A couple returned home late one night to find an unfamiliar truck in their driveway and masked men loading items from their house into the truck. Instead of stopping, the couple pulled over further down the street. The husband called 911. He was told the police were otherwise occupied and too busy to respond to a burglary. He hung up, counted to thirty and called 911 again.
“I just called thirty seconds ago because thieves were stealing things out of our house. Well, you don’t have to worry because I shot them all.”
Within five minutes, a half-dozen police cars showed up, and the officers caught the burglars red-handed.
One officer said, “We were told you shot them.”
The homeowner replied, “Well, I was told no officers were available to respond to my call, so I had to say something to get your attention.”
Yes, sometimes you need to embellish or exaggerate a situation to get the attention of others.
The Canaanite woman in today’s gospel did everything she could to get the attention of Jesus. She was begging and pleading with Jesus to save her daughter from some type of possession.
Maybe you know someone who is tormented with an incurable illness or is terminally ill. Perhaps you know someone who is possessed by an obsessive behavior such as drug addiction, alcoholism, chronic gambling, an eating disorder or compulsive shopping, or someone diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder or dementia.
Whatever the daughter in the gospel reading may have been afflicted with, it was certainly some type of debilitating disease.
What I find puzzling and inconsistent is the untypical manner with which Jesus acted towards the Canaanite woman.
First of all, Jesus ignores her. She cleverly calls out, “Lord, Son of David …” Even this pagan woman recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior by identifying Him as coming from the line of David.
She even asks for pity and Jesus “did not say a word in answer to her.” He does not respond. He seems to just ignore her, which is rather cold and callous.
The woman is not put off, nor does she go away. The disciples, of course, respond in a rather typical way, telling Jesus to just send her away.
Secondly, Jesus seems to discriminate against her. Yes, we are surprised when Jesus ignores her, but we are more surprised when Jesus seems to blurt out a prejudicial statement, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” In other words, Jesus is saying He is only here for the Jews and not for the Canaanites or other pagan Gentiles. I’m sure a class-action discrimination lawsuit would be filed against Jesus if He said that today.
And thirdly, if that is not enough, Jesus seems also to insult her. Even though Jesus just finished telling her that He is only here for the Jews, she comes up to Him, humbly bows, and says what we hear so often in the Scriptures, “Lord, help me.” And here comes the insult. She asks for help and Jesus responds with, “It is not right to take the food of the children (the Jews) and throw it to the dogs (the Gentiles).”
Without missing a beat, she says, “…even the dogs eat the scraps.”
The woman will not be ignored, she will not be discriminated against, and she will not let an insulting remark prevent her from persisting in her request.
Since we don’t like thinking of Jesus as someone that would ignore us, discriminate against us, or insult us, it is easy to find excuses so that our image of Jesus is not distorted.
We might say Jesus was tired. After all, He had been trying to get away from the crowds ever since the feeding of the five thousand. Or we could say the woman was rather pushy and aggressive.
I personally do not think the woman was aggressive, but she was assertive. Assertive people will state their opinion while being respectful. Aggressive people tend to attack and bully others. Regardless, Jesus was impressed as He concluded, “…great is your faith.”
Now that is the statement we should all want on our tombstone!
What we do know is that the Canaanite woman did eventually get the attention of Jesus. She persevered, she did not give up, she kept asking. She was not discouraged.
She was a woman of prayer and was willing to turn to Jesus for help. She was humble yet assertive enough to ask for what she needed without being obnoxious.
I was at a baseball game when one of the players came up to the plate and made the sign of the cross.
The guy next to me asked, “Will that help?”
“Yes,” I replied. “If he is a good hitter.”
While God hears all our prayers, they are always answered according to His will.
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