#the Canaanite Woman’s Faith

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Tradition and Faith

Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands before they eat.”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you:

‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”

Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”

Then the disciples came to Him and said, “Are You aware that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots. Disregard them! They are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Peter said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”

“Do you still not understand?” Jesus asked. “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.”

But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before Him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes, Lord,” she said, “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

“O woman,” Jesus answered, “your faith is great! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Moving on from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee. Then He went up on a mountain and sat down. Large crowds came to Him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and laid them at His feet, and He healed them. The crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I have compassion for this crowd, because they have already been with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may faint along the way.”

The disciples replied, “Where in this desolate place could we find enough bread to feed such a large crowd?”

“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.

“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”

And He instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and the fish, He gave thanks and broke them. Then He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. A total of four thousand men were fed, in addition to women and children.

After Jesus had dismissed the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan. — Matthew 15 | The Reader’s Bible (BRB) The Reader’s Bible © 2020 by Bible Hub and Berean.Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Genesis 6:5; Exodus 20:12; Exodus 21:17; Numbers 22:29; 2 Kings 4:44; Proverbs 4:23; Isaiah 9:16; Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 31:3; Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3; Matthew 4:18; Matthew 4:24; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 7:6; Matthew 8:2; Matthew 8:10; Matthew 9:22; Matthew 9:27; Matthew 10:6; Matthew 11:6; Matthew 11:21; Matthew 12:34; Matthew 13:18; Matthew 13:36; Matthew 14:19; Matthew 16:10; Mark 3:9; Mark 3:22; Mark 7:1-2; Mark 7:5; Mark 7:11; Mark 7:19; Mark 7:24; Mark 7:27-28; Mark 8:1; Luke 16:21; John 5:23; Acts 3:26; Acts 10:14-15; Romans 15:8; 1 Corinthians 6:13; Colossians 2:22

[artandthebible]

The Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ

Artist: Jean Germain Drouais  (French, 1763–1788

Genre: Religious Art

Date: 1784

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, 'Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.' But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. 'Give her what she wants,' they said 'because she is shouting after us.' He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.' But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. 'Lord,' she said 'help me.' He replied, 'It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the house-dogs.' She retorted, 'Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master's table.' Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.' And from that moment her daughter was well again.

Reflection on the Painting

This painting by Jean-Germain Drouais won the Prix de Rome in 1784, one of the most prestigious accolades for any painter in the late 18th century. Four years later, he died aged 25. Our painting (executed when the artist was only 21 years old) shows remarkable maturity. We see Jesus surrounded by His disciples. As our Gospel reading reads 'his disciples went and pleaded with him. 'Give her what she wants,' they said 'because she is shouting after us.' We see the figure on the right, probably Saint Peter, pleading Jesus to attend to the woman. Christ's face is turned away from her, but she is on her knees begging Him to help her.

But looking at our painting more closely, we see Jesus and his disciples are barefooted. The Canaanite woman is wearing sandals. Footwear was after all not as commonplace as it is today. In paintings we often see Jesus and his disciples barefooted. Sandals provide protection from cuts, bruises and impacts from objects on the ground. However, footwear can also limit the flexibility, strength, and mobility of the foot. Therefore depicting the disciples and Jesus barefooted helps the painter to convey their strength, honesty, and openness. Barefootedness also reveals vulnerability and calculated risk taking, alongside it being a sign of humility and honesty.

The Canaanite woman in today's reading taps into this sense of honesty. Her prayer is very straightforward, it isn't a polite, clean, sanitised prayer to Christ. She is simply honest in conveying what is in her heart and what she needs. She gives us a lesson on prayer… She teaches us that we should express our real feelings to Christ…

[thebarefootcajun]

Rahab, Loose Woman, Liar, Canaanite Woman, believer in Christ

Hebrews 11:31, By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Rehab, a loose woman, told a lie to protect two spies of Joshua

A prostitute, a Canaanite and a liar is a distinguished Bible figure.

Rehab was a woman of faith, Hebrews 11:31 says so. She was a believer.

Many of us are intimidated by Jesus. We see the Jesus portrayed in churches, clean, large sanctuaries, stained class windows, formal prayers, etc.

Jesus called himself the friend of sinners. He said he didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance

Luke 19:10, the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which is lost.

That same grace is for you and me.

As a sinner I find more than sufficient grace in that.

A harlot, a woman who lied to save Joshua’s spies and a woman who was a Canaanite hated by the Jews was saved by Jesus through her faith.

There’s hope for the Barefoot Cajun

Excerpts taken from “Who Was Rahab in the Bible!” Christianity.com

[portraitsofsaints]

Happy Feast Day

Saint Deborah the Prophetess

2654-2694 BC

Feast day: November 1

St. Deborah was the Fourth Judge of the Israelites. Living in Ephraim, she was faithful and true, a prophetic voice of God during dark, sinful times. God spoke to Deborah to instruct Barak, the Israelites commander, to lead his army into battle against the Canaanites and their cruel general, Sisera. Barak refused to go into battle unless Deborah would go with him. She agreed but told him the glory of victory would be a women’s. God was with the Israelites and scattered Sisera’s army. Sisera fled to the tent of a woman named Jael, who killed him with a tent stake while he slept. Deborah herself glorified Jael in her famous “Song of Deborah”.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase. (website)

[blackhholes]

Teen Wolf's Canaan

Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger (trans. by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) / The Fate of the Canaanites and the Despoliation of the Egyptians by Menahem Kister / Who’s Afraid of Canaan’s Curse? by Jennifer Knust / The Faith of the Canaanite Woman (Mt. 15.21-28): Narrative, Theology, Ministry by Dorothy A. Lee

Written for @teenwolf-meta‘s Meta May Monday theme: place.

in the sixth episode of the sixth season scott, lydia and malia go to canaan, a place which has become a ghost town after the wild hunt came through in the 80s with only one inhabitant still there. there are two major references being made in this episode, the first being that to the both biblical and real bronze age location of canaan and the second being to the ballad lenore by bürger.

in genesis 9:25 noah curses canaan, the son of ham, that he and all of his descendants, the canaanites, will be servants for the rest of time. the conquest of canaan in the book of joshua as well as the curse of canaan are mirrored in the episode with the ghost riders' attack on the town and is further expanded on when, at the end of the episode lydia explains that the people taken by the wild hunt become ghost riders themselves, effectively making them servants of the hunt.

the only person left behind by the riders is a woman named lenore. her name draws the viewer back to the 1774 ballad of the same name, in which a ghostly rider comes to a woman in the disguise of her dead lover and takes her on a ride. the poem culminates when lenore realizes that the rider is indeed death himself come for her. teen wolf's lenore as all other banshees has a close connection to death and the dead, for her the spectral entity shown to her is not her deceased lover but instead it is her son who drowned as a child. bürger's lenore dies at the end of the poem, where teen wolf's lenore decided to stay in canaan with the apparition of her dead son, a kind of death in itself.

[myremnantarmy]

𝐀𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥

Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

MT 15:21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!

My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her.

His disciples came and asked him,

“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

He said in reply,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”

He said in reply,

“It is not right to take the food of the children

and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps

that fall from the table of their masters.”

Then Jesus said to her in reply,

“O woman, great is your faith!

Let it be done for you as you wish.”

And her daughter was healed from that hour.

[former-leftist-jew]

I really loved your post about religious extremism and I wanted to add that a lot of the people using the "peaceful, noble Palestinian" trope (like you said, the noble savage trope) would have no problem understanding that a Christian population is bigoted against gays because they were raised in that faith and ministered to by bigots -- for instance, Russian leadership using the language of Christianity to make "same sex propaganda" illegal (I literally know someone who went to jail for kissing another woman in front of Russian police) and then holding them to account when said government is removed from power, or even refusing to forgive them even when they've changed. These are totally understandable reactions to bigotry, even societal bigotry (my grandfather remains deeply homophobic due to his Christianity and even if he one day changes, I don't know that I'll be able to forgive him for supporting conversion therapy).

But when it's a non-Western population? Suddenly those people CAN'T be bigoted and CAN'T have been fed antisemitism and hatred for their entire lives because. I don't know, it's different with them! I know so many wonderful, affirming, progressive Muslims who have done the work to reinterpret and decolonize their faith, the same as I do Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc.. But I also know that in the Middle East, many don't DO that sort of reflection -- largely because they don't have the ability to due to decades of corrupt leadership and authoritarian rule. You can be a victim of religious extremism by virtue of being raised in it, but we NEED to hold these people to the same standards as we do Westerners coming out of religious extremism.

I'm not shocked Palestinians support Hamas -- it fucking sucks in Gaza, and has for a while. That's how terrorism gets its roots, same as the Taliban, the KKK, Al-Qaeda, etc; it preaches to a suffering population and promises it everything it wants, if only you'll hate XYZ group, if only you'll give us your children, etc. If we truly want to free Palestine -- which I do, I am a supporter of Palestinian self determination and ending anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia -- then we need to understand all this and help them decolonize and de-terrorize.

(I hope any of that made sense, I just sort of rambled)

Daww, thank you! I'm glad my pot struck a chord with you. ^_^

Yeah, believe it or not, I do have a lot of sympathy for the average Palestinian Muslim/Christian. It's just... like Atticus said of Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, my sympathy doesn't extend so far as to condone anihilating Israel and massacring all Jews.

I do believe that everyone has a right to self-determination and self-government. Gay people have a right to marry who they love, trans people have a right to dress and live as the gender they identify as, Arab Muslims have a right to worship Allah with Muhammad as his last and final Prophet, Jews have a right to self-determine and self-govern, etc.

TBH, I think there's a cruel irony that an estimated 30-60% of Palestinian Arabs share ancient Canaanite/Hebrew ancestry with modern Jews (meaning, they're also descended from ancient Jews), but since the region was forcibly conquered and converted by Islamic Caliphs in the 600's, it's fair to assume their Jewish ancestors were colonized and/or forcibly converted. (Or at least passively pressured to convert over time, since non-Muslims in Sharia Law are made to pay a poll tax and live as second-class citizens to Muslim citizens--so who wouldn't want to switch to Islam under that literal two-tiered legal system?)

Part of me thinks, "Why would you WANT to stay with Islam when your ancestors were conquered and forcibly converted (or at least passive-aggressively pressured to convert) as sure as Vietnam is largely Catholic because of their French Catholic former colonisers? BUT AGAIN, I respect their right to self-determination and their desire for self-government. If the Palestinian Muslims with ancient Hebrew blood want to stay with Islam, live in an Islamic society, and be ruled by an Islamic government, that's their right.

With that said, part of me feels like the average Palestinian Muslims (and Christians) have been duped by their Islamofascist government to see Israeli Jews not as long-lost brothers and sisters who finally returned home after centuries in exile, but as "foreign invaders" trying to take what little scraps they have. Both in the early 20th century and early 21's century.

You know that leftist meme that goes like:

"A CEO, white kid, and black kid sit at a table. The CEO's plate is piled high with 10 cookies, white the kids' are empty. He then tosses a cookie to the white kid and says, 'That black kid wants to steal your cookie.'"?

That is LITERALLY Hamas is doing to the Palestinian Arabs and Jews!

Hamas notoriously hoards as much of Gaza's food, fuel, water, resources, and wealth as they can, throw their people just enough scraps to get by, and then tells them, "Those Jews wants to steal your land, your religion, and your liberty. Help us kill the Jew, and you'll be living in Paradise." When the state of the rest of the Middle East (which have little to no Jews left in them) shows otherwise.

And I'm so disgusted by how the Left West recognizes that manipulation tactic when it comes to rich white CEO's duping poor whites into blaming black "welfare queens" and brown "illegal immigrants" for their lack of the good life, but somehow CAN'T connect the dots when Islamofascist dictators who openly hoard all their country's resources for themselves and spread oppressive violence and misogyny to the rest of the population do the exact same thing to the average impoverished Muslim regarding "Jews" and "Western invaders."

The average Muslim? Believe it or not, I DO have some sympathy. Based on what I've seen and read from various ex-Muslims, it sounds like Arab Islamic culture doesn't really encourage critical thinking, self-examination, or widespread education as the norm. MANY ex-Muslims I've met and talked to IRL, and that I follow on social media, talk about how, when they were growing up

A lot of Palestinians are also pretty upfront about how "we don't question" what they've been taught about Islam and Jews.

But, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, it's time to START questioning. It's time to START thinking about it. It's time to START making room for non-Muslims to live beside and share equal rights and resources with Muslims.

And I'm so grossed out that the Western Left encourages the religious bigotry, intolerance, and "no dogs or Jews allowed here!" segregation because "It's their culture/religion." Well then, they need to change with the times like everyone else.

[walkswithmyfather]

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭12:1‭-‬8‬ ‭(NLT)‬. “The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan, Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him. After that, Abram traveled south and set up camp in the hill country, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built another altar and dedicated it to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord.”

“Learning to Walk by Faith” by In Touch Ministries:

“Despite our faults and failures, God loves us and works through every willing heart.”

“When the Bible tells us about a great man or woman of faith, the Lord in His kindness also often shows us the person’s weakness and failings. For example, let’s look at Abraham. Like any one of us, he had faults. He sinned. He made mistakes. Still, God loved him and accomplished great things through his life.

When the Lord spoke, Abraham listened. Just imagine what promises and blessings he would have missed if he’d failed to pay attention. (See Genesis 12:1-8; Genesis 15:1-5; Genesis 17:1-4.) Abraham’s conversations with God teach us what living by faith looks like:

Listening to God. When we recognize God’s voice, we’ll have assurance about what to do and where to go.

Obeying God. Obeying God shows we really trust Him, and each time we obey Him, our faith grows stronger.

Depending on God. Human nature wants to be self-sufficient, but we desperately need God’s wisdom, strength, and help.

Waiting on God. Our willingness to patiently let God move in His own way reaps great blessings—and prevents big messes.

Acknowledging and learning from our failures. The Bible tells us that God exalts the humble (Matthew 23:12).

Which of these do you struggle with? Ask God to help you move forward, trusting Him and listening for His voice.”

[Photo by Melissa Askew at Unsplash]

[ghnosis]

songs that mean something @ IU Bloomington 2/29/24

notes from my talk at Black Metal is for Everyone. yes I know LI is not black metal. I also don't care! get off my dick :)

IF THE POISON WON’T TAKE YOU MY DOGS WILL 

Condensing everything I love about Kristin Hayter into 5 minutes. 

Quotes by Kristin Hayter herself come from 4 interviews – 1 following the release of All Bitches Die (2017), 2 following CALIGULA (2019) and a Reddit AMA after Sinner Get Ready (2020); Hayter refers to these works as a trilogy, and I’m thinking of all three while I talk about this song off CALIGULA. Hayter has since completed the Lingua Ignota project and now makes music under her given name. 

What’s important to me about Lingua Ignota/Kristen Hayter are her ideas of female ecstatic/religious speech/glossolalia (speaking in tongues) paired with what she has to say about “darkness,” trauma, and extreme music.  

Hayter describes the idea that “there is something intrinsically feminine about oracular or ecstatic experience.” My academic work has to do with ways that the marginalized interject themselves into unwelcome space, sometimes through invoking Satan or dark powers; I see female mystics in a similar vein, but on the side of lightness. 

Lingua Ignota means “unconstructed/unknown language,” an alphabet attributed to medieval mystic/composer/oracle Hildegaard von Bingen, one of Hayter’s influences. 

“Poison” is “meant to evoke the ambience of the Jonestown death tapes,” Hayter is directly quoting Jim Jones in the line “I am the best friend you’ll ever have” – this is something she does throughout her work. On Sinner Get Ready she quotes Jimmy Swaggart, a televangelical involved in some public sex scandals and defrocked. 

Aileen Wuornos was “one of the world-building motifs” of Hayter’s work. Although she is commonly referred to as one of the only female “serial killers,” Wuornos herself alleged that her actions were self-defense; the men she murdered had raped or attempted to rape her. Hayter's choice to sample Wuornos on her first album All Bitches Die was a reaction to male extreme metal musicians sampling [male] serial killers as a signpost for “evilness;” Hayter feels that this is overused in the genre to the point of banality. Further, these men are playacting in Hayter’s opinion; they aren’t actually familiar with human cruelty in a real sense. She is interested in “flipping the paradigm” of extreme music, to instead make heavy music for people “upon whom dark shit has actually been visited” - people who, like Wuornos, might have considered homicide as a survival mechanism.  

“Poison” opens with “Kyrie eleison,” literally, “Lord, have mercy.” One of the notable times this phrase appears in the Bible is in the story of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21); she asks Jesus for mercy and he is so moved by her faith that he heals her possessed daughter. The mercy of Jesus/God for the faithful and specifically female divine retribution appears throughout Hayter’s work; I had a hard time choosing between this song and “I Who Bend the Tall Grasses,” which is a song in which Hayter herself demands God kill her abuser, hissing “I’m not asking.” 

Kyrie eleison is also often the first sung prayer of the traditional Latin Catholic Mass; Hayter referred to CALIGULA as “golden Catholic bullshit” - Sinner Get Ready is more Appalachian evangelical, experimenting with Christian/Catholic faith in its varied forms. 

“Abandon your body/make worthless your body” I’m really interested in the idea of rebellion through deliberate warning symbolism or deliberate ugliness – like Britney Spears shaving her head in 2007, what we as the traumatized can do to take power back or break rules, transcending your body as a definition of yourself, making your body “worthless” to those who might use it to hurt (or define) you. 

Hayter describes going “from situations where I was being totally controlled to total autonomy, and it seems crazy but thinking about stuff like — what colors do I like? What clothes can I wear? Has been pretty huge for me." - ideas of self-reclamation, making one’s body worthless to anyone but the person inhabiting it. 

[wecanbeperfect]

A CANAANITE WOMAN'S FAITH

Matthew 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

7th August >> Mass Readings (USA)

Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

or

Pope Saint Sixtus II and his Companions, Martyrs 

or

Saint Cajetan, Priest.

Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading Jeremiah 31:1-7 With age-old love I have loved you.

At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel, and they shall be my people.Thus says the LORD:

The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the LORD appears to him from afar: With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,O virgin Israel;

Carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits. Yes, a day will come when the watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim: “Rise up, let us go to Zion, to the LORD, our God.”For thus says the LORD:

Shout with joy for Jacob, exult at the head of the nations; proclaim your praise and say: The LORD has delivered his people, the remnant of Israel.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12ab, 13

R/ The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, proclaim it on distant isles, and say: He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

R/ The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob, he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror. Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion, they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings.

R/ The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance, and young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

R/ The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Gospel Acclamation Luke 7:16

Alleluia, alleluia. A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 15: 21-28 O woman, great is your faith!

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

----------------------------

Pope Saint Sixtus II and his Companions, Martyrs 

(Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading Wisdom 3:1-9 As sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with his elect.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the torrents in the southern desert. Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Gospel Acclamation James 1:12

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation, for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 10:28-33 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body.

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

-----------------------------

Saint Cajetan, Priest 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading Sirach 2:7-11 You who fear the Lord, believe in him, hope in him, love him.

You who fear the LORD, wait for his mercy, turn not away lest you fall. You who fear the LORD, trust him, and your reward will not be lost. You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy. You who fear the Lord, love him and your hearts will be enlightened. Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his commandments and been forsaken? Has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed? Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 112:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Blessed the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commands. His posterity shall be mighty upon the earth; the upright generation shall be blessed.

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Wealth and riches shall be in his house; his generosity shall endure forever. Light shines through the darkness for the upright; he is gracious and merciful and just.

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Well for the man who is gracious and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice; He shall never be moved; the just one shall be in everlasting remembrance.

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

An evil report he shall not fear. His heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steadfast; he shall not fear till he looks down upon his foes.

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Lavishly he gives to the poor, his generosity shall endure forever; his horn shall be exalted in glory.

R/ Blessed the man who fears the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 12:32-34 Your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[essence-of-femininity]

Jesus said to the Canaanite woman: Woman, you have great faith! May your wish be granted. (Matthew 15:21-28)

One day almost nine centuries before Christ, in the middle of a famine, a woman from the village of Zarephath saw Elijah, the man of God, come into her house. All the food that remained was a little flour and oil. To make him welcome, the widow did not hesitate to make three cakes with what she had left. And the unexpected happened…the flour and the oil would not run out. (2)

Isn’t this a parable for our lives? With almost nothing, with very little, we can live something beyond all our hopes, something that will never come to an end.

2. 1 Kings 17:7–16

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

7th August >> Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 15:21-28): ‘Woman, you have great faith’.

Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Matthew 15:21-28 The Canaanite woman debates with Jesus and saves her daughter.

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.

Gospel (USA) Matthew 15: 21-28 O woman, great is your faith!

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Reflections (9)

(i) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two cities mentioned at the beginning of today’s gospel reading, Tyre and Sidon, are still know to us today as cities on the coast of modern-day Lebanon, a much troubled country at present. Jesus was in the region of Tyre and Sidon, with his disciples, beyond his usual area of ministry, in a district mostly inhabited by pagans. He had probably withdrawn there in the face of recent hostility from the Jewish authorities. It seems that Jesus’ reputation as a healer had spread to these parts, because he is approached by a local woman, a pagan. She pleads with Jesus on behalf of her seriously disturbed daughter. She identifies so fully with her daughter’s plight that her prayer to Jesus is ‘Take pity on me… help me’. Jesus’ response to her desperate pleas for help is very untypical of him. His first response is one of silence. His second response is to state that for the present his mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. His third response is in the form of a mini parable, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’, the children being the children of Israel. With great wit and persevering faith in Jesus, the woman turns his little parable to her advantage, ‘even the house dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table’. The untidy eating habits of children allow the house dogs to eat alongside the children. Jesus has to acknowledge that God is speaking to him through this woman’s persistent faith in him and her passionate love for her daughter. He grants the request of this pagan woman, even though his own people were his present, primary, focus. The gospel reading reminds us that God can speak powerfully to us through the most unexpected of people, including through people whose faith is different to ours. God’s purpose for our lives and the lives of others is always so much greater and broader, than our plans and mindsets. Our sometimes narrow outlook is always in need of stretching so that it reflects more fully something of God’s outlook which embraces all humanity.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning puts before us a pagan woman of tenacious faith. The initial response of Jesus to her desperate cry for help was one of silence. When the woman persisted with her request and Jesus addresses her directly for the first time, he seems to dismiss her request in a rather harsh fashion. Just as the woman was not put off by Jesus’ silence, she is not put off by his seemingly harsh refusal. She takes Jesus’ image of feeding the children rather than the house-dogs, the people of Israel rather than the pagans, and turns it to her own advantage. Eventually Jesus acknowledges her persistent and humble faith and grants her request. The gospel reading suggests that as far as Jesus was concerned the time had not yet come to bring the gospel to pagans; it would come later, after his death and resurrection. Yet, this woman succeeded in bringing forward that timetable by her persistent faith in the face of the Lord’s great reluctance. Jesus spoke at one point of a faith that can move mountains. This woman’s faith certainly moved Jesus. This pagan woman encourages all of us to remain faithful, even when the grounds for faithfulness seem to be very weak. She inspires us to keep seeking the Lord, even when the Lord appears to be silent and distant.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The meeting between Jesus and the pagan woman in today’s gospel reading is unusual in that Jesus seems to be much colder towards her than is usually the case in his dealings with people who approach him for help. He seems to go out of his way to avoid responding to her plea, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’; ‘it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’, where the ‘children’ are the people of Israel and the ‘house dogs’ are the pagans. It seems that Jesus is not ready to engage with pagans; his focus for the moment is his own people. Yet, the woman will not take ‘no’ for an answer. She persists, in the face of Jesus’ stone walling and even identifies with the house dogs who eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table. She shows wit as well as faith. Eventually, she breaks down Jesus’ resistance and Jesus has to acknowledge her great faith and so grants he request. When people are desperate, as she was, they are not easily deflected. This woman encourages us all to keep seeking the Lord, even when he seems unresponsive and distant. The Lord’s seeming unresponsiveness can be an opportunity for us to keep giving expression to our faith, just as it was for the woman in today’s gospel reading.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The unnamed pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. It is not easy for us as readers of the gospels today to appreciate the barrier between Jews and pagans in the time of Jesus. Jesus himself shows an awareness of that barrier when he says to the pagan woman who approaches him for healing for her daughter, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’. In Matthew’s gospel it is only after the resurrection that Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations, Jews and pagans. Up until then, the focus of Jesus would be the renewal of Israel. However, this pagan woman is not prepared to wait. In spite of Jesus’ great reluctance to respond to her request, her persistent faith in Jesus and her great wit finally brings crashing down the barrier between Jesus a Jew and herself a pagan. A woman of outstanding faith brings forward Jesus’ timetable for proclaiming the gospel to the pagans. The woman stands in for all of us; she is a wonderful example for all of us of persistent faith. She kept on believing, even in the face of the Lord’s silence and resistance. As a result, her faith created a space for the Lord to work in a powerful and unexpected way. She teaches us that the Lord needs our persistent faith if God’s purpose for our lives and for humanity is to come to pass.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading strikes many of us as surprising. Jesus’ attitude towards the pagan woman seems harsh and unfeeling. When she approaches him to heal her sick daughter, she is first met with stony silence. When she continues to shout after Jesus and his disciples, Jesus informs her that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When she comes closer to Jesus and kneels at his feet pleading in great simplicity, ‘Help me’, Jesus responded with what sounds to our ears like a harsh parable, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and through it to the house-dogs’. The ‘children’ here are the children of Israel, the ‘house-dogs’ are the pagans. Yet this woman won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She takes Jesus’ parable and with great wit turns it to her advantage, declaring that even house-dogs often get to eat the scraps that fall from the children’s plates at table. In that way, the children and the house dogs eat at the same time. The gospel reading suggests that Jesus was not ready to begin his ministry to the pagans; that would come later. His work of renewing Israel came first. Yet this woman’s love for her daughter would change Jesus’ timetable. He could not remain unmoved by her great faith. Her daughter would be healed. The woman encourages us to keep on seeking, to keep on knocking, to keep on asking, even when the Lord seems silent and unresponsive. Jesus once spoke of a faith that moves mountains. Her faith moved Jesus; it was a faith that created an unexpected space for Jesus to work in a life-giving way. That is the kind faith that is needed more than ever today, from all of us.

And/Or

(vi) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. She displays a mother’s identification with her child. Although it is her daughter who is in need, her prayer to Jesus is ‘take pity on me... help me’. Her daughter’s distress is her distress; her daughter’s need is her need. Twice she appeared to be rebuffed by Jesus. On the first occasion, he responded to her plea with silence. On the second occasion, Jesus declared to her that his mission was to the people of Israel, that the food intended for God’s children cannot be thrown to the house-dogs, the pagans. Yet, this desperate woman sees an opening in that image of children and house-dogs that Jesus uses. She declares that the children and the house dogs can eat together as happens when the house dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the ground from what the children are eating. This witty and ingenious interpretation of Jesus’ image finally brings Jesus to grant her request, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your request be granted’. Jesus may have wanted to limit his mission to the people of Israel during his earthly ministry, but this pagan woman could not wait and in the end Jesus could not but grant her request. She displays the kind of faith that moves mountains; her faith certainly moved Jesus. She shows us what persevering faith against all the odds looks like. Here is a faith that endured in the face of silence and resistance from the Lord. It is perhaps the purest form of faith imaginable. It is the kind of faith that endures the dark night of the soul and waits patiently for the dawn.

And/Or

(vii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Many of us find that gospel story just a little disturbing. Jesus’ way of responding to the pagan woman seems so out of character. This mother’s desperate pleas for her sick daughter initially meets with silence from Jesus, ‘he answered her not a word’. As we know from our experience silence from others can be as difficult to deal with as anything they might say. Indeed, sometimes silence can be harder to deal than even difficult words. The woman, however, was determined to break through Jesus’ silence; she continued to shout after Jesus and his disciples. When Jesus finally did break his silence, it would not have given this mother much hope, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’. The gospel of Matthew in particular, from which our reading is taken, portrays Jesus’ ministry as addressed primarily to his own people. The people of Israel needed to experience the gospel first; Israel needed renewing, and it would be a renewed Israel who would bring the gospel to the pagans. It is only in the last verses of Matthew’s gospel that the risen Lord finally sends his disciples, the core of a renewed Israel, to preach the gospel to all the nations. The implication was that this distraught mother would have to wait a little longer. But, she wasn’t prepared to wait. In response to her dogged persistence, Jesus speaks a mini parable which sounds harsh to our ears today. Just as children have priority over house dogs when it comes to food, the people of Israel have priority over pagans when it comes to Jesus’ ministry, at least for the moment. The woman’s witty response to Jesus’ mini parable shows that she recognizes the priority that the people of Israel have in Jesus’ ministry, but she suggests that pagans like herself can at least have some of their scraps. Jesus must have felt he had met his match, because he immediately granted her request. There is something about this woman that we find very appealing. We like her gutsy faith that won’t take no for an answer, not even from Jesus. We probably that kind of stubborn faith in these times, a faith that does not give up even when the Lord seems silent and unresponsive.

And/Or

(viii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes in the story of the gospels, it is not the disciples chosen by the Lord who display great faith but the minor characters, those who appear once in the gospel story and then are never heard of again. It is these minor characters, rather than the leading ones, who are often the most attractive and inspiring. We have an example of one such minor gospel character in today’s gospel reading. We never hear of this pagan woman again, outside of this story, and, yet, she displays a depth and strength of faith in Jesus, persuading him to do something he was initially very reluctant to do. At this point in his ministry, Jesus’ focus was the people of Israel. He wanted to proclaim the gospel in word and deed to his own people first, so that a renewed Israel could then bring the gospel to the pagans. This is what Jesus means by his very short parable that seems harsh to our ears, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs’. The children, the people of Israel, have to be fed first. However, this persistent woman was not prepared to go along with Jesus’ timetable. Her daughter was desperately ill, and she couldn’t wait. Jesus came to recognize that her need was more important than his timetable, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wise be granted’. This woman displayed a determined, passionate, unflinching faith, in the Lord’s healing power, even in the face of his initial refusal to respond to her. We need something of her faith today. We need a quality of faith that keeps us engaged with the Lord, even when the Lord seems unresponsive. In reality, the Lord always responds to us when we engage with him, even if it is in ways we don’t fully understand at the time.

And/Or

(ix) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is no stronger bond than that between a mother and her child. In today’s gospel reading, a pagan woman approaches Jesus on behalf of her seriously ill child. It is striking that she says to Jesus, ‘take pity on me’ and ‘help me’, rather than ‘take pity on my child’ and ‘help my child’. She identifies fully with her child’s condition. The suffering of her child is her own suffering. In the gospels, Jesus is generally very well disposed to children and he always responds to parents who approach him on behalf of their children, such as Jairus, the synagogue official, whose daughter was on the point of death. Yet, on this occasion, Jesus seems detached from this pleading mother. His initial response is one of silence. He explains to his disciples that, for now, his primary mission is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, rather than to the equally lost pagans. When he finally speaks to the woman, his words seem harsh. In a mini parable, he declares that children cannot be deprived of food to feed the house dogs. In other words, the children of Israel have to be fed first, before pagans whom many Jews referred to as ‘dogs’. The woman cleverly turns Jesus’ image around, declaring that the untidy eating habits of children often allow the dogs to feed off their scraps and crumbs. She identifies with the house dogs and declares that she would be happy with scraps from Jesus’ table for the sake of her daughter. Jesus recognizes what he calls her ‘great faith’. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus often addresses his own disciples as people of little faith, but here is a woman of great faith. Jesus cannot but respond to such great faith. This woman inspires us all to keep knocking on the Lord’s door, to keep seeking, to keep asking. This is how great faith expresses itself and the Lord will eventually work powerfully through the opening which such great faith creates.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[angedemystere]

The chosen is the only version of the life of Jesus adaption to feature Greeks, Nabataeans and Syrophoenicians, which were other people groups that were living in the 1st century AD in the Near East. If you look at most life of Jesus films the other people groups, excluding the Jews, that are featured are obviously the Romans and maybe the samaritans. The samaritans are in the chosen as well.

Honestly this show is teaching me some history stuff I had no idea about. It's awesome! It's getting me to dip my toes into further research on the cultural landscape of the Levant in the 1st century.

What's especially interesting about both the show and the gospels is that Jesus is trying to focus most of his ministry towards the Jews, at least in the beginning, since the Messianic prophesies are from Jewish prophets and center the Jews and their role as God's chosen people. However, there's no avoiding the crossover into Gentile interactions, despite these other groups coming from different ideological backgrounds from the Jews or Samaritans. We see it with the Greco-Syrophoenician woman (as she's called in Mark's gospel; she's referred to as a Canaanite in Matthew's gospel) who asked Jesus to help her demon-possessed daughter. Despite Jesus challenging her to "first let the children have their fill," referring to the Jewish people, she persisted by saying, "Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." He honored her faith in the face of the priority He was giving to the Jews and did as she asked.

As of season 3, The Chosen hasn't portrayed this incident, but this theme that faith rather than the right lineage brings God's salvation is already present. Just watch the scene in Nazareth where Jesus cites Elijah and Elisha each helping a Gentile because of the desperate faith the Gentiles portrayed. Exploring these rich cultural interactions during that time helps us better appreciate both the pressure Jewish people faced to uphold their unique identity and the reality that Jesus's ministry, while prioritizing the Jews, also affected and even included Gentiles of many ethnic backgrounds. I can't wait to see more.

[portraitsofsaints]

Saint Deborah the Prophetess

2654-2694 BC

Feast day: November 1

 St. Deborah was the Fourth Judge of the Israelites. Living in Ephraim, she was faithful and true, a prophetic voice of God during dark, sinful times.  God spoke to Deborah to instruct Barak, the Israelites commander, to lead his army into battle against the Canaanites and their cruel general, Sisera. Barak refused to go into battle unless Deborah would go with him. She agreed but told him the glory of victory would be a women’s. God was with the Israelites and scattered Sisera’s army. Sisera fled to the tent of a woman named Jael, who killed him with a tent stake while he slept. Deborah herself glorified Jael in her famous “Song of Deborah”.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Rebekah is Chosen

As soon as he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and heard Rebekah’s words, “The man said this to me,” he went and found the man standing by the camels near the spring.

“Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” said Laban. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” So the man came to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and feed were brought to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of his companions.

Then a meal was set before the man, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I came to say.”

So Laban said, “Please speak.”

“I am Abraham’s servant,” he replied. “The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.

My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell, but you shall go to my father’s house and to my kindred to take a wife for my son.’

Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

And he told me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send His angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you may take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father’s house. And when you go to my kindred, if they refuse to give her to you, then you will be released from my oath.’

So when I came to the spring today, I prayed: O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if only You would make my journey a success! Here I am, standing beside this spring. Now if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, ‘Please let me drink a little water from your jar,’ and she replies, ‘Drink, and I will draw water for your camels as well,’ may she be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.

And before I had finished praying in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels as well.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. Then I bowed down and worshiped the LORD; and I blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right road to take the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.

Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; but if not, let me know, so that I may go elsewhere.”

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we have no choice in the matter. Rebekah is here before you. Take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, just as the LORD has decreed.”

When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD. Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother. Then he and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night there.

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

But her brother and mother said, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so. After that, she may go.”

But he replied, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey a success. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master.”

So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.”

They called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she replied.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands upon thousands. May your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”

Then Rebekah and her servant girls got ready, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.

Now Isaac had just returned from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev. Early in the evening, Isaac went out to the field to meditate, and looking up, he saw the camels approaching.

And when Rebekah looked up and saw Isaac, she got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

“It is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself. Then the servant told Isaac all that he had done.

And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah as his wife. And Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death. — Genesis 24:30-67 | The Reader’s Bible (BRB) The Reader’s Bible © 2020 by Bible Hub and Berean Bible. All rights Reserved. Cross References: Genesis 5:22; Genesis 12:9; Genesis 17:16; Genesis 18:2,3 and 4; Genesis 21:1; Genesis 23:1-2; Genesis 30:25; Genesis 31:24; Genesis 35:8; Genesis 38:14; Genesis 47:29; Exodus 3:22; Joshua 1:8; Joshua 2:14; Judges 5:30; Judges 19:4; Judges 19:21; 1 Samuel 1:13; 1 Samuel 1:28; 1 Samuel 9:6; Psalm 32:8; Psalm 48:14; Proverbs 11:22; Isaiah 3:21; Ezekiel 23:42; Mark 12:11; Luke 12:45

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A Blessing for Rebekah