ENGAGEMENT WITH GOD

Time was not so long ago when Protestants and Catholics didn't fraternize in Northern Ireland. For a Protestant to seek help from a Catholic in certain areas might have meant death of disfigurement. And vice versa. This Sunday's puzzling Gospel reminds me of that time. 'Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon,' Gentile country - present-day Syria - where his presence and preaching would not have been appreciated. Canaanites would have been too backward for the gospel of Jesus.

When a local woman whose daughter is tormented by a demon approaches him for help, she finds herself ignored: Jesus refuses even to speak to her. His disciples are annoyed with this woman and ask him to get rid of her. His response amounts to a racist rebuff: I am here only for Jews, not Gentiles. At this she prostrates herself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, help me.' And Jesus, adding insult to injury, says he will not give to dogs that which is meant only for Jews. For a Jew to refer to her and her people as 'dogs' would have been especially denigrating. She comes back with a snappy rejoinder that would have done that master of the one-line riposte, Winston Churchill, proud: 'Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters!' A Home Run that left Jesus 0 for 1! Praising her at this point, he grants her wish.

Many questions have been asked about this piece of Gospel. Was Jesus having a bad hair and beard day? Was he just plain tired and worn out? Did it reveal a hidden cranky side of his personality? Did she bring out the worst in him? What's going on here? Whatever is happening there is happening also in us who hear this Gospel with the ears of faith.

Three requests, three rejections, and then acquiescence. The sports media is talking about the 49ers and Raiders in training camp these days. You can imagine Alex Smith trying again and again to get his footwork and field vision right and Coach Harbaugh yelling, 'No, no, no, not that way!' over and over. Eventually Smith delivers to perfection and Harbaugh is delighted. Imagine Tiger Woods preparing for his comeback last week and his swing coach making him repeat the golf swing repeatedly until he was satisfied. While Smith and Woods were being tried and tested, their skill was being honed and made ready to perform at peak level. Without the tough discipline of training they would be unable to deliver.

Was Jesus testing the woman so she might come to know how great her faith was? Was he making her ready to receive the gift of God with understanding, appreciation and gratitude? Jesus had been meeting with misunderstanding, even by his close disciples, within the Jewish community. The 'lost sheep of the house of Israel,' the Jews, to whom Jesus felt he had been sent, were not appreciating the gift of God. They wanted the material and political benefits of a Messiah, and they wanted them now. This attitude must have tested Jesus' patience.

Many of us ask God for things in prayer and expect an immediate answer. Our Creator God understands better what's in our hearts, and knows we're not ready to receive. There may be subconscious barriers to God's gift that need to be removed. Perseverance in prayer is itself a gift. It causes our faith to grow and to become genuinely engaged with God.

The great fourth century Augustine wrote to someone who was having a hard time waiting for God to answer her prayer, 'Perseverance in prayer allows your heart to expand enough to receive the gift God wants to give you.' If God responds immediately we may not appreciate the gift. After brushing off the Canaanite woman three times and hearing her tongue-in- cheek response about the dogs, Jesus is compelled to admit to her, 'Great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.'

PASTOR EMERITUS