Do you ever feel like you’ve got a target on your back? You’ve been hit – you’re out of the game. You take a deep breath, have a “good talkin'” with yourself, and the next morning, you wake up feeling great again. It’s a new day and to quote Fred Rogers, “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood!” Then, when you least expect it, you get hit again. “Hey now – You’ve been there, done that, and got the T-shirt,” but evidently a small piece of the target was still on your back and you didn’t know it. This time the “shot” came totally unexpected because you weren’t playing anymore, but it happened nevertheless.
It’s so hard when people hear “one side of the story,” and that’s all. They think they know. . . but do they? Paul Harvey was a celebrated American Newscaster who was noted for his individual perspective on current events. He is famous for a special broadcast that was aired from May, 1976 until his death in February, 2009. It always started with, “You know what the news is, in a minute you’re going to hear the REST of the STORY.” Each story had an unusual twist and was “verified” to be true. No matter how long we thought something was so – didn’t make it so. There are usually things that we never bothered to learn that can make a difference on how we think and feel about something.
When Jesus was preaching in Tyre and Sidon, a Canaanite woman cried unto Him about her daughter who was vexed with a demon. The disciples told Him to just send her away because she was crying after them. Jesus finally turned and spoke to her, saying, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) But she persisted, and “came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered and said, ‘It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:25-26) Now, this woman could have taken it personally that Jesus had basically cast her in the same category as dogs. “But she said, “Truth, Lord: yet, the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” (Matthew 15:27) Yes, there was another side of the story – while Jesus was there to “feed the children of Israel,” that was okay with her. She didn’t ask to eat from the table. She was willing to take the crumbs. Jesus then 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.” (Matthew 15:28) This is one of the few compliments Jesus bestowed while He was here on this earth.
Jesus’ disciples were judging from what they knew. This woman was a foreigner, a pest who wouldn’t leave them alone, and a beggar, who evidently had a very low self-esteem, but Jesus had her back and saw the great faith that she had in Him and the belief that he could heal her daughter. Can you imagine the rejoicing in the woman’s household that night after her daughter was made whole? Sometimes, we can’t take things too personally. We have to look for the good that might come as a result of getting “shot in the back.” And that my Friends, is the REST of the STORY! Simply blessed, Courtney