NOVELIST DARLENE FRANKLIN WRITING FROM A NURSING HOME: MY CANDY VALENTINE

JUST AS I AM

She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table. Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well. . . After Jesus returned, he walked along Lake Galilee and then climbed a mountain and took his place, ready to receive visitors. They came, tons of them, bringing along the paraplegic, the blind, the maimed, the mute—all sorts of people in need—and more or less threw them down at Jesus’ feet to see what he would do with them. He healed them.

Matthew 15:27-30

Writers walk a tightrope between making their heroes human, with flaws, without making them unlikeable.

Few writers would make their hero act the way Jesus did in this scene. Why did the God who repeatedly reached out to people not of Jewish descent brush the Syro-Phoenician woman off? I won’t attempt to answer that question in this meditation.

What I will point out is the woman’s persistent faith. She exhibited the same kind of faith as the woman who knew she would be healed if only she touched the hem of Jesus’ garment (See Matthew 9.) A single crumb would provide all her daughter needed.

Compare her request to that of the Galileans. They brought people with all sorts of diseases and physical maladies, paraplegic, blind, mute, missing arms or legs—whatever the problem was, they “threw” the needy person at Jesus’ feet. “Perform Your magic trick, Jesus. Show us what You’ll do this time.”

The woman was brokenhearted for her daughter. She had no doubt Jesus could heal. She only feared He might say no. In the end, He did say yes—and  she went home, rejoicing.

The wording suggests the Galileans had no real concern for the ones who were ill. They tested Jesus. Their faith lasted only as long as the latest miracle. They sound like the crowd who saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead (John 11) and called for His death less than a week later.

In spite of their attitude, Jesus healed the sick. For one shining moment, the people knew God was alive among them.

Whether God seems to be saying no, or whether He is showering abundant blessings on our path, He is the same God—alive, at work, to bring the very best to His children.

(Devotional taken from A Reader’s Journey through Matthew by Darlene Franklin)

Book summary:  

A Reader’s Journey through Matthew http://www.amazon.com/Readers-Journey-through-Matthew-ebook/dp/B00T8OJ0F0/

A Reader's Journey through Matthew is written by and for avid readers and writers of literature. This seven-week devotional is perfect for a Lenten study or any time of year.

My Candy Valentine http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Valentine-Holidays-Heart-Book-ebook/dp/B00SI2214K/

Gilbert Williams sweeps Catrina Jensen off her feet when he arrives in Loveland, Oklahoma, shortly after New Year’s Day 1916. When the reason for his interest in her delicious candies is revealed, her affection turns to fear. Is her hero a traitor in disguise?

Author bio: Darlene Franklin’s greatest claim to fame is that she writes full-time from a nursing home. She lives in Oklahoma, near her son and his family, and continues her interests in playing the piano and singing, books, good fellowship, and reality TV in addition to writing. She has written over thirty books and has written more than 250 devotionals. You can find Darlene online elsewhere at https://www.facebook.com/Poet.Darlene.Franklin.