In today’s gospel Jesus doesn’t seem very Christian to the Egyptian/Canaanite woman, whose daughter is tormented by a demon. How are we supposed to deal with this? After all, who are we to accuse The Founder of Christianity of not being Christian? There must be some secret wisdom here. The secret wisdom comes alive if you ever were in the Army or had a tough football coach. Jesus knew he had a mission and that mission had to start with the people of Israel. He knew it would be a mighty task to get the Jewish people to accept him as the fulfillment of the law, as the Son of God the Father, and as sacrificial lamb which was to replace the animal sacrifices of the Temple. No easy sell. Also, Jesus knew that many were following him not because of his great sermons but because they needed some favor, a favor that required his miraculous touch. Kings, Presidents and winners of the lottery all know that people who follow them are not always sincere when those followers praise them. The opening scene in King Lear comes to mind. The three daughters of the King all approach the King at his retirement banquet. The first two girls, Goneril and Regan know they must flatter their father the King if they wish to inherit his kingdom. They do just that. But Cordelia, the daughter who truly loves him refuses to play the “who can flatter the King with higher praise” game. Unfortunately for Cordelia, she was relying on the sense that her father would know the truth by means of her lifelong devotion and obedience. But instead of seeing her true love and not seeing the empty praise of the other daughters he shows himself to be a fool.

At first, the Canaanite woman asking for a favor must have seemed like a thousand others. It’s not time yet, Jesus must have thought to expand the graces of God’s universal love to any and all takers. The bestowal of graces needs signs of faith and signs of love of the true King, who is the true God. I mention the Army and football coach because being a good soldier and to win a championship require extraordinary skills. Most new recruits and rookies don’t have those skills yet. Many great athletes attribute their success to a coach who pushed them hard. Coaches seem to resort to screaming at their players to get the most out of them. Sergeants scream that their privates in a way to toughen up their skin. The sergeant knows a soldier needs tough skin in a dangerous combat situation. In what initially seems to us as obnoxious behavior, in the mind of sergeant or coach they are training the ones under them for greatness.

So, in the gospel Jesus must test the woman. Salvation is from the Jews as Jesus says in another place. What is so amazing about this woman is that you have to wonder where did she get the courage to keep asking Jesus for his help. 99.0% of us would have walked away in disgust. We would say, “If that’s how you feel about Egyptians then the heck with you.” If I had a dollar for every x-Catholic who said, “Sister so and so yelled at me in the 5th grade, so I never went back to church” I’d be a rich man. But she didn’t walk away. She knew in her heart Jesus was who the believers in him said he was. And she also knew that her people have stubbornly walked away from the true faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Most of us from time to time need to be put in our place. Most of us need the humility that she showed. Its’ when we humble ourselves that God exalts us.