“O WOMAN, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH”
Mt. 15, 21-28
Rev. Alexander Diaz
Jesus leaves the Jews’ territory and goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon, a multitude followed Him, and among this multitude, a Canaanite woman of that district appeared, she was a gentile (we have to make clear that when we talk about gentile, it does not refer to a kind person, the gentiles were the people who were not Jews).
The main reason this woman approached Jesus is, because of her daughter, her daughter was sick, she comes looking for Jesus’ mercy. This woman represents the heart of a depressed mother caused by the suffering of her child. To deeply understand this Gospel we have to understand that according to the Jews of that time, they were the only ones called for salvation and the Messiah was coming only to save them.
According to their belief, the gentiles were an inferior race who had no access to salvation and therefore had no right to divine mercy or comfort.
Jesus breaks this established way of thinking, because when He saw the faith of this woman He is not interested to know her nationality, whether she is Jew or not, He only has mercy for her. Even though the dialog between them is strong in nature. It is possible that our modern mentality will fail to capture the deep significance of the encounter between the woman and the Teacher, but it has a great significance, a great meaning.
Sometimes God places us in a position of impotence and the only way out is to beg His mercy, whether we are Christians or Pagans, believers or non-believers, religious or non-religious, practicing Catholics or cold Catholics. It is probably what happened to this mother, even though she was Pagan, she was so distressed by her daughter’s situation, that she has no choice but to go to the Messiah of the Jews.
Impressive, this non-Jewish woman, called Jesus, “son of David”, by which term she is recognizing Jesus as the Messiah the Jewish people were waiting for. Impressive, also, that being a pagan, she asked Jesus to heal her daughter, who is “terribly tormented by a demon”. Jesus does not say a word in answer to her, ignores her plead, makes believe He does not hear. That is the way God acts sometimes: He makes believe He does not hear us. And ¿why? or rather, ¿how come? – To reinforce our faith.
We talk about “to put to a test” our faith. But it is not about “a test” of our faith as a test in itself, rather as an exercise to strengthen our faith. Anyone of us would have answered instantly without asking “where are you from or what is your status”, when He hears that “she is possessed by a demon” Jesus takes a strong, serious and difficult attitude, Jesus answered: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs”.
As the trainer ask the athlete to tense his muscles and add more resistance to them, to be better prepared, the Lord keep on trying the faith of the Canaanite woman.
The woman does not give up or loses her faith. She does not walk away mad or disgusted, maybe thinking, nobody loves me, how mean he was and yet he calls himself the Messiah. I am impressed, because definitely, she will not take “no” for an answer. Rather, she will humbly and simply respond to Jesus’ arguments inrefutely: “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”
The woman’s faith have been reinforced with the apparent rejection of our Lord. And now the woman’s faith is rewarded, because she obtains what she asked of Jesus. The gospel tells us that “her daughter was healed from that hour”. Then Jesus said to her in reply: “O woman, great is your faith”. And, how great is the Lord! He gives us credit for what comes from Him. Faith is a gift that God himself have given us!
This woman represents so many of us, men and women, who actually live and experience so much sorrow, grief, needs in our lives. The doctor visits us; the problems are many, the sadness and sorrow smother, suffocate us. “Have pity on me, Lord!” It is the cry of the soul who feels God so distant, so far away.
Without any doubt, we want an immediate answer and we get discouraged if we don’t get it. How many times we ask, most of the time, with no result. ¿Why God does not listen to us? We become dishearten, discouraged, we tend to doubt God and many times we get desperate. ¿Could it be that God is testing us? ¿For how long our faith will stand?
Wait a bit longer. Insist like this woman did. God allows this anguish to purify your intention, so you continue to trust and believe in Him even if He does not pay you any attention the first time.
The Canaanite woman of the Gospel followed Jesus calling out to Him. The disciples lost their patience and force Jesus to stop and take care of her. We are surprised by Jesus reaction at first. ¿Is it possible His heart was not moved, troubled, full of mercy for this poor woman? Of course it was. But He preferred to be patient and wait to see how far this woman believed and trusted Him. Since her faith was so great, Jesus finally told her: “Let it be done for you as you wish.”
At a certain moment and time He will also tell us: “How great is your faith”. AMEN!!
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