The Woman Who Wouldn't Take No for an Answer - Mark 7:24-30
There is a moment in today's Gospel that should stop us in our tracks. A woman β a Syrophoenician, a foreigner, someone with no standing or claim β falls at the feet of Jesus and begs him to free her daughter from an unclean spirit. And Jesus, the one we know as mercy itself, seems to turn her away.
"Let the children be fed first," he says. "For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."
If we're being honest, this is one of the most uncomfortable exchanges in all of Scripture. It doesn't sound like the Jesus we think we know. And yet, the woman does something extraordinary. She doesn't walk away hurt. She doesn't argue. She meets Jesus exactly where he is and says, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
And with that, everything changes.
What can we learn from this unnamed woman? Three things come to mind.
She was bold in her need. She didn't dress up her request or wait for the right moment. She fell at his feet. There is something deeply freeing about admitting that we are desperate β that we cannot fix the people we love, that we cannot heal what is broken in our own homes. She came to Jesus with nothing but the truth of her situation, and that was enough.
She was humble without being defeated. When Jesus challenged her, she didn't crumble. She also didn't puff up with indignation. She accepted the terms of the conversation and found a way through. Humility isn't weakness. It's the kind of strength that says, "I know who I am, and I know who you are, and I still believe you can help me."
She interceded for someone else. This woman wasn't asking for herself. She was standing in the gap for her daughter. How many of us carry that same weight β a child struggling, a spouse suffering, a friend lost? Intercession is one of the most selfless forms of prayer. It costs us something. It asks us to bring someone else's pain before God and leave it there.
Jesus sends her home with a promise: the demon has left her daughter. And when she arrives, she finds it is so.
Today's Gospel invites us to examine how we come to God. Do we approach him timidly, afraid to ask for too much? Do we give up when the answer doesn't come quickly? Or are we willing, like this woman, to be both humble and relentless β to trust that God hears us even when the silence feels heavy?
The first reading from 1 Kings 11 offers a sobering contrast. Solomon, who had everything β wisdom, wealth, the favor of God β let his heart be pulled away by distractions. He stopped seeking God with his whole heart. The Syrophoenician woman had none of Solomon's advantages, and yet her faith was the one Jesus honored.
Sometimes the people closest to God drift the farthest. And sometimes the ones who seem farthest away are the ones who run to him with the most abandon.
Wherever you are today, whatever burden you carry for yourself or for someone you love, don't stop asking. Don't stop knocking. Fall at his feet if you have to. He is listening.
Today's Readings: 1 Kings 11:4-13 | Psalm 106:3-4, 35-36, 37, 40 | Mark 7:24-30