In the gospel we find Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. This was a pagan territory. It was a place Scribes and Pharisees would not enter. Some Jews, however, had mixed with these pagans because of commerce. Business had brought them together. Jesus, the greatest Jew, also came here, but to do His Father’s business. He took his disciples with Him. He had a lesson to teach them as well as a lesson to teach us. We all have a lesson to learn from this pagan woman of today’s gospel.
A Canaanite woman crying out in distress, desperate for her daughter’s healing came to Jesus. Jesus didn’t initially respond to the woman, while his disciples gave her a cold-hearted treatment. Jesus even tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel” not the dogs of other countries who do not believe in God. The woman was persistent and sharp, saying in all humility that she would take what the sheep and the children had thrown under the table for the dogs. She persevered in her request. Her persistence won the day. Her request was granted because Christ tells us she had great faith.
