There’s nothing easy about today’s Gospel reading. It’s honestly pretty uncomfortable. This does not sound like the Jesus we know and love. Why does he act this way?

We can make excuses for Jesus: we can say that he’s testing her, or testing the disciples, just trying to see if they come up with the right answer…but does that sound like the Jesus we know and love? Someone who is always asking trick questions to see if you’re up to snuff? Someone who treats other people like pawns to prove a point?

Other times, we might not explain away the behavior, but say that it’s understandable that he’s being short with her: he’s tired, he’s hungry, he’s stressed out. All of which is likely true…but that’s just another way of explaining away what Jesus says without actually dealing with what he says.

And what he says is, essentially, “Stop bugging me. You’re not worth my time. You’re like a mangy dog.”

And that, beloved, is something we have to deal with.

We cannot assert any one motivation into the text that is not shown to be there. We can wonder, we can hypothesize or question or test out theories…but we can’t say for certain.

We don’t know why exactly Jesus is acting this way, but he is. We can’t ignore that.

So if we don’t know the why, let’s focus on what we do know: in this story, a woman comes to Jesus for help and is ignored and cast aside. She refuses to go away quietly and instead she keeps fighting to get help for her daughter, even lowering herself to be compared to a dog to make her point.

And, in the end, it is her persistencethat results in healing for her daughter. Jesus says, “Great is your faith,” and it was her faith…but her faith in Jesus that if she never relented, he would finally respond to her in love.

Persistence can be really hard. Think about times when you’ve had to be persistent:

• When you have to call any kind of customer service because something was screwy and you need to address it
• When you’re pursuing a degree or searching for a new job
• When you’re training for a marathon, or practicing for a sport
• When you’re practicing an instrument or developing any new skill
• When you’re training a pet

I could go on and on, right? And with how many of these things is it easier to just stop? After getting the run around from customer service reps, how often do you just hang up because it’s not worth it? How many of us with that maybe we had practiced that instrument we played when we were younger a little bit more? Do any of you remember studying for a final or sending out yet another job application and wondering if it was even worth the effort?

The thing is, nine times out of ten, when persistence is needed, the results are rewarding. Whether it’s getting out from under a cable contract that doesn’t work for you any more, or something much more meaningful like a honed talent in music or woodworking or an expansion of knowledge and thinking skills, in all of these cases the persistence pays off. It makes a difference. The end result is something better or further than where things were before.

But stopping doesn’t do it. If you give up or stop before the goal is reached, you end up just as far away as when you started. I think, when it comes to faith, it’s something similar. When we aren’t persistent in our faith, we get distracted, we lose sight of the big picture. We forget why we’re even doing it in the first place. We might go through the motions: attend worship, read our Bible, but in a perfunctory way, engage in corporate prayer, but neglect our personal prayer life…and completely forget about why we do any of it—lose sight of the bigger picture of who God is and what God is calling us to do…kind of like Jesus, honestly.

Let me explain what I mean by that. In this story, for whatever reasons we want to ascribe, Jesus turns this Canaanite woman away. It seems like he wants nothing to do with her. It seems like he’s got tunnel vision that he’s there for the children of Israel. It seems like he hasn’t got time to deal with her nonsense. She’s not of his tribe.

For us, as listeners to this story, it seems that Jesus has forgotten about the bigger picture. He lost sight of the fact that he came for all people of all nations, not just Israel. He is Savior to every being on this earth. His initial reaction to the Canaanite woman doesn’t reflect this, doesn’t reflect that he remembers this.

…but her persistence, her refusal to let him off the hook, that’s the thing in the narrative that finally makes it click, makes it clear, makes Jesus react in the way we have expected him to all along: “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”

This life of faith, the work we are invited into as children of God requires persistence. We are called to be persistent in our prayer, in our pursuit of justice, in our compassion for our neighbor, in our advocacy for the unheard, and in our care for the creation around us. The powers that be, the status quo, the systems and individuals that seek to block the reign of God from breaking in will not be removed and will not be thrown down otherwise.

God’s work in the world invites, encourages, and empowers our persistence.

Weariness is natural—no one can go full speed all the time! Even Jesus took breaks to collect himself and refresh. It’s normal to grow weary and lose sight of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it—the big picture of God’s calling. …but that’s why we return to worship and return to the Word and return to the sacraments…to refresh and sustain ourselves and prepare to continue the work ahead.

Eat this bread. Drink this wine. Remind yourself of your baptism. And persist in God’s loving and redeeming work.

Amen.

– Rev. Rebecca Ajer Frantz, Lutheran Church of Our Saviour

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