It seems a bit incongruous to be told that a serious view of
life is necessary in the midst of a diatribe on the folly and vanity of all
things. Solomon has spent six chapters
telling us that all this life under the sun is wasted effort but that doesn’t
mean that life is unimportant. We must
seek to raise our sights and live for eternity rather than spending our time in
what are comparably trivial pursuits.
That also isn’t to suggest that this life is always intended to be
serious and without laughter. There are
many things in which we might engage ourselves as diversions from that
seriousness of life under the sun, we must not indulge ourselves in them
completely. We can make the same
mistakes by immersion in politics as we can in comedy, our lives are to be
focused primarily on the kingdom of God.
This Canaanite woman will not be dissuaded from seeking
healing for her daughter. The
Canaanites, remember, were those driven out and displaced in order for the Jews
to possess the land and were certainly pagans and whose sin had polluted the land. She represents an even more despised set of
people than the Samaritans and yet she will receive all manner of insults here
for the hope of receiving healing for this child. In the end, Jesus marvels at her faith in Him
and her persistence in seeking healing. Adversity
often gives us that seriousness of which Solomon wrote in our first
lesson. As Samuel Johnson once said, “"Depend upon
it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates
his mind wonderfully. "Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be
hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully."
It was an adversity that allowed Paul to preach the Gospel
to the Galatians, an illness that caused him to remain there rather than simply
passing through this region. Apparently
those who have come to them in behind him have made much of them but for what
purpose. Paul says they have preached
another Gospel, one that is not a Gospel at all since there is but one true
Gospel. They have turned from the true Gospel
to this false Gospel and Paul is “perplexed” by this. This perplexity is about to become a true
rant on the difference between Judaism as religion and Christianity. His argument is not that Judaism is wrong,
but that it had become religion and relationship was lost in the bargain. DIY religion replaced the loving relationship
between Yahweh and His people to the point they no longer recognized Him.
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