The Gospel for the Second Sunday in Lent is unusal; it is a story where our Lord encounters a Gentile supplicant in St. Matthew 15:21 ff. This selection about the Phoenician women is striking. Christ and His disciples have crossed into pagan territory, and she is a descendant of the detested ancient Canaanites. In her need and concern for her daughter, she is desperate enough to ask the Jewish teacher for help.
Our Lord faces this situation in a low-key way, a way that puts both Christ's disciples and the Gentile woman to the test. The disciples just want her to be sent away. Then our Lord points out to her that His earthly ministry is focused on Israel. But she refuses to give up. She has faith in Him, and she humbly begs for even the slightest crumb of mercy. Thus her daughter is healed.
Two points about this passage strike me today. 1) Being close followers of Christ does not always make people as wise, compassionate or strong in faith as they should be. 2) Being outside the traditional community of faith does not always mean that people are lacking in personal faith in Jesus.
So let each of us consider our situations. If we feel like outsiders- if we feel that we are not one of the closest disciples, Christ can still help us if we have faith in Him. And if we do feel that we are close disciples- if we feel that we belong to the right religious circles, we should not be hasty in our judgments of others. We may be the ones lacking in humility and insight. The depth of others' faith may be surprising and allow Christ to work in their lives in ways that we do not expect.
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