O.K., at the outset, let me say that I stole this one. Yep, swiped it right out of this morning’s sermon. But I let Pastor know what I’m doing and have his blessing.
Pastor asked us to picture U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps, eight-time gold medal winner in Beijing (pretty much everyone there had watched him win number eight on TV last night). He is atop the podium, he bends over to receive his gold medal, and the guy who presents the medals walks up to Michael Phelps but all of a sudden makes a sharp right, heads off into the audience, and places the gold over someone else’s shoulders. “What would you think?” Pastor asked.
“Why, you’d think, ‘This guy is crazy! What on earth is he doing? That person in the audience does not deserve the gold medal. Michael Phelps earned that medal.’” Pastor said that he would immediately think, “That crazy man must be a Lutheran Pastor.”
The text was today’s gospel from Matthew 15 (21-28). Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon (as Pastor put it, “That’s about half way between Ann Arbor and Toledo.”) This Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and cries out: “Have mercy on me, O Lord…” Jesus ignores her, the disciples tell Jesus to send her away, Jesus for the most part calls her a ‘dog.’ But the woman persists, “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters’ table.”
Finally, Jesus announces, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter is healed immediately. Immediately.
The Canaanite woman who calls out to Jesus gets what she does not deserve – mercy. And God’s grace for good measure. Like the person in Pastor’s Olympic illustration, someone undeserving receives what they did not earn…because of Jesus.
God’s blessings to you this school year, all you crazy people who announce God’s love, His grace, His mercy and forgiveness, bestowing gold daily on those you teach.