On Sunday we are opening up a passage of Scripture that most people have never heard a sermon on. The reason is…well how do you put this nicely…but Jesus seems either like a jerk or a racist or both.

Either way, most evangelical pastors avoid it, because they aren’t sure what to do with it. Liberal Christians see it as an example of the humanity of Jesus, and how he is “convicted and converted to being world-centric”.

But I think buried in this story is something so revolutionary, so incendiary, so transformative that it’s something that everyone needs to experience. Because this story will bring up the depths within us that we, as nice Canadians, keep buried. It’ll bring up the stuff that the Holy Spirit wants to change within us. And as I’ve prepared I’ve felt the Holy Spirit do that within me.

So that’s my prayer for Sunday – that the Holy Spirit might change all of us. But to begin why not read the passage and ask God to begin the process of changing you because we all need that:

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment. Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Mathew 15:21-28