no reason for it at all!”  So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”  Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened.  Then he brought David to Saul, and David served in the court as before.  1 Samuel 19:1-7^(NLT)

The proof of Jonathan’s friendship with David is found primarily in the fact that he had everything to lose by helping David, and virtually nothing to gain.  Jonathan was the king’s son, and therefore heir-apparent to the throne of Israel.  It was a dangerous game to play, helping David, when the king wanted him dead.  But Jonathan not only loved his friend David, he was bound by integrity to do the right thing.  Many years later David’s son, Solomon (perhaps remembering his father’s friend, Jonathan) would write:

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. 

Proverbs 17:17^(NLT)

“Always loyal” is the key to friendship.  Now, that doesn’t mean always patting you on the back or being ready to follow you down an ethically-questionable pathway.  Loyalty does always mean being truthful, and to be depended upon to stand with you in the hard times and rejoice with you in the triumphs of life. 

I believe if David had in mind a coup d'état to overthrow King Saul, this story would have had a very different ending; Jonathan might have let David sink!  David may have been Jonathan’s dearest friend, but Saul was his father and the king.  When loyalties collide, friendship must take second place to truth and doing the right thing. 

Solomon also wrote:  It is wrong to punish the godly for being good…. Proverbs 17:26^(NLT)

For You Today

It’s an easy thing to imagine what you’d like a friend to be in your life…loyal, courageous, funny, helpful, strong, supportive.  All this and more roll quickly off our brain’s must have list for friends.  But we should also consider our friendship effort we give to others.  If you’ve got a Jonathan in your life, treasure the gift, and thank God.  And while you’re at it, ask God for the wisdom, generosity and faithfulness to BE a Jonathan to your friends.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Blessed Enemy

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Thursday, August 17, 2017

Then I saw in heaven another marvelous event of great significance.  Seven angels were holding the seven last plagues, which would bring God’s wrath to completion.  I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire.  And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name.  They were all holding harps that God had given them.  And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty.  Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations.  Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?  For you alone are holy.  All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed.”  Revelation 15:1-4^(NLT)

I have this love-hate kind of adversarial relationship with my radiation mask.  Every weekday for the past few weeks I’ve willingly climbed on the table and two sweet technicians begin their torture routine:

Head back…no not that way…c’mon lift those knees a bit…shoulders down…more…!  Then comes the mask (which was custom-made to fit my facial and shoulder contours) pinning me to the table with little fastening clips that hold a preacher in place so the radiation can fry my vocal cords.  Well, more accurately, so they can fry the tumor on my vocal cords.  That mask presses me down more tightly than ugly is found inside an envelope from the IRS!  I hate that mask; I love that mask!  There are times in life when you wake up to a startling fact:  not everything which opposes you is really the enemy. 

Who we are and What we do

Ambivalence, those mixed feelings, when you despise something, yet there is something redeeming that pulls you towards it…is something we find in many passages of Holy Scripture.  Mostly this is because Scripture deals with who we are, and what we do. 

Human beings are created in the image of God with body, soul, and spirit.  We possess the gift of autonomy, the freedom to choose.  Because we have free will to determine how we live, we are also subject to the outcome of our actions.  We love the freedom and often despise the consequences.  When we find ourselves hating what we are experiencing, but deep-down knowing there is something necessary about it, we have to remember the bad news of our circumstance is often a messenger of hope. 

So, how should you act when that kind of messenger shows up?

When the doctor said it was cancer, and made this barbaric medieval mask to make my treatment more accurate and effective, I did not shoot the messenger!

When a parent violently snatches her small child off the railroad tracks because there is a train coming, that Mom is not the enemy!

When a true friend delivers the news that you’re walking dangerously close to ruining your reputation with something you’ve been planning to do, there’s a reason to stop and listen.

And when God sends the last of seven plagues on the earth, it will not be because He despises mankind.  Scripture declares it will be the signal for unending eternal praise to begin, for God has completed His promise of redemption…and the party is about to begin!

If my doctor’s treatment to address the physical enemy in my throat works the way he planned, in another 19 days my relationship with the mask will come to a merciful end.  A few weeks later I should start to feel a whole lot better.  It will have been a difficult, but blessed relationship with my mask…my blessed enemy!

For You Today

At times in our lives it may seem like God is the enemy, that He’s trampling all the grapes of wrath on your head.  But never despair in that direction; He is the truest of friends, faithful and strong on your behalf.  Be of good courage!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Russell Brownworth (own work)