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Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.
Christe eleison. Christ, have mercy.
Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.
These Greek words from this Sunday's anthem (and their English translation) may be familiar to you. Perhaps you recognize them from sung or spoken liturgy in worship, or maybe you have sung choral works including masses and requiems that contain these words. Or maybe I just sent you in a time warp back to 1986, where that song by Mister Mister topped the charts for two weeks. Any way you have heard them, they are ancient words, appearing in the bible many times, especially in the psalms, and also in this week's text about the Canaanite woman.
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs." "Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:21-28 NIV)
Wait a minute!! Look at that again. What did Jesus say? First, nothing. Then he was sent only to Israel, implying that he wasn't sent there for her people. Then something about dogs?? What??? This is out of character for Jesus!! Or is it??
We overlook the seemingly odd things that Jesus says in the Matthew passage because we already know the rest of the story... "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." But before she heard his final words to her, she wrestled with his silence, and his statements, but he granted her an audience, and then finally her request to heal her daughter.
Do you always get straight answers from God? I don't. I think if we did, we'd never learn anything. Just as Jacob wrestled with God in the Old Testament scripture, we wrestle with God's answers, or silence, when we approach him with our requests and questions. Through this wrestling, sometimes we even come to a different understanding of what God wants for us and from us, maybe a clearer meaning or a clearer mission.
God is good, all the time. We can always approach the throne of heaven, keeping this in mind.
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