Let me tell you another story about Jesus.
Jesus, for reasons unknown, decides to take off one day and go visit a Gentile village. When he gets there, a woman comes to him and asks him to heal her daughter. We don’t know how old the daughter is. We don’t know if this mother is married, or is widow, or what.
What we do know is that the mother saw an opportunity and she took it.
Her daughter was sick. You are mothers. You know what it is like to have a sick child and no medicine. But she had heard of the Jewish Messiah who could heal her daughter. She marched right up there to Jesus even though neither Jewish nor Gentile men would normally speak to women in public.
At first Jesus said no. He said that he had been sent to the people of Israel. She pestered him. The disciples wanted to send her away, but Jesus wasn’t ready to do that. He said something about giving the food to the dogs, and she told him that the dogs got to eat the same food that the people sitting at the table ate. She said there was more than enough food for Israel. She could be given some and nobody would miss it.
Jesus healed her daughter. Those who know the Bible better than I do agree that this means that Gentiles will no longer be separated from Israel in the kingdom of God. Jesus healed other Gentiles, but Bible commentaries do not give that the same significance to those encounters.
There is a common theme whenever women talk with Jesus. They argue! They talk back! They ask questions. But most importantly, they don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.
A friend told me that one Sunday in his church, a little 11-year old girl asked her mother if she could hand out the registration books in church. Her mother said that she could not do that. She asked her mother why and the mother told her they would talk about it when they got home.
Somebody show me where it says in the Bible that girls can’t hand out registration books! We start limiting women when they are still little girls.
This has got to stop. It is not what Jesus intended. It wasn’t the daughter who asked for healing. It was her mother who asked for healing for her daughter.
That is what I want you to do. I want you to stand up and speak up! I want you to not give up. Don’t take ‘no’ for answer. There is a healing that needs to take place for yourselves, and your daughters, your daughters-in-law, your sisters. You are equal! No buts!
Scripture: Jesus tells Gentile woman he is Messiah of the Gentiles also
Matthew 15:21-28
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Our next subject is: The Woman at the Well
Shirley Taylor Books (available on Amazon in print and on Kindle)
The Biblical Marriage Myth: The Devil Comes Calling
The Power of a Book: The Street Evangelist
Raising the Hood: A Christian Look at Manhood and Womanhood
Women Equal: No Buts
Dethroning Male Headship: 2nd Edition
From Wife to Widow: What I Know Now
Beyond the Grave: A Christian Dilemma
