Commentators love to explore why Jesus rejected the Gentile woman in today's Gospel; but in truth, Jesus didn't want to heal ANYONE that day, be they Jew, Greek, or Martian. He tried to hide indoors in a region remote from most of his ministry. Those who brought the deaf man to Jesus had to beg him for healing, and after he assented, he insisted that they tell no one. Jesus was simply fed up with the preoccupation of the whole countryside with his capacity to heal.
And why would that be? We know that he appreciated how we feel when our physical needs overwhelm us. Time and time again, he responded compassionately. Only one explanation for Jesus' "healing strike" makes sense. He must have been completely frustrated that physical healing was all people begged for, when he had something even better to offer. He must have felt that he was offering a banquet, but could not get anyone to walk past the chips and dip at the door. What is that something better?
There is this hint in today's Gospel: Whatever that something better was, Jesus seemed convinced that this Gentile woman was on the path toward it. The posture she took so caught Jesus' regard, that he offered the healing she sought. And what was that posture? As simply as we can put it, she was humble. Humility is often called "the lost virtue." It's not something we relish in our time; we get it confused with humiliation. It's a confusing topic, because we know that positive self-esteem is necessary to do our best. All you baseball players and baseball fans out there know that if you come up to the plate expecting to strike out, you will more than likely strike out. So we preach the need for self-confidence. At times this neglects the all-powerful truth that if you need a batting coach and you are too self-confident to get help, you may be doomed to strike out forever!! And that reveals the core reason why humility is vital to the Christian life: We were not designed to do this thing called life alone. We were not designed to be wholly self-reliant. Notice this great truth revealed in the Book of Genesis: God did not create each human in God's image. Genesis says that God created "humankind" in the image of God. The fullness of the divine is only revealed and experienced as all humankind experiences community with one another. The only door that can take us from life as we know it into the fullness of that community, into the Kingdom of Heaven, is humbly acknowledging that we cannot do life all by ourselves.
Last week in a small group, a parishioner shared her story of passing through that door. She reached a place of total despondence over her state of life. Alone in a room, she felt intensely apologetic to the whole universe for not having done as well with life as she had hoped. It was a kind of prayer, although at the time, she had no notion of who or what might answer. The humility she felt with such intensity invited a Presence into the room. She felt a discernible and powerful Presence that enfolded her with the complete assurance of love. That must be the something better Jesus wished for all those who were chasing after him in today's Gospel. That must be the something better Jesus wishes for us now as we chase after the better life. That must be the heavenly banquet.
We need a modern day prayer of humble access. We need a way to emboss in our hearts a reminder at every hurting time of every day to humbly pray for access to God's imagination for how love might prevail. Consider those times when we are wrapped in resentment. How might they unfold differently if we could always remember to humbly pray, "I am trapped by my own need for the regard of others. Free me to see as you see, dear God, to see how I might love the other." Consider those times when we are wrapped in anger. How might they unfold differently if we could always remember to humbly pray, "I am trapped in my need to fix others instead of myself. Free me to see as you see, dear God, to see how I might love the other."
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Around the globe, there were people who danced in the streets at the news of it. We saw in disbelief; we became fearful that we have many enemies. Many rounds of ammunition have been fired in the last five years seeking to protect us from them. Today's Gospel does not say whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. But it does tell us this: No amount of ammunition will usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. The passage to the Kingdom of Heaven is humble prayer, in this case, a humble prayer for access to God's imagination for how valleys of misunderstanding might be bridged and all swords beaten into plowshares. That passage could be hard for us. It might require us to learn a bit about ourselves as we learn why so many people around the world feel injured by our culture and our choices. All new life seems to require passing down a painful birth canal.
Tomorrow night our regular 5:45 service will be dedicated to recalling the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Please come. Let your prayers make known that we long for the coming of God's peaceful reign.