9 February 2017 - no reservations

[ Today's Readings ]

He said to her, "Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
What sort of faith pursues the goal even when it hits an obstacle like this? She already falls at his feet. She already makes herself vulnerable. And then it appears she is rebuffed. She is rebuffed harshly in a way that might make her doubt that Jesus cares for her. Sure, he cares for others.  Sure he has healed others. But not her, she would have every right to think. Yet she persists. And this is the response that Jesus wants, the response he is trying to draw out of her.

Her name is not truly an animal's name, not even the name of a puppy. She has the dignity of one created in God's own image and likeness. Although the blessings of the covenant are promised first to the Jews she must realize on some level that if Jesus truly is Lord he must intend the feast eventually and in some measure for all created with human dignity. She persists.

She replied and said to him,
"Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter."

She humbles herself further. She does not claim entitlement to healing because of her equality with anyone. Rather she claims it only out of a sense of the mercy of the one who is Lord. She trusts that the impulse that created man and woman in the image of God wants to restore them. Because of this she is permitted one of the earliest tastes of the banquet, long before all of the children eat. In a way she tastes the bread of heaven because she has the faith to persist.

When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

May we have such faith to persist and to be humble. May we seek the LORD without comparisons to others or thought to what we deserve but yet with great confidence in his mercy.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.