That Dogged Woman!

Wednesday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time
Matthew 15:21-28

Just a few verses earlier the gospel teaches that it is what comes out of the heart that makes a person clean or unclean. What comes out of this woman is tenacious faith!

What is narratively clear is that this woman grasps what the House of Israel and even the hand-picked disciples are struggling to understand. Her kneeling, her use of Son of David, the faith that comes out of her heart, all testify to her remarkable grasp of the universality of Jesus' mission to heal and save.

There is a lot of commentary surrounding questions about what Jeaus did or did not really say. I'm not interested in that question. I'm okay trusting that this story is recorded to bring people like me to faith. What is demonstrated by this story is that to learn we first need to listen.

I am called to imitate Christ.  This text gives me something great to imitate. The woman Jesus meets, dismisses, and eventually learns from, is a person. She is a mother who, for the sake of a sick child, refuses to be dismissed.

When I am particularly certain about something I have a corresponding tendency to dismiss the other. I take my role as teacher so seriously that I don't allow for my own learning. That movement is a sort of respectable dismissal of another person. And that isn't kingdom-like.

Woman!
Yes you...who can find hope in what others deem trash.
Pray for me.
Pray that I may grow a heart open to faith that teaches.
May I learn Kingdom-Likeness
     through the shared wisdom of the many.