Humility

The overriding theme this week is the need to be humble. Jesus teaches that it is not what we eat or which laws we keep that make us clean. It is what is in our hearts. And then he is confronted with a woman from Sidon – she did not keep Torah and her people and Jesus’ people had been killing each other since Noah. Surely she is the very definition of defiled. And yet Matthew has her out teaching Jesus with her words which come from her love of her daughter, in turn  confronting Jesus’ prejudices and narrow vision. And Jesus humbly accepts it. Her words are the seeds of the mission to non-Israelites (you and me) are sown)

And Paul continues his long exploration on how placing our trust in the faithfulness of God is how the Gentile and Jewish churches in Rome can work together. He is facing off between two groups who are pretty clear they have things sorted and that their way is the right way. And to both groups and us he says, “Neither of you know it all. Be humble. This is not about you and what you know and what you do. It is about God and God’s mercy freely offered to all.”