Discrimination--Jesus??

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Scripture: Mark 7:26-30
24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Meditation
            This is an unlikely passage to pick for a devotion. It is an uncomfortable passage to read. In it Jesus calls a woman a “dog” for no other reason than she is a gentile. It stomps on our notions that Jesus would never discriminate against someone due to their race. This desire to make Jesus act in ways that he simply didn’t causes grave consequences for our overall ability to interpret scripture.
            Was this sin on Jesus’ part or not? Jesus did eventually grant the woman her request. (That he exorcise the demon from her daughter.) Perhaps Jesus was just testing her to see how strong her faith was. But that is all conjecture. Nevertheless we cannot judge Jesus guilty of any sin because we cannot judge God. All we can say for sure is that it looks to human eyes as if Jesus did, in fact, discriminate.
            Jesus did often discriminate. Particularly against the Pharisees and other religious leaders of his time. Jesus called their sin, sin. He didn’t hesitate in his judgment, and he certainly didn’t take a poll to see if 51% of respondents thought their sin was sin. Often we want to make Jesus into a fairy tale figure who is all nice and pretty and never offended anyone with his speech. But the plain truth is you don’t crucify someone like that.
            So when someone tells you that Jesus would never discriminate against someone just because of who they fall in love with respond with the truth. If the scripture calls that “love” sin then it is sin and no amount of rhetorical polish can change that. You may get crucified for saying so, but then so did Jesus.

Prayer
Lord, help us to live with open eyes. Both our physical eyes and the eyes of our hearts. Help us be willing to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. May our lives be marked by gentleness and respect in this regard. But help us speak the truth, nonetheless. May we always be willing to discriminate between the good, true and beautiful and its counterfeits regardless of the cost to us. Amen.  

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