Puppy Love // Rev. Matt Kennedy // Apr 6 2025

About mid-way through the gospel of Mark, we read a story about Jesus that feels strangely out of character. After many chapters of documenting Jesus' compassionate care and healing for many people, Jesus is approached by a foreign woman with a request to help her daughter.  Shockingly, it first looks like he refuses to help her and then even seems to refer to her as a dog (Mark 7:24-27). When did Jesus get so mean?!? This is one of those Bible stories that takes some careful reading, because the Biblical authors are too conscientious of writers for Jesus to take a sudden "heel turn" without explanation. Something more is going on. With attention to the larger Biblical narrative, a little insight into Rabbinical method, and a touch of imagination-- this story is actually an hounding picture of dogged faith and the ways God convicts and challenges us to humility, resiliency, anti-prejudice, and the ways God loves the underdogs hungry for mercy and justice.