Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, March 3, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This problematic story is also one of my favorites. First of all, you should know that I reject any attempts to let Jesus off the hook for his behavior, as some interpreters do by trying to write it off as teaching his disciples a lesson. There is nothing in the text or the context to support this. So, that being said, what I like about this story is that (a) Jesus behaves in a 100% human way, and (b) this unnamed woman calls him on his bs and actually changes his mind.
We cannot forget for a moment that even though Jesus was fully God, he was also fully human. No one truly understands what this means or how it works—it’s just one of the things we accept on faith. But it does mean that as a human being, Jesus did, said, thought, felt, experienced absolutely everything it means to be human, which means sometimes you put your foot in your mouth. Sometimes you get it wrong. Without thinking, in spite of your genuine commitment to radical welcome and the unlimited love of God, you fall back on your sociocultural upbringing and tell a woman in another country that your message is only for the Israelites. It’s possible—even likely—that Jesus was just exhausted and did not want to be bothered. His disciples were whining. He’d been travelling. His lifestyle was not easy. And here’s one more person who wants something from him. I don’t know about you, but I’ve done and said some unpleasant things when I’m in a state like that, no matter how much my deeply held moral values and beliefs should have prevented it.
And then this woman—desperate for the sake of her daughter (and as a mom, I totally get this)—somehow has exactly the right words to argue Jesus to the mat in one sentence. Even after he insults her by calling her a dog, she does not get angry and go away. She turns the tables on him and calls out his own commitment to the idea that God’s love actually isn’t limited by geography or ethnicity. Talk about fortitude in the face of stress!
Jesus admits he got it wrong. He changes his mind. He acknowledges the woman’s superior logic and astonishing faith, and then immediately does for her what she wants. I get that this isn’t a comfortable story for a lot of people, but as for me, I find it a beautiful reminder that Jesus gets what it means to be human, which means he gets it completely when I am.
How do I feel about this story?
