Matthew 15:21-28
O Woman, Great is Your Faith
by Rev. Jack Peterson
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington
Catholic Herald"
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Matthew wrote to show that Christ
was the
Messiah and fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.
Then Jesus went from
that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a
Canaanite woman of that district 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 in reply, "O woman, great is your
faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was
healed from that hour.
Jesus'
response to the woman in this Sunday's Gospel appears on the surface to be
unusually harsh, but in actuality it is another beautiful story of faith in
Christ and His never ending mission to bless and heal those who approach Him
with trust and confidence.
The
story begins with a Canaanite woman, a foreigner, who calls out to Jesus,
seeking healing for her daughter who was tormented by a demon. Three times
Jesus responds to her in a rather puzzling way. First, He ignores her,
presumably to see if she is serious about her request. Then, thwarting His
disciples' attempt to whisk her away from Him, Jesus reminds her that He came
first to seek out the lost sheep of the house of Israel. She perseveres in
spite of this mild snub, draws close, pays Him homage and says, "Lord, help me."
Sometimes,
in the Gospels, Jesus responds immediately to a request for help or healing.
Sometimes He delays. Sometimes Jesus is gentle and warm with the person
from the start. Sometimes He is uncharacteristically firm and distant at
the start. In the end, He always offers His blessings to those who come to
Him with true faith and trust.
We
need to remember that Jesus knows the depths of our hearts better than we know
them ourselves. He knows when a person is ready to receive a particular
grace and when we need something more before we are ready. So, God is not
afraid to test our faith, purify our heart or grant us the opportunity to grow
in some specific way that is in union with his divine plan before He gives us
what we need. He knows how to prepare our hearts so that we are ready to
receive what we really need. God's wisdom and love are at times very
puzzling to us, beyond our comprehension, but His actions always flow from the
depths of His love and His truth.
In
my own life, I remember making some intense demands on God when I was in the
seminary, battling to discern my vocation as a consecrated member of Youth
Apostles. I insisted at the beginning that God shape my heart and reveal
His will in very specific ways.
For
instance, while I was struggling to discern if God was asking me to serve Him as
a consecrated priest for the rest of my life, I really wanted deep in my heart
to get married. So, I tried to make a deal with God: please make me desire
to be a priest more that I desire to be married, and I will be happy to follow
your call. God did not respond to any of my demands, and He revealed His
will for me in a completely different fashion than the one I had insisted upon.
Without taking away me desire for marriage, He made it very clear that He wanted
me to be a consecrated priest.
The
process was immensely frustrating to me, but, in the end, God gave me exactly
what I needed. I look back now, and I smile at myself and my demands while
I marvel at God's wisdom and love. God knew best how to prepare me for my
lifelong commitment to Him through my community and through the priesthood.
Lord
God, grant us the grace we need to trust radically in your love and your divine
plan for us. Give us the faith of the saints so that we may come to you
with confidence, knowing that you will grant us what we truly need, when we need
it. Help us to persevere, like the Canaanite woman, in courageously
approaching you, even when we face obstacles along the path. May we be men
and women whose lives are molded and shaped by our faith in you.
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