Readings: Gen 2:18-25, Ps.128, Mark 7:24-30
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
WHEN YOU ACCEPT WHO YOU ARE NOW, GOD ELEVATE YOU TO WHOM HE WANTS YOU TO BE
In our society today, most people hardly accept who they are. These days, people spend all their resources and energy trying to convince others of what they are not by seeking their approval. What happens is that, in the end, they will lose their nerve,s, and other people will convince them that what they are doing doesn't have any value, and because of t, that, they give up their dreams. This is not the same with the Syrophoenician woman in our Gospel passage today, who, when she approached Jesus pleading for the restoration of her daughter, did not give up even when her request was not granted immediately.
For we are told that Jesus entered a house in Tyre and Sidon and did not want to be recognized. It is then that this Gentile Syrophoenician woman came to him and prostrated herself before Jesus and begged him to exorcise the evil spirit in her daughter. But Jesus’ answer seems somewhat strange when he said: “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” However, the woman responded, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps. Her humble and powerful faith was immediately rewarded, and her daughter was healed.
This story portrays the anticipation of the future faith of the Gentiles who will later become Christians. However, the irony of this passage is that, in Israel, Jesus was trying to convince people that he was the Messiah, as he was being challenged to prove it with a sign. But here in Gentile territory, he met a woman who was convinced he was the Messiah, and he could not discourage her efforts. Nonetheless, his apparent attempt to put her off was just a test, of which her great faith was proven by accepting her humble background and persistence in her request.
She accepted the place of a “dog” as a Gentile in relation to Israelites being the chosen children of God to whom the message and grace of the Messiah came first. Though she accepted that she may not be able to sit down at the Messiah’s table and eat with the “children,” she should be allowed to pick up some of the crumbs of unmerited mercy and grace of God for the sake of her daughter.
Dear friends, we must learn how to humbly accept who are and be more persistent in our quest and desire for something we desire. We must stop wasting valuable time trying to prove who we are not; let us first accept who we are in faith, then work hard to improve who we want to be in relation to our faith in God. Let our faith in God help us to accept who we are. Whatever we want to do, let us have faith in God and in ourselves, and be determined because, faith, determination and sacrifice are the secrets of any success in life.
Therefore, tell yourself today that you can get that which you desire when you plan for it and work every day for it; then, you will begin to see a different face in the things you do. The truth is that people are rewarded in public for things they have done for years in private. So, let us learn from this Syrophoenician woman who accepted who she was and was determined with faith to achieve her dream through humility and persistence.
LET US PRAY: Lord God, the Syrophoenician woman accepted her humble background with great faith in your Son Jesus, as we humbly make a leap of faith today, with determination and sacrifice towards our dreams in life. May you grant our heart's desires. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a favourable day.
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