Do you remember Elian Gonzalez who was in the news for seven months a couple of years ago? He was the six-year-old that the Cuban Americans in Miami fought to keep in the United States, a free country. His mother wanted him to be here so desperately that she died for it. Many agreed that Elian should be with his father and thus were praying until the very end that the father would seek political asylum and stay here with his family where there is freedom. But it didn't happen. Elian's father chose for them to return to Cuba, a socialist state, where there is not freedom as we know it. Over this event, many of the Cuban Americans lost faith in the United States government. And I wonder if those who prayed for Elian to stay in this country may also have lost faith in God.
Our faith is challenged when we don't get what we ask. Some people lose faith in God while others think that they didn't get what they wanted because they didn't have enough faith. The Bible is full of miraculous healing stories -- lepers being cleansed, the blind regaining their sight, the crippled being able to walk, the hemorrhaging woman being healed, the daughter of Jairus, a leader in the synagogue, being healed, and as we read in today's Gospel, the story of the Canaanite woman whose demon-possessed daughter was healed. The list can go on and on. Most of these stories, including today's Gospel, imply that the person gets what he/she wants, because he or she had enough faith.
What is enough faith? Who gets it? If we don't get what we ask, does that mean we don't have enough faith?
Faith Is Bold And Persistent
The Canaanite woman in today's Gospel got what she wanted and she was both bold and persistent. She boldly intruded upon Jesus' time and even sounded rude as she kept shouting after Jesus and the disciples. The disciples encouraged Jesus to get rid of her. That may be because if Jesus talked to her, a Canaanite woman, he would be risking his reputation. After all, she was a woman and a Canaanite, and Canaanites were enemies of the Jewish people and considered to be a race that embodied all that was wicked and godless.
The woman also had to overcome her prejudices to come to Jesus because, after all, the Israelites took the Promised Land from the Canaanites. Out of love, this woman was willing to overcome any and all obstacles that stood in the way of Jesus healing her demon-possessed daughter. Now those considered demon-possessed in the New Testament were those afflicted with especially severe diseases, either physical or mental. The disease could be paralysis, loss of speech, blindness, deafness, epilepsy, or melancholy. Whatever the disease, the woman was desperate. Like most parents, she wanted the very best for her daughter.
What surprises us in this story is that Jesus was very rude to the Canaanite woman. First he rejected her by his silence. Then he said something that was cruel. He said, not directly to the woman, but to the disciples, that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When he said this, Jesus was stating the common understanding of the time. The Jewish people were the chosen ones. He had come to bring the children of Israel back into the fold.
The Canaanite woman on her knees persisted, "Lord, help me!" By calling Jesus, "Lord," she addressed him as those who believed in him. Others, including opponents or cynics, called Jesus "teacher" or "Rabbi." And still Jesus had a sharp-sounding reply to her. He said: "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." In other words, Jesus was asking, how can I give the blessings meant for Israel to the Gentiles? And we all know the remarkable reply of the woman, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." This response moved Jesus to acknowledge that this persistent, unnamed Canaanite woman had enough faith. He sensed the depth of her response and he healed her daughter. Her boldness and persistence showed that she had enough faith.
Faith Knows No Boundaries
This story of the healing of the Canaanite woman's daughter is pivotal in Jesus' ministry. The chosen people were the Israelites, the Jews, but faith breaks down the walls. God's mercy extends to the Gentiles, as well. It is interesting to remember that within 100 years of this story, the Christian Church was made up of mostly Gentiles.
Unfortunately, we are slow to understand. Within our communities, even within the church, there are still walls between people. There are many who do not feel accepted, such as single mothers and those on the fringes of society. They stay away from church. They don't feel accepted.
Perhaps some of you know the story of Ben Hooper. As I remember it, he was born in Tennessee in the late 1800s to an unwed mother. In that era and in that community, he was called by a name that wasn't nice. His classmates made fun of him. Even at church it was not very comfortable. He and his mother would always go to church late and slip out early. One day a new preacher came to their church and he said the benediction so fast that they did not get out early enough, and they were caught in the crowd. Just about the time he got to the door, Ben felt a big hand on his shoulder and heard the preacher asking him, "Who are you? Whose boy are you?" Ben felt the old weight come upon him. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting him down. But as the preacher looked down at Ben, studying his face, he began to smile, a big smile of recognition. He said, "I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a child of God." With that he slapped Ben on the back and told him that he had a great inheritance and that he should claim that inheritance.
Ben Hooper said that was the most significant single sentence ever spoken to him. It was a new start for him. He grew up to serve two terms from 1911 to 1915 as governor of Tennessee.
We call some people outsiders or insiders based on skin color and other conditions over which people have no control. We can't choose our parents, our nationality, our sex, or our genetic makeup, at least not yet. We may be able to do so in the future with the medical breakthrough of mapping the genome. Because of that we will be able to know who is predisposed to various diseases such as Alzheimer's, heart problems, cancer, diabetes, and epilepsy, and in time we will be able to ward them off. And in time it may also be possible to choose the genetic makeup of our children.
It is fascinating to learn that genome mapping shows that the human species traced back 7,000 generations has only a modest amount of genetic variation. The DNA of any two humans is 99.9 percent identical. The more we see that our similarities outweigh our differences, perhaps we will be able to reach out beyond our comfort zones to those whom we perceive as different from us. However, it is easier said than done.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America failed in meeting one of its goals. When the new church was formed in 1988, a goal was set that within ten years the membership would be ten percent people of color or whose primary language was something other than English. After ten years only 2.8 percent fit that category.
The challenge is there for us as a church. More and more new voices are being heard in our country. These new voices are challenging our established norms and values. For instance, in the next few years there will be an influx of Hmongs applying for United States citizenship. This is in response to a law Congress passed on May 26, 2000, easing the naturalization process for Hmong and Laotian veterans and their spouses. Granted most of them will stay in the larger cities where there is more work, but eventually they will migrate to the smaller communities as well.
This intrusive woman in the Gospel story reminds us that in Jesus Christ there is hope for each one of us. Not one of us has sole claim on Jesus or God. We all receive the riches of salvation as a pure gift. Sometimes that means we are healed and other times that we are not healed. That is true whether we are young or old, rich or poor, black or white, English or Spanish speaking, native American or immigrant, capitalist or socialist, industrialized or third world. Enough faith is believing that God's mercies are for you and all people.
Faith Endures God's Silence
You may be thinking, why have I not experienced God's mercy? I have been bold and persistent in my prayers. I believe that God's mercies are for all people, even me. Yet I have not gotten what I have asked of God.
Not everyone is as fortunate as the bold and persistent Canaanite woman in the Gospel. In fact I have trouble with stories like today's Gospel. Some people could interpret it to mean that if you or a loved one is not healed, it is because you don't have enough faith. I don't think this is the way it works. It is like saying God will not give you more burdens than you can bear. That sounds reassuring, but it implies that God gives us our burdens. I don't believe God piles on burdens until we reach the breaking point and then God stops. The question for us today is: Do you have enough faith to be bold and persist and keep hope even if you don't get what you want?
It is not always easy to maintain faith in God when our lives are falling apart, the world seems to be closing in on us, and God remains silent to our desperate pleas for help. More often than not we experience the silence of God such as the Psalmist who wrote: "O my God, I cry in the daytime, but you answer not." And we know that Paul, a man of great faith, prayed three times that the thorn in his flesh be removed. It wasn't. And Jesus prayed the night he was betrayed that the cup of suffering might be removed. In fact the cross is probably God's greatest silence.
We have all experienced this silence of God. We pray for something and the opposite seems to happen. For instance, we pray for sunshine for the outdoor wedding and it rains. We pray for a date to the prom and we don't get asked. We pray to get married but our significant other is not sure. We pray for reconciliation, but instead there is divorce. We pray for the right job and nothing happens. We pray for health and are plagued by some chronic illness. We pray for the life of a loved one and the loved one dies. We pray for peace in the Middle East and it doesn't happen.
The silence of God has been experienced by all of us. And this is where faith enters. It is keeping hope believing that God is with us working for our good.
Conclusion
Do you have enough faith? What do you think? Are you bold and persistent? Do you believe that God's blessings are for you even if you are an outsider? And do you keep faith even if you do not get what you ask?
Enough faith is not necessarily getting what we want but knowing that Jesus is Lord, no matter who we are and what chaos threatens us or our loved ones in life. Enough faith is to know that we are never alone. Enough faith is being patient, hoping, and not giving up no matter what. It is being confident about the future no matter how bleak the present. And it is knowing that whether we live or whether we die we belong to the Lord.
May God give each one of us enough faith. Amen.
