Storyteller (narrator):
Today’s New Testament reading is a story of Jesus being moved from judgment to mercy. We are reading from Matthew chapter 15, beginning with verse 21. Mathew writes:
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region, came out and started shouting:
Canaanite woman: Have mercy on me, Beloved One, Son of David. My daughter is tormented by a demon!
Storyteller: But Jesus did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying:
Disciple: Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.
Jesus: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Storyteller: But the woman came and knelt before Jesus, saying:
Canaanite woman: Beloved One, help me!
Jesus: [rough tone] It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
Canaanite woman: Yes, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
Jesus: Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.
Storyteller: And her daughter was healed instantly!
[pause] Here ends the reading. May God bless our hearing with understanding.
