Thursday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

There are several strong women of faith in the gospels and we find one of them in today’s gospel reading. Jesus had gone to the region of Tyre, which is in modern-day Lebanon, far from the usual area of his ministry. He went there not to preach the gospel but to step back from his work for a short while. He went into a house and didn’t want anyone to know he was there. The chances of this pagan woman, a mother of a seriously ill child, meeting Jesus seemed slim. Jesus was not looking to meet anyone. Furthermore, in that culture it was not customary for a woman to approach a man who was a stranger to her. Also, she was a pagan and Jesus was a Jew, and Jews at the time tended to avoid the company of pagans. Yet, the passionate love of a mother for a sick child can generate the kind of energy that makes light of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. She found out where Jesus was and begged him to heal her daughter. Most unusual for Jesus in the gospels, he responded to her in a way that held out little hope he would grant her request. Using the image of a household of adults, children and pet dogs, he informs her that his primary mission is to feed the children first, rather than feeding the dogs. His mission for now is to the children of Israel, the people of God. Surely, the woman would now just go home, faced with the further obstacle of Jesus’ attitude. Far from it, she takes Jesus’ image and uses it to her advantage, reminding him that while the children of a household are eating, the dogs often eat the crumbs that fall from the table at the same time. In other words, children and dogs can feed together. Jesus finally surrenders to her determination and her tremendous faith in him. His timetable of Jews first and pagans later has to be revised. We can learn a lot from this woman. She teaches us the value of a faith that endures, of a prayer of petition that keeps knocking on the Lord’s door, trusting that in the Lord’s own time he will open the door and respond to our prayer.