Who let the dogs out?

Jesus said to the Pharisees, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. ( Luke 16:19-21)

Every lent this reading comes to the forefront, a dire warning against the apathy of wealth that can lead us away from recognizing the face of need. This reading is a cornerstone for the practice of fasting. I know what you might be saying, “Fasting? Don’t you mean tithing?” No, today the Lord shows me that in fasting, in going without and experiencing a temporary poverty, we can better see the poverty of others. Jesus showed me this by highlighting the words, “Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” This single line spoke volumes to me this morning. The apathy of the rich man takes on a new depth. Jesus doesn’t add extra detail to His parables to gross us out, but to fill us in. Those dogs were present because Jesus would have seen how dogs tend to congregate around the houses of wealthy. Dogs knew where there was plenty and where the table scraps were plentiful. Those dogs received from the rich man more Lazarus at his feet. If we rush past the gross, we miss another poignant truth that Jesus weaves into His narrative. The vast majority of times that we hear about sores in the bible our minds go to leprosy, at least mine does. Lazarus’ sores are not the sores of leprosy though; he would never have been allowed near the rich man’s house. The sores Lazarus suffered were most likely a side effect of his starvation. As he slowly starved and wasted away, he became too weak to move, and with his fat padding long gone, Lazarus would have developed pressure ulcers. Sadly in my years as a Physical Therapist I have seen more of this than I would have liked, not on the doorstep of the rich but in the nursing home beds of the unwanted. Jesus weaves the dogs in not only to show us the rich man’s great apathy, but also to show that those dogs demonstrated more mercy than man. Those dogs were not apathetic. They too have gone without and been desperate and Jesus has the dogs give Lazarus what they can, comfort to his wounded body by licking his wounds clean. I imagine this Gospel spoke often to the heart of St. Mother Theresa. Jesus wasn’t done with me yet. There is one other Gospel story that references dogs that I know of and if I have learned one thing, the Bible does not contain coincidences of word choice. The Word made Flesh, chooses words wisely.

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. (Mt 15:21-28)

I never fully understood how this mother’s words could stir Jesus to say she has great faith. I recognized her perseverance and her wit, but always wondered what it was about “even the dogs eat the crumbs” that moved Jesus. Today I was given a possible answer to my question. Luke tells us that Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees in His parable about Lazarus, and to be sure there is much that we know the Pharisees could stand to learn from this parable. What if Jesus was speaking not only to the Pharisees but to the heart of a mother? Think about it. This mother threw Jesus’ words back at him. What if her faith was not in her perseverance or wit, but in her witness? What if she heard Jesus’ parable either directly or through word of mouth and it pierced her heart and gave her the faith and courage to step outside social norms? How beautiful! Jesus, Word made flesh, in that moment sought to effect a change of heart in the Pharisees, yet it may very well have been the heart of an outsider that His word came to rest, root, and yield its harvest.

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

We are two weeks into Lent, a time where many a heart and willpower begins to weary. It is easy to tell ourselves that God does not want us to suffer, that fasting is really not “needed.” Hold strong my faithful companion! The challenges that we face in the poverty of our “no” to self build us up to say “yes” to other.