Old Testament – Isaiah 56
Remember Isaiah? We have met him before. He was a prophet who spoke for God for almost 70 years. He lived during a tough time in Israel’s history and he had to tell the Israelites a lot of tough messages. Today he has an encouraging message for the Israelites and us. Isaiah says God’s salvation is near to us. Isaiah also tells us that when we do the things that make God happy He is happy with us. Isaiah says God loves all those who honor and love Him. God doesn’t consider anyone to be an outsider. We are all in His family.
Old Testament - Psalm 133
King David is this short song that speaks about how wonderful it is when brothers and sisters get along with each other. While it seems gross to us, it was a great honor to have anointing oil poured on you. This was reserved for kings and prophets. Rainfall was precious in Israel. So the picture of rain flowing down the mountains would have been refreshing to the Israelites. Getting along with our brothers and sisters is so important to God that He uses these two pictures to show how much this means to Him. How do you treat your brothers and sisters? Who are your brothers and sisters? Here again we learn that everyone is loved by God and we are all part of His family. Everyone is our brother and sister.
Below is Psalm 133 sung both in Hebrew and English. It is very happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdmDBA-DTAw
New Testament – Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Paul tells us that the Jewish people are God’s first friends and He chose them before any other people. We learn from Paul that God’s plan was to include everyone in the plan of salvation. Jewish people and Non-Jewish people would all be part of God’s family. What wonderful news!
New Testament – Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus in this event is approached by a Canaanite woman. The Jewish people and the Canaanites were ancient enemies. The Canaanites did not worship God. They worshipped a false god named “Baal.” Baal worship had many horrible things including human sacrifice.
The Canaanite woman has been following Jesus and His disciples all day calling after them. Think of how you would feel if someone followed you all day and called your name constantly. Jesus’ disciples were very annoyed and told Jesus to send her away. Also at this time women did not speak to men in public and this was also annoying to Jesus’ disciples. Also she was a Canaanite, a hated outsider.
The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus and asks Him to make her little girl well. Jesus says “No.” He not only says “No” but he is very harsh. He calls her a “dog” but she does not get upset. She kneels before Him and repeats her request. She says even dogs get fed from their owner’s table. Jesus says to her “How great is your faith. Your daughter is healed.” She went home and found her little girl healed.
This teaches us a lot on how to come to God. The Canaanite woman was humble no matter how she was treated. She did not give up. We, too, need to come to God humble and not give up when we pray.
It also teaches us that no one is outside God’s grace and mercy. Jesus’ actions toward the Canaanite woman were more to test His disciples’ behavior. They saw her as an annoyance and not as a person. We also need to see others as people and not as annoyances. We need to think about other people’s needs and remember there are no outsiders in God’s eyes.
Below is a YouTube video which is the entire Chapter 15 of Matthew including today’s event of Jesus and the Canaanite woman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHXmRnNykU
