"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.
This woman was the living embodiment of Jesus' teaching on prayer. She asked and kept asking in order that she might received. She knocked and kept on knocking in order that the door might be opened to her (see Matthew 7:7, Amplified). She was like the importunate widow who harassed the unjust judge until he saw justice done for her (see Luke 18:1-8). If Jesus would not give her what she requested because of friendship nevertheless he would because of her persistence, as with the friend who came at midnight (see Luke 11:5-13).
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
We all at least occasionally experience this lack of response to our own prayers. We know that we are meant to persist but we often show less commitment than the Canaanite woman. We are wont to give up if the answer doesn't come immediately. And if we do manage to persist we often do so only out of routine, not with the increasingly insistent spirit of the woman. She was not merely reciting a litany that was pleasant to hear. Instead her petition was enough to annoy the disciples who for that reason wanted to send her away.
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Jesus knew that if he didn't simply answer immediately he would draw even greater faith from the woman. He knew that if he confronted her even with the stark reality of present circumstances, with all of the barriers that appeared to stand between her and her desire, he would awaken a faith that could transcend them all. For Jesus was indeed sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, in order that those blessings could then be broken open for the world. From a theological point of view it was only after the tearing of his own flesh and the corresponding tear of the temple veil that Gentiles and Jews would come to God on equal terms.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations (see Ephesians 2:14).
If we heard Jesus say he was sent only to someone other than ourselves we would probably be all too ready to believe it. Many of us are the sort of people who, if we heard that there was one person in the room whom Jesus did not desire to bless, would assume it was ourselves. But not this Canaanite woman. She was convinced this if she could simply convey her need to Jesus his compassionate heart would have no choice but to help her. If there were apparent barriers it simply meant she needed to demonstrate to an even greater degree the depth of her need.
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
Jesus stated the reality of the current separation between Jews and Gentiles in stark terms. He was even willing to use the epithet like dogs to press the point. But again here, he did this not in order to demean this woman but because he himself knew she could her faith could reach beyond this division and beyond this apparent insult.
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
What might not be obvious is that the only true child was Jesus himself, and by comparison to God's only begotten Son the distance between ourselves and the heavenly Father is greater than between that of men and dogs. It was nevertheless precisely the intention of Jesus to bring what was properly his own inheritance from the Father and to share it with us, to allow his own mercy to overflow such that all we able to have their fill even from the scraps that fell from the table. We see that God himself was powerful enough to overcome this apparent barrier because, "God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham" (see Matthew 3:9). Then finally we see that it was precisely this that he accomplished since "you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"" (see Romans 8:15).
When the Canaanite woman came to Jesus no one, Jew or Gentile, was a son or daughter of God in the way Paul described. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit that allowed both groups to share in God's own divine life. And yet the faith of the woman allowed her access to these blessings even there and then. Her faith allowed her to experience what was yet a future promise as a present reality. She truly had the faith that "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (see Hebrews 11:1).
No doubt this woman experienced suffering and discouragement when she didn't meet with immediate success. But had Jesus not delayed her gratification it never could have been so great. She was able to experience in advance something which even for us is still not a fully realized promise.
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
We experience something of this joy in the fellowship of the Church. But it will be completely and perfectly realized only in the Kingdom. Yet, our faith can bring that future reality into the here and now. And in many ways, this is precisely what we are meant to experience in the mass, the wedding feast of the lamb, the marriage of heaven and earth, the union of all peoples united in Christ.
Paul too teaches us not to interpret an apparent 'no' to our requests as definitive. Perhaps it is simply setting the stage for a greater 'yes'.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
God's desire is that "He might have mercy upon all". May our faith not waver in seeking that mercy, even until "all the peoples praise" him and "all the ends of the earth fear him".
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