Today's Reading: St. Matthew 15:21-28
Daily Lectionary: Genesis 16:1-9, 15-17:22; Mark 6:1-13
“Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” (St. Matthew 15:28)
Happy Lent! In the name of Jesus. Amen. Except for that Canaanite woman—she was not having a happy Lent at all! She came wanting Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. He was her only hope. She put all her chips for her little one in the Jesus basket.
Jesus answered her not a word. Then He spoke about her as if she wasn’t even there, “I was sent only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” I’m not for you. Sorry. Sad Lent for you.
She continued to beg, to plead, for the Lord to remember His tender mercies, for Him to be her ReminiscereLord.
So He calls her a racial slur, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread and give it to their dogs.” She was a dog. A Gentile dog—not worthy of eternal life. Her daughter wasn’t worth saving either.
She said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” She didn’t say “Oh no you didn’t....” She didn’t sue him for calling her a Gentile dog and defaming her character.
No, she agrees with Jesus. She receives from Him—even the word calling her a “dog.”
“Yes, I’m a dog. Yes, I’m a Gentile sinner. But, even the dogs get the scraps that fall to the floor. I’ll take the scraps under the children of Israel’s table.”
Now, that’s faith! Jesus was going to be her Lord whether He sounded like He wanted to be or not. She’d take anything, even a scrap that He had for her.
Lent got happy for her and her daughter after that! Her Jesus got happy! He rejoiced, “O woman, great is your faith, may it happen for you as you have wanted.”
His Words draw this woman away from her thoughts, away from her past, away from who she is or where she came from. He draws her from using the right words, to true faith. She was the Lord’s—His dog receiving His crumbs.
Receiving crumbs–that’s faith! Faith receives gifts from God. Faith reminds God that He is our God and that we are His children, because of the Cross of Christ. Faith believes, it hopes, it clings to God, who is going to be good to us—even when all things around us seem to say otherwise.
. Happy Lent! In the name of Jesus. Amen.