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The Secret of Unshakable Faith
4 min
Gospel
Mt 15:21-28
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying 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.” And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Readings are taken from Dynamic Catholic’s Bible: RSV Catholic Edition.
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Transcript
The Secret of Unshakable Faith
It's a fantastic reading. It's just this epic faith, this epic belief that Jesus could heal her daughter.
There's so many things here. Every day, I encourage you to pick a word or a phrase or an idea that the Holy Spirit draws your attention to. I'll share with you a couple that jumped out at me today. The first is that this woman is interrupting Jesus. And one thing I figured out when I was slowing down to the speed of joy was that almost all of Jesus' ministry was Jesus being interrupted, seemingly.
This person interrupts, that person interrupts, another person interrupts. And so here we have this reading. This woman, she's interrupting, she's calling out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." And you know the disciples are telling her to go away and leave Jesus alone, and she keeps crying out, and she has this persistent faith, right? When did you last pray for something like that? When did you last beg God for something? And of course, she is.
She's begging with her whole being. She knows Jesus is capable, and she is begging him to liberate her daughter from that demon. And Jesus says, "Well, I didn't come for you," which is fascinating unto itself. But then what happens? He calls her a dog. Jesus calls her a dog, meaning indirectly.
Indirectly. And does she get offended? No. Does she get thrown off mission? No. Does she stay absolutely, singularly focused on Jesus and his ability to cure her daughter and her request, her prayer that Jesus do that? Yeah, she does. She has that singular focus.
It's that singular focus that you always find whenever you find success. Whenever you find success, you always find this singular, almost obsessive focus on a single outcome. And that's what she had, and that's what she got. What is going to be your obsessive, singular focus? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold. Be Catholic.
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