The Gospel for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost this year is from Matthew 15:21-28. It tells us about the Canaanite woman who had a sick child. For the ancient Hebrews, the Canaanites were the most despised pagans, and it is not easy for this woman to approach Christ and His disciples. The disciples are not very hospitable, and our Lord begins sternly to make a point about divine mercy and humble faith to the disciples and to the woman. This woman is humble enough and wise enough to know that she must depend upon grace. She has faith that Jesus can heal her daughter despite her lowly status. She will be grateful for the smallest crumb of divine mercy, and her humble faith opens the path for Christ's healing power.
Like this woman, all of us need faithful humility. We should always look to divine grace rather than to our own human strengths or qualifications. We must focus on what God's grace and power do for our healing and salvation, and we need to be persistent. As Christians, we have been baptized and professed our faith, but we are easily distracted and fail repeatedly. So we humble ourselves to seek to be healed and saved from sin, weakness, and pride each day. And the path to healing of body, mind, and soul is found in humble and persistent faith in Jesus Christ.
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