“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
When we seem to encounter rejection from God, when he doesn't immediately grant what we ask, there is a hidden purpose in this rejection. When we encounter resistance and don't immediately receive what we ask there is a reason.
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
This rejection can feel so difficult that the temptation is to simply give up. We may try to spiritualize our sorrow, saying that we're just submitting our own will to God's. But often it is more a matter of simply giving up on our end than of anything we bring before God.
We are called to persist. It is only when we don't give up that the temporary refusal can give way to a more complete reception than would otherwise be possible.
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
The woman asked and kept asking, knocked, and kept knocking. As she did so all pretense of deserving or worthiness had to be abandoned. She learned to stake everything on trust in the one she knew to be Lord, Son of David. She perceived in him an abundance that would not be diminished if it overflowed even to one with no right to those riches. Her faith was tested and was able to grow because she did not give up.
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Paul too was unwilling to give up on his people, the Jews who did not accept Christ. He realized that they had chosen for themselves rejection by God. But even more, he realized that it was meant to be a temporary rejection, with results that would more than make up for however long the delay should last.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
The roles had switched between the Canaanite woman and the Jewish people. It was the Gentiles who first experienced not being the chosen ones. But it was precisely in this context, desperate for a salvation they did not know, that they were surprised by undeserved mercy, that they were opened to something that made the many long years apart from the God of Israel worth the wait. They, and we with them, had to learn to embody both the persistence and the humility of the Canaanite woman in order to heal the affliction of our own souls.
Now that a majority of the Jewish people do not accept Christ we must recognize the workings of providence even here. We must see what Paul saw, that somehow this brief turning away will ultimately result in something greater when they are at last accepted. Because of this Paul did not abandon his race, nor consign them to damnation. He persisted in his hope for them.
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
Jesus plans to bring all peoples, Jew and Gentile together, into one body. There is much healing that is needed before we can experience the unity he intends for us. There are barriers of race and gender and ethnicity that still separate his people. There are afflictions of our own souls, yet unhealed, that keep us from the closeness to God we are meant to know. The hope Jesus has for us today is that even when encounter an apparent 'No' it is paving to the way to a greater and as yet unimaginable 'Yes'. This is meant to give us courage to persist, like the Canaanite woman and like Paul.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
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