Scripture Reflection August 17, 2008 - Tenacious Faith

Scripture Readings:
Isaiah 56: 1, 6-7
Psalm 67
Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15: 21-28

I was talking with a couple this week whose teenage daughter has endured a battle with lymphoma. They described some of the ordeal that they have been through during the past couple of years, as their daughter went through radiation and chemotherapy and then underwent a very delicate procedure in which her own stem cells were removed, treated and replaced into her body. From the way in which her mother related this story to me, I could sense her fierce determination (as well as that of her husband) to do everything in her power to see her daughter get well. Apparently, this complex medical treatment was successful. Their daughter was able to take some college courses last year and is preparing to enroll full-time this fall. She is healthy again and is living a full life.

I thought of that conversation as I reflected on the gospel passage from Matthew for this Sunday. It is a passage that may well strike us as a bit strange. A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus, pleading for him to heal her tormented daughter. Jesus’ initial response to her seems to be so out of character. When she addresses him as “Lord” and “Son of David”, asking for mercy, Jesus is silent. And when she asks again for help, he responds with an off-putting remark about not taking the food of the children and throwing it to the dogs. The tone of this conversation sounds so radically different from other encounters between Jesus and people in need. There must be something going on behind the scenes here.

This is indeed a mysterious moment in Matthew’s narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus. The way that he tells the story implies that there is an underlying sub-plot here. This sub-plot seems to involve the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. Matthew has told us that Jesus’ mission is to the people of Israel. These are the people of the First Covenant, a covenant which has enduring significance. Not until after Jesus’ death and resurrection will the mission of Jesus be extended beyond the boundaries of Israel by his disciples. This woman is a Canaanite, a Gentile; she does not really fit into the scope of Jesus’ public ministry.

But there is something so compelling about this woman’s faith, isn’t there? It is a faith that is inextricably linked with her care for her daughter, who is tormented. As Scripture scholar Donald Senior puts it, “only in the face of the woman’s tenacious faith -- driven by the plight of her daughter and her conviction that Jesus had the power to heal her -- do Jesus’ hesitations, based on Israel’s privilege and the restriction of his mission to Israel, dissolve” (Matthew, Abingdon Press, 19 , 132). This woman’s love for her daughter leads her to take a risk – the risk of being rejected, of looking very foolish in the company of all these men. But she is able to perceive Jesus with the eyes of faith. She recognizes in him the life-giving presence and power of God. Her faith, coupled with her selfless care for her daughter, leads to the dissolution of the barrier between Jew and Gentile. Her persistent faith and loving care pave the way for an experience of communion and healing.

In our own lives, sometimes we persistently pray for something but do not receive exactly what we asked for from God. We beg the Lord for that perfect job, for a child’s success in school, for reconciliation in a dispute with a family member or friend, for the physical healing of a loved one who is seriously ill. Sometimes it seems that the Lord’s response is one of silence. That may lead us to conclude that our faith just is not strong enough, or perhaps that the Lord is not really listening to us at all. The truth is that we cannot fathom all of the dynamics of God’s response to our prayers. Even with the most astute theology, we cannot wrap our minds around the mystery of God’s action in our lives and in our world.

We are, however, invited to cling to one important conviction. I believe that this gospel passage speaks to us about that conviction. We can be sure that when we are impelled by loving care to pray for another person Christ does hear us. The faith imbued with love that is expressed in such a prayer will ultimately lead to communion and healing. It leads us to communion with Christ and to deeper communion with those we love. And it leads to new life, even in cases when a physical healing does not take place. It is new life that comes from the faithful presence of Christ with us. It leads to new life the full extent of which we will know only in eternal life with God.

The Canaanite woman is placed before us this Sunday as a model of selfless love and of courageous, tenacious faith in Christ. She invites us to speak to Christ out of our love for others, and to do so with the faith that he does hear and does answer.

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp