Great in faith

He will bless those who fear the Lord,

Both small and great. Psalm 115:13

 

Read Matthew 15:21—28

Good on you, I say to this woman. Good on you. You persisted. You are a faithful mother. You have been through hell already with your tormented daughter. And you turn to Israel’s Lord, the Son of David. Nothing else has worked. He calls you a queue-jumper, at best. He’s not yet sent his disciples to the world beyond Israel.[1] He’s not yet died for the world’s sin. He’s not yet risen. He’s not yet sent the Spirit. He’s not yet the world’s Saviour, that he is going to be. Nor is the kingdom yet opened to any of faith, to the wider world that, largely, never saw it coming.[2] But you saw it, your faith rooted in sheer desperation. My faith could do with a dash of your fierce desperation.

 

Lord, I admit, I have prayed and have heard nothing back. I have appealed to you, and have felt we have been in different spaces, you in your world plan, me focused on my irrelevant little need. I have said, ‘Lord, help me,’ and thought I got a rebuff. But this woman — this woman! She takes you on. She dares not give in. She insists upon being included in the blessing. She forces her way into your world plan. How can I read her story tonight and not be emboldened? Oh, that you would say to me, ‘Great is your faith.’

 

 

 

 

[1] Matthew 18:18-20

[2] Matthew 8:10-13