In the Wee Small Hours (5)

Seeing Beyond Ourselves

Mark 7:28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

I’ve just watched the musical movie “Rent.” My college freshman daughter wanted me to see it, so, like any other doting father, I did what I was told. The music and performances were wonderful; the philosophy and ideas were something else. It was like a mixture of Godspel and the movie “Philadelphia.” It made me think beyond my comfort zone. It touched my heart in many strange ways.

One of the lines struck me. A character says: “You’ve got to look beyond the lifestyle to see the humanity.” It hit me like a two by four. During the week, I heard an Islamic student say something similar: “You’ve got to look beyond religion to find God.”

Is this what Jesus saw in the Syro-Phoenecian woman? Did He look beyond her Gentile lifestyle to find her humanity? Did she look beyond Christ’s Judaism to find God?

Tomorrow, or today, we’ll worship in our churches and be spiritually fed in our comfort zones. Here’s the rub. Will the unchurched majority in our communities be able to look beyond our religious lifestyle and see our humanity? Will we be able to look beyond our worship rituals and denominational disciplines to find God?

Stushie is the blogger of Heaven's Highway and also the writer of Sky Pilots-resources for Busy Pastors