A Gospel Selfie
Crumbs From Our Master's Table Primer Series - Pt.1
With the invention of the smartphone and social media, the “selfie” has become a social phenomenon. You’ve probably even snapped a few of your own. And if you’re a pro, you might have a “selfie” stick.
So, what’s up with this “selfie” phenomenon, anyway? According to Dr Mariann Hardey, a lecturer in marketing at Durham University, it’s all about the obsession we have with “presenting [ourselves] in the best way…”
This shouldn’t surprise us. Presenting ourselves in the best light possible is innate to the human condition. It’s one of the reasons we lie. It’s why there are such things as Botox, face lifts, and breast augmentations. It is why photographers touch-up wedding photos and school pictures. It’s why we practice or memorize scripts before speaking in front of an audience. It’s why we take that one last look in the mirror before opening the door for our guests.
We give a lot of attention to how we present ourselves to the world around us, often with very little thought to the fact that it is such a natural part of our social behavior. Of course, in many cases such preparation is normal and expected. We are expected to prepare for the big job interview. It is appropriate to dress up nice to go on a date. It’s responsible to put our best foot forward when we present a business plan to a group of investors. These are just a few examples where it serves the greater good to present our best selves.
However, there are other occasions where it would be considered inappropriate and vain to present ourselves in the best way, if by “best way” we mean our most aesthetically pleasing self. For example, it would be appalling to see emergency personnel checking their hair in the mirror before performing CPR when someone’s life is hanging in the balance. It would be vain for someone to wear designer clothes to a job that required coveralls or protective gear. It would be dangerous for a soldier to be concerned with the polish on his boots in the middle combat with bullets flying over his head. In these later cases, presenting ourselves in the best way would mean presenting our best gifts and abilities to the situation at hand, and not worrying how well we aligned ourselves to popular social aesthetic conventions.
More importantly, there is a condition in which “presenting ourselves in the best way” would be eternally damning. God knows the true and particular condition of each and every person’s soul, and yet there are those who would attempt to present themselves to God in the best way possible. The author of the Proverbs reminds us “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: But a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6).
It is one thing to present ourselves as good, faithful, steadfast, and loving, but like so many social media profiles, people are usually a lot better in presentation than they are in person. It seems natural to us to minimize our vices and exalt our virtues, but that’s the problem. A natural man looks in the spiritual mirror, sees his flaws, and hurries past them, quickly forgetting what he really looks like (James 1:23-24).
But it’s not true of everyone. When a Canaanite woman came out to meet Jesus as he made his way through the district of Tyre and Sidon, the idea of “presenting herself in the best way” completely escaped her. Had she been living in modernity, one might imagine her with a smartphone trying get a selfie with Jesus so she could put it up on her feed. No doubt, uploading a picture with Jesus would have got her a lot of “likes.” Who knows, her selfie may have gone viral and A&E would have hooked her up with her own reality TV show. (They could call it, Jesus Feeds the Dogs.)
Instead, this Gentile woman took an approach different than the “natural man.” She debased herself in the most humiliating way—by agreeing with Jesus and identifying as a dog. Matthew records the account in his gospel:
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15:21–28, ESV)
The dogs of Jesus’ day typically were not the cute house-hold pets we think of, with vaccinations, grooming, and special doggy treats. Dogs were most often mangy scavengers fit for the garbage dumbs, and destined to die in the streets. That’s why the Jews used the term dog as a pejorative idiom to describe the Gentiles who were the pagan enemies of God. Like the four-legged scavengers of the streets and dumps, the Gentiles were appallingly unclean (Ezra 9:1-3).
By his response, Jesus created a picture of a family sitting at the table for a meal and enjoying the blessings of God. These were the Israelites. Then he explained that it would be inappropriate to give the children’s food to the dogs, the Canaanite woman and her daughter.