Wednesday, February 19, 2020
“She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.” (Mark 7:28, New Living Translation) 

                It’s no picnic getting older. Just ask our two Aussie dogs.

                Both are in their thirteenth year – the beginnings of old age for a dog – and are showing signs that this aging process doesn’t totally agree with them. Both find it a little harder to get up from a nap or climb the stairs. Kramer is becoming somewhat hard of hearing and a little short of sight.

                But they both have decided to change their diets in their declining years. They want something a little easier to digest, more palatable, more interesting, more enticing. (Don’t we all?) Their old diet of dry kibble and just plain, ordinary canned dog food doesn’t quite cut it anymore. I am pretty sure that they talked this through between themselves and conspired together to go on a hunger strike unless there were serious changes.

Of course, it worked. We have upped our feeding regime to include new canned dog food which are tasty, meaty stews and are using a better, more expensive brand of kibble. Sometimes we even cook up ground chicken when they get really picky.

Charlie, the much smarter of the two, has raised the bar. He will only eat his supper if it is prepared in the following way. Put the stew meat on the bottom, occasionally add a scrambled egg, always sprinkle with shredded cheese and put a just a little kibble on top. Do not mix it together or he probably won’t deign to eat it. Small wonder one of the staff at our vet’s clinic called me “a good papa bear” when she heard this story.

Food security is a big thing. Just ask anyone who is hungry on a regular, daily basis.

The gentile woman who confronted Jesus was in need, not for herself but for her daughter who was deemed to have an “unclean spirit.” I am not really sure what that phrase might have meant in Jesus’ time  or what the young girl was experiencing but the mother’s fears and concerns were enough to break the taboos of Jewish culture which largely forbade Jewish males to have contact with gentiles and especially gentile women or anyone with diseases of any kind, physical or mental.

Somewhat uncharacteristically, Jesus rebuffs her, at first. He was still seeing his ministry within the confines of being primarily a Jewish mission, not yet a world-wide one. But once she has his undivided attention, she persists and though she may not be a privileged “chosen one”, even stray dogs may find scraps off their tables. Even she, she is insisting, may not be seemly in the eyes of those around her but she needs Jesus’ empathy, care, and compassion to make a difference for her and especially her daughter. Her words reach Jesus’ heart almost immediately and he cures her daughter on the spot.

I don’t know whether that encounter might have changed the way Jesus saw his ministry and mission. Certainly, we know that this wasn’t the only beneficial act which gentiles received. Even the much-hated Roman military officials were recipients of Jesus’ strength and power.  His Love was increasingly expansive and inclusive. His arms stretched a little wider for anyone who was hungry in a variety of ways. He was one good papa bear!

Sometimes, the old things in life don’t work as well as they used to. We become unhappy and unsettled. We cease to thrive. We feel hungry but nothing seems to appeal.  Our appetites change. Life is not satisfying.  We sense others get more out of life than we do. We measure ourselves by the prosperity and privilege of others. We reach out to God and beg that the Love and Grace of God might make a difference and bring a new reality into our meagre lives.

God can effect change for the good, for our betterment, for lifting us up to a new reality and fresh possibilities.  Anyone, even you and me, may ask Christ to influence and radically affect change in our old patterns and distorted characteristics that have left us discordant and broken.

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.” (Matthew 5: 6, The Message Bible)

Dale