Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

- Matthew 15:21-28

I must say that I have a particular fondness for this story, because of the feisty quality of the exchange between this woman and Jesus. I consider it a particularly characteristic story of Middle or Near Eastern dialogue; people are bargaining and arguing in a way that may seem a little harsh to some ears. But, in effect, we see the great humanness of Jesus, how much he is a man of the people. While he never loses his identity as Christ or Messiah, and as Teacher and great Healer, he also speaks directly with this woman. We must understand the notion of testing or even goading the woman can be done with affection - it is this that is going to prompt her to reveal her faith, and how much she wishes for this gift from Christ.

This story also appears in Mark's gospel, but my study bible points out two major differences between the story as it appears in Mark 7:24-30 and here in Matthew's gospel. Matthew says "the lost sheep of the house of Israel" while Mark says only, "Let the children be filled first." In Matthew the woman is recorded as shouting, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." For these differences we must take into account the Jewish orientation of Matthew's gospel and therefore his concern to show Jesus as the Son of David, who is, as my study bible puts it, "endowed with divine majesty even in his humanity."

The woman begins with great concern for her daughter, who has a demon. She is not merely pestering Jesus, she is actually shouting at him. Impudent, indeed, one might say! We are told that Jesus does not answer her at all. I would guess, just based on my own impression, that this implies he somehow is studiously seeming to avoid her by not answering and keeping his silence. But, one notes, he does not command her to silence either. The disciples, however, are obviously annoyed. They come to complain to Jesus, to tell him that he must send her away, because she is bothering them by continually shouting at them. Quite obviously, this woman is shouting to be noticed! So Jesus responds to his disciples' request to send the woman away, by informing her, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

So, the woman proceeds to try a different tack. But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ This is a humble appeal. She is no longer shouting, but kneeling humbly before him and asking for help, calling him Lord. She does not give up and go away. She really wants what she is asking from him. Jesus responds to her with what seems, to many ears, like a great insult. He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But my study bible has a note about this response. "Jesus' answer should not be understood as an insult, but as a way to reveal the treasure of the woman's faith. In her can be envisioned the future Gentile Church, the true Israel, coming to Christ." I agree with the great value placed on this woman in this gospel as the vision of the future Gentile Church. But I also would like to point out the traditional value placed on argument in a Middle or Near Eastern context. As Jacob wrestled with the angel for his blessing, so we can see here the similar figure of this woman, who will not leave without what she is after from this Lord, this divine figure of Christ. In this context, argument is seen as a good and positive thing. Christ is spurring her on to respond to him. It is already a strange and unusual thing that he would be talking with the woman to begin with, and he is engaging her rather than sending her away. And the woman responds with the perfect answer in this context: "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table." She is not going away, she is engaging with him again, responding within the opening she has been given by Jesus. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." She will get her blessing, just as did Jacob. "Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly."

I think it is important to remember this rather feisty encounter, for a number of reasons. It teaches us the willingness with which Jesus engages us. I don't believe that we can predict how Spirit will engage us in the process of the development of faith. We cannot limit how God will be at work in our lives, with what small opening into our psyches we can begin the journey of faith. Jesus' goading of this woman, even his seeming insult, was a way to bring out her faith. She showed who she was, she kept trying to reach Christ and to make a connection with him until she got her blessing that she desired. We must see the final connection that has been made between Lord and believer, and the great transformative breakthrough in our understanding of what constitutes Church, and where and when it appears that happens because of the story of this world, now told through so many centuries.

I think God engages us often through negative experiences. I know that in my own life the times when I have fallen on my face due to my own fallibility and imperfection have been times when I had the most to learn from my prayer life - by going through the resulting disaster (large or small) with prayer and learning. There was no other way that I would change or engage with God on that level of depth that was within myself, except through the process of opening up and revealing who I was. In this way, the depths of my own psyche were revealed and healed, I became more aware of how I needed to change and at the same time develop a deeper relationship with God. This woman has in fact brought out all that she is in quite a creative way to put her supplication before Christ. Jesus equates her persistence with a great faith. And these are the words that we in turn must live by.

Where is your persistence? How does it manifest itself? Do we expect life to be handed to us on a platter, without work or change or digging deeply into ourselves for a response and a dialogue with God? I don't think the importance of dialogue can be underestimated. A back and forth tussle between ourselves and the divine can be engaged on every level. Our worldly expectations, after all, tend to be so different from the ones we may be given via our faith. The One with whom we dialogue is after all the great Other. God is much too far beyond our scope of reality to be limited by our expectations. It is we, instead, who are constantly challenged to unlimit our own perceptions and expectations. It is we who so often will find ourselves in places we least expect - or are even prepared for - because of faith. It is faith that challenges us to use our creativity and vigor and imagination and persistence to continually expand our understanding and awareness of where God may wish us to go or open up our own awareness of who we can be, on ever-deepening levels of identity.

Where will you go today, and how will you engage Christ to teach you and to bless you? The journey will not always follow a strict path or conform to our expectations. God is much too powerful and too great for that.