We are living in a day and age of people who are being offended by any, and just about everything. Perhaps being so easily offended is on account of so many of us living 'easy lives'. When you are desperate for answers, hungry for truth or just plain hungry, you don't really have time to waste on taking offense over every slight, shrug, snarky comment or sneer. When life is important, what others do or don't do is less offensive. Simply put, when life is hard, we need God, and have little time for nonsense.
Case in point is a Canaanite woman, which Matthew tells us about in Matthew 15:21-28. Jesus and His disciples were in the region of Tyre and Sidon (a mixed culture of Jews and non Jews), when a Canaanite woman (non Jew) started crying out to Jesus to heal her daughter who was demon-possessed and suffering terribly. At first, Jesus ignored her, which she could have taken as an offensive action by Jesus. How many of us would be offended if someone we were asking for help just acted like we didn't exist? The disciples were clearly uncomfortable by the woman's annoying cries. Or, were they uncomfortable with Jesus for not responding? Either way, the disciples, according to Matthew, urged Jesus to address the situation and send her away so they could have some peace and quiet. Basically, Jesus told them, and within earshot of her, that He was sent to the Jews, and not to the Gentiles.
Finally, getting Jesus' attention, the Canaanite woman knelt before Jesus (in spite of Him previously ignoring her and then telling her and His disciples He would not help her) and said, 'Lord, help me!' Now if you think Jesus was possibly offensive by ignoring her earlier, hold on to your seats. Jesus takes a 'possible' offense to a whole new level. He said to her, 'It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs.' Let me be clear about something, Jesus was not calling her a dog, nor was He ignoring her because He did not like her. Jesus was on a clear and precise mission - He was sent to the children of Abraham. Yet, her faith and refusal to take offense by Jesus' actions proved to be a turning point for her life and most importantly, her daughter's situation.
The Canaanite woman's faith was seen in her actions of kneeling before Jesus and calling Him 'Lord'. But what really turned Jesus' head was when she responded to the comments about the children's food being tossed to the dogs. She said, 'Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.'
When we are desperate enough for help or an answer, we do not have time to be offended. For all this woman cared, Jesus could have called her any number of things or implied any amount of insults. All that mattered was her daughter being delivered - and she was.
Solomon wrote in Proverbs 19:11, "A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense." Sometimes we take an offense that just wasn't there. I know I have. We also allow offenses to cost us dearly, like with our: families; friends; finances and favor.
In these heated days leading up to the election, the possibility of being offended will greatly increase. But as for me, 'Gone are the days of my taking offense.' Offensive things may happen, but I refuse to take them up and carry them. I simply refuse to be offended.
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