“Excuse me, I don’t mean to disrupt, but would you heal my demon-possessed daughter? She’s suffering so much.” That’s how I wanted to picture the scene of the Canaanite woman and Jesus in Matthew 15:21-28, which Pastor explored in his message yesterday. Reading the passage more carefully, I didn’t get the sense she was that much of a shrinking violet as she addressed Jesus as “Lord, Son of David” and asked for mercy. This from a gentile, a pagan, a woman, a very persistent woman. To our culturally attuned ears, Jesus’s response to this woman seems crass. “I was only sent for the lost sheep of Israel” (not the likes of you), “it’s not right to take food from them and toss it to dogs.” Ouch. 

My knee-jerk reactions to hard passages, such as this, tell me to look closer. Because Jesus is God and without sin; He does His Father’s will perfectly. So, if He came only for the Jews, why is He in Canaan with His disciples? To show that God’s plan includes gentiles, to show the woman’s faith as a model, and most of all, to show God’s mercy, the crumbs of which no one deserves.

We all experience disruptions in life, some understandable, some inexplicable; we all have times when we’ve desperately sought grace and mercy—peace. But to understand scripture, we need to ask: Who’s the disruptive “I” about to disrupt what and why? 

Jesus’s Disrupt

Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront! Luke 12:51 MSG

The Who in Luke 12:51 is Jesus, and the what He’s about to disrupt is the world. This disruption causes each one of us to choose: either accept His message, His lordship, or reject Him. The decision separates believers from non-believers. 

This is another difficult passage because it creates uncomfortable friction, division, and hostility. Freezing cold and polarization especially within families. Heartbreaking splits between parents and children. I dare say, we all experience disturbing disruptions in this world. But take heart—the result in His Kingdom is peace, the ultimate what and why.

God’s Disrupt

He also told me, “Son of Man, look! I’m about to disrupt the source of bread in Jerusalem. As a result, they’ll ration bread by weight while their terror continues to grow and they’ll ration drinking water while their horror continues to mount! Ezekiel 4:16 ISV

The Who is this passage from the prophet Ezekiel is God, and the “what” is that He’s about to disrupt is the food and water supply in Jerusalem. Famine is coming due to the military siege. The people of Jerusalem are told to impose strict rationing by weight and measure, indicators of severe scarcity. Sips and small bites just to survive. A hard verse to read yet straight forward. 

Fear and horror. Why? Because of God’s judgment. The people turned away from Him by continually breaking His covenant. God only tolerates so much disobedience and then He passes judgment. This is what we deserve, but also an opportunity for us to confront our sin, turn back to Him, and cry for mercy, as the Canaanite woman did.

Women Disrupt

Wives must not disrupt worship, talking when they should be listening, asking questions that could more appropriately be asked of their husbands at home. 1 Corinthians 14:34-35a MSG

1 Corinthians 14:34–35 causes another big knee-jerk reaction, which tells me to look closer. Paul states that women—the who—should not disrupt worship—the what—but remain silent and later, if they have questions, ask their husbands. Note that first-century women did not receive an education or formal training and were unlikely to understand the what of worship. Thus, their questions. Some interpret these verses as a mandate for female submission—the ouch—while others view this passage in the context of Chapter 14, Paul’s focus on orderly worship. And since Paul regularly collaborated with women in his ministry, the female submission interpretation alone doesn’t make sense, at least not to me. Either way, it’s encouragement for me as a woman to think before I speak. 

In preparation for this coming year’s Women Ministry Bible studies and Retreat, I’ve been reading a great deal about feminism and Christian women, most recently, True Woman 201: Interior Design – Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood by Mary Kassian and Nancy DeMoss. They assert that speech plays a major role in reverence. Again, the Canaanite woman’s respectful address and persistent request, which Jesus recognized as her faith. This is submission to Him, humility and benevolence, behavior that both women and men should exhibit. Quite different from disruptive, chaotic shouting. But sometimes it’s important to disrupt and confront, as Jesus and the Canaanite woman did, and it’s always important to listen to the prophets and to my husband, to remain silent and not interrupt.

So, today and every day, I pray for discernment. The who, what and why kind of discernment. 

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