THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2024
THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
1 King 11:4-13
Mark 7:24-30
INNOCENT AND PATIENT FAITH
Upholding and enhancing faith in Christ Jesus and never wavering is necessary for ones life and witnessing as Christians. The gospel presents to us the narrative of this Syrophoenician woman who was troubled because of the despicable situation of her daughter who was possessed by demonic spirit.
First point to note is that, Jesus encounters a stranger, this Syrophoenician by birth, a Greek by origin who came seeking to be favoured by the healing of her daughter who was possessed by evil spirit. Jesus first went ahead to draw a line of demarcation on tribal, racial and religious background, insinuating that God favours a particular tribe, race and religiously inclined persons. So such special favours cannot be given, or wasted on the tribe now favoured.
Such insinuations was rather debunked by the woman who insisted that even a person considered lower in dignity has also certain privileges that are his or her rights. It only goes ahead to authenticate the fact that a nuisance must also be accorded nuisance value. A dog can eat from the crumps that fall from the table of the master. No one must be disregarded or jettisoned in the family of humans.
Second point to note also is that approaching Jesus is one thing and possessing the faith for Jesus to attend to her request is yet another thing. This woman, a stranger to the faith, a non believer in the messianic promises, came to Jesus for help so that the daughter be healed. But to test her faith and commitment, Jesus puts this stumbling block, requesting to elicit faith in her. Let it not just be that the woman heard and comes to steal away healing. Testing her faith determines how much she trusts God, believes in Jesus and adheres to him. That was the situation.
The journey to Jesus is one thing but the belief in his ability is yet another thing. Every one has access to Jesus but the trully faithful ones will receive the gifts that goes with Jesus. Such was the situation of this woman. Jesus puts her faith to the test to determine if she trusts, believes and can persevere in her faith
This woman shows greater perseverance and quite innocent and dedicated faith. So when Jesus told her that it was not right to give the children’s food to the house dogs, she replied accepting that situation but also adding that even the house dogs have rights to the crumbs that fell from the children’s table.
From their discussion, the woman accepts the derogatory comments of Jesus describing and likening her in such manner. This would have provoked her to abandoning the sight of Jesus but she resisted such temptation and held on to her faith. Then the crumbs that fell from the table was her portion and she accepted that as long as it satisfied her yearnings. That was a demonstration of deep trust, total dependence and commitment to the faith. She passed the test and was granted her request. Every one indeed has a place in the scheme of God and the plan of God. No one is excluded. The only prerequisite is faith in God. But such faith sometimes meets obstacles if different types and kinds.
We meet obstacles in our life of faith. We encounter serious problems when we are confronted with adverse life situations. Sometimes we seem to doubt if God actually exists with the kind of situations that confronts us. We tend to question our faith, we tend to question God and doubt his existence and actions in our lives. Yet these are only tests to our faith commitment and adherence to him as our Lord and master.
Let us always look beyond our situations and see the hand of God guiding us and leading us to greater heights.
The wives of Solomon in the first reading led him away from the faith and led him to apostasy and worship of other gods with the different altars he built for their different gods. Solomon deviated from the worship of true God. We must never allow ourselves to be swerved from our faith by the things we possess and the friends, companions and people in our lives.
Heavenly Father, grant us humility of heart, deep and humble faith. Help us to overcome challenging situations in our lives that question our faith and tend to suggest and create doubt in our faith and commitment to you. Deliver us from the vice of faithlessness and lead us to triumph over all adversities that confront us through Christ Jesus our Lord.
FR Norbert Uchuno
