Great Faith

Matthew 15:21-28

Anyone listen to the interview with Alex Rodriguez? I thought it was a good interview, even though we all probably knew that was the way he was going to come out. I mean looking at how Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Andy Pettite handled the situation, the only good way to come out of this situation is simply by telling the truth. And I'm glad A-Rod decided to take that path and hopefully things will be better from here on out. But let's talk about this for a second because I think it's interesting and somewhat aggravating.

If you haven't seen the interview, just go to espn.com and they have the entire interview. Listen to it and see if you agree with him, feel sympathy, etc. Regardless, I'm mad about the entire situation. First off the fact that this was supposed to be a concealed test and the result was leaked out bothers me a lot. Especially since the test dates back to 2003. Are you serious? Lesson to be learned, you can't trust anybody. Make sure you see the end of everything before moving on. Seriously, does anyone keep their word these days? I know we're all quick to say A-Rod is at fault and I agree he should be penalized for doing something that's wrong, but the people heading these tests should get penalized as well for lying about privacy.

Now having that out of the way, what do you guys feel about steroids? I mean at first I hated it and hated everyone having to deal with it, but after hearing numerous interviews and radio talks about it, I don't know what to think. The people who side with steroids (or feel sympathy, at least) respond by saying that at the time the culture was different. The rules were very lax and a lot of the people were taking it. They took it for 3 reasons: to get a position on the team, to recover from an injury to avoid losing a spot, and to compete. Getting a position on the team I'm not sure about because I think with natural talent you should be able to get the position. But recovering and competing I can see a case. If you have a serious injury that may take 2-3 years away from your playing time, this could be detrimental (lol) to your career. Especially when younger kids come in year after year, I can see the pressure to come back. Competing? If the rules were this lax and everyone was taking it, then what's to say that your job is safe without it? If you know that Bob in the lockerroom is roid'ing up and he's not getting caught and producing better stats than you are, and your job is now at stake, what are you going to do? Then it's not a simple "say no to drugs" situation.

But at the end of the day, cheating is cheating and lying is lying. But these are all interesting viewpoints and especially with so many players coming out to have taken such substances, it's really hard to get a stance in something.

The Syrophoenician Woman
Reading: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2015:21-28;&version=49;

The reading I did for today is an amazing one because it shows what faith should be like. In numerous encounters with the sick, Jesus met people with different types of faith. And He healed those that had faith in Him. Only the ones with faith could truly be healed by Jesus. But you must wonder, after they've been saved and cured, would they still truly obey and follow Jesus like they should? You would think they would, but think about it. I think a very few actually continued with Jesus and continued to thank Him everyday.

Today's reading is a story of a woman that deserves nothing. Well in all honesty, none of us, including the Jews, deserve anything. But the woman in the story is like an outcast. Her ancestors betrayed God and were to be destroyed by the Jews. She was a Canaanite. These people were the last people to be expected to receive any grace. Yet here comes the woman begging Jesus to save her daughter. Think about what she had to do to come to this place. First off she had a lot of idols that she probably worshipped, but none of them seemed to be working for her. Then she decided that Jesus was the only one who could possibly save her daughter and went to Jesus, where she probably thought she would get rejected.

What's interesting is Jesus's answer. Many times when we ask Jesus something, it's our lack of faith that usually hinders us from truly getting to know Him. This is the first case we see where Jesus Himself rejects someone. Why? Look at the situation. The first time Jesus answer that He was sent only for the lost sheep in Israel. In other words, she is not one of the people that He came to save. Basically Jesus is telling her that because she's not a Jew, she doesn't deserver this! How insulting! Yet, she persists and continues to beg and honor Jesus. She could have easily said, the heck with that, fine you want only Jews? What kind of religion is this!? Yet, she understood the truth. She understood what was true.

Then Jesus answers that the food for children is not for the dogs. Yet the woman persists and says that she is willing to even take the crumbs of that food. This hurts. JESUS is saying that the woman is basically a dog! Imagine what you would do if the one you worshipped is offending you in such a way. Yet, the woman knows the truth and continues. Then Jesus replies that her faith is great and heals her daughter.

Now why did Jesus do this? I believe it was a test. It was a true test for true faith. So many people show faith and quickly forget. But this woman showed genuine faith. She showed great faith. That's the kind of faith we need to have.