Eyes on the Prize…

“… a Canaanite woman…came and called out, ‘Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.’. But he did not say a word in answer to her.  His disciples came and asked him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.’. He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’. But the woman came and did him homage, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’. He said in reply, ‘It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.’. She said, ‘Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.’. Then Jesus said to her…’O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish.’. And her daughter was healed from that hour.”. Matthew 15:21-28, NAB).

This passage was the Gospel Mass reading recently.  It presents a bit of a challenge: Jesus seems to be 1) rude and 2) insulting.  So what’s happening here?

First of all, a Greek scholar explained to me that the word Jesus uses here which is translated as “dog” does in fact mean a dog, but not a dirty stray mongrel, but rather a small pet dog, sort of a lap dog.  Maybe so; but it still sounds a little insulting.  And what’s with Jesus ignoring her?  We don’t otherwise see him doing that with those in dire straits who approach him asking for his help. 

This woman is a pagan woman, not an Israelite, nor even a “righteous Gentile” as far as we know.  She’s a desperate mother who has heard about this miracle-working Jesus and in her intense need, she’s willing to put up with whatever she has to in order to get what she’s after: the healing of her daughter. 

She cries out to him, calling Jesus “Lord” and identifies him as “the Son of David”.  Pagan though she might be, she nonetheless recognizes him as the Messiah of Israel, the One who ought to be on the throne instead of the false “king” Herod.  He is the One to whom she bows and “does homage”, or worship.  What a contrast to so many others who dismissed him and failed to recognize who he truly was!

This woman is so motivated that she ignores the silence of Jesus, the dismissiveness of the disciples, and even the testing of the strange words of Jesus. Her love for her daughter makes her courageous and her faith makes her “doggedly” (!) persistent. 

In contrast, how easy it is for us to become distracted and discouraged in our prayer!  Our goal must always be to be entirely humble, “poor in spirit”, as this woman surely was; to pour out our hearts to Jesus as she did; to persevere despite internal and external distractions and detractions; to persist in the face of discouragement, even in the face of the “silence of heaven”; and to humbly receive his answer, in his time and his way.

He knows our needs before we speak of  them, yet he waits for us to seek him wholeheartedly, to push past our own and others’ scepticism, and to persist despite our tendency to spiritual laziness.  Sometimes he delays his response as Jesus did.  Why?  Perhaps to increase our desire, to stretch our faith, to prepare our hearts to receive the answer he is so longing to give. 

This woman received the accolades of the Son of God because of her humility, her “dogged” faith, and her persistence.  Like her, we need to “keep our eyes on the Prize”, awaiting not just the answer to our requests, but his very best gift: the gift of his very own Spirit (Luke 11:13).