Matthew 15:29-31
Jesus Heals All Who Come to Him
29 Jesus went from there and came to the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up the mountain and sat down. 30 Many people came to Him. They brought with them those who were not able to walk. They brought those who were not able to see. They brought those who were not able to hear or speak and many others. Then they put them at the feet of Jesus and He healed them. 31 All the people wondered. They saw how those who could not speak were now talking. They saw how those who could not walk were now walking. They saw how those who could not see were now seeing, and they gave thanks to the God of the Jews.
One day Jesus went to the Sea of Galilee...Then He went up the mountain and sat down...Many people came to Him...They brought with them those who were not able to walk...They brought those who were not able to see...They brought those who were not able to hear or speak and many others...Then they put them at the feet of Jesus and He healed them...All the people wondered...They saw how those who could not speak were now talking...They saw how those who could not walk were now walking...They saw how those who could not see were now seeing, and they gave thanks to the God of the Jews...Jesus healed all who came to Him...He did not discriminate Jew from Samaritan, from Canaanite - He healed all that were brought to Him...
There is this belief by some that they put their own culture and country at a very high standard and belief...These people try to give others their opinions on their beliefs of how things should be in their culture and country... They identify themselves with being patriotic and a patriot for their country...They support their country and support its interests over the people, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other countries...
This belief is called nationalism...It is not something that Jesus taught or teaches...There is very little forgiveness of others, and not much of love of one's enemy...And this type of belief can cause divisions, because they are not uniting everyone in our country together...
Walter Wink was an American biblical scholar, theologian, and activist who was an important figure in Progressive Christianity...I believe he would have challenged the way Pharisees thought of Jesus, if he lived back in Jesus' time...He did not believe in nationalism...
The Pharisees of Jesus' time believed that touching an unclean person polluted the one who touched the unclean...This touching was ungodly...Jesus, more than once, touched a person with illness, a woman bleeding, and those with skin diseases...Jesus was not concerned about Himself in these situations...He did not become unclean, when He did these things to others—but just the opposite happened...The leprous ones became clean...The bleeding woman was healed...When an immoral woman washed Jesus’ feet, she went away forgiven and stronger faith and belief in Jesus...When Jesus defied custom to enter a house of someone with differing views, the on with the differing view was changed was more believing in the One Teaching...As Walter Wink puts it, “The contagion of holiness overcame the contagion of uncleanness.”...Wink believed that Jesus moved the emphasis from God’s holiness and exclusiveness of others to God’s mercy...This led to an inclusiveness, that would include all people...The Pharisee message was one of no outcast are to enter...The Pharisee often asked Jesus if He knew who He was eating with, or if He knew the background of the one touching Him...Jesus proclaimed that “In God’s Kingdom, no one is any longer an undesirable, an outcast.”...God's Kingdom is one of inclusion and not one of exclusion...Everyone is invited to God's Great Banquet...
Wink wrote about the nonviolence nature of Jesus and challenged the orthodoxy of how many described our Savior...He believed and wrote: “The myth of redemptive violence is, in short, nationalism become absolute...This myth speaks for God; it does not listen for God to speak...It invokes the sovereignty of God as its own; it does not entertain the prophetic possibility of radical judgment by God...It misappropriates the language, symbols, and scriptures of Christianity...It does not seek God in order to change; it embraces God in order to prevent change...Its God is not the impartial ruler of all nations but a tribal god worshiped as an idol...Its metaphor is not the journey but the fortress...Its symbol is not the cross but the crosshairs of a gun...Its offer is not forgiveness but victory...Its good news is not the unconditional love of enemies but their final elimination...Its salvation is not a new heart but a successful foreign policy...Its usurps the revelation of God's purposes for humanity in Jesus...It is blasphemous. It is idolatrous.”...