About 20 or 25 years ago, my brothers and I were looking forward to spring break. It had been a long school year, and we had plans to sleep in, relax and do absolutely nothing.
Then Dad showed up with a collection of branch cutters—one for each of us boys.
Instead of a week off, we spent spring break cutting thousands of little cypress trees and evergreens out of a large field. At the time, we thought we were owed that break. We had worked hard at school. We deserved it!
But that week taught me a valuable lesson: We are not owed anything in life simply because we believe we have earned it.
That lesson came to mind while reflecting on Matthew 15:21–28. We live in a culture where it can be easy to think in terms of what we deserve. We work hard. We make sacrifices. Eventually, that attitude can even creep into our relationship with God: I have been faithful. I have prayed. I have tried to do the right thing. Surely God owes me this.
But the Canaanite woman shows us another way.
Her daughter is suffering terribly, and she comes to Jesus crying, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” At first, Jesus is silent. Still, she persists.
When Jesus explains that His mission has first been directed to the people of Israel, she does not become angry or insist that she deserves His help. Instead, she humbles herself before Him and continues to ask.
She recognizes that she has no claim on Jesus—and yet she trusts completely in His mercy.
Jesus responds, “O woman, great is your faith!” and her daughter is healed.
This is the attitude we need before God.
God does not owe us salvation, heaven or even the answers to our prayers that we think are best. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is remarkable precisely because it is a gift. We could never earn it, yet He freely chose to give Himself completely for us.
St. Paul reminds us in Romans 11:32 that God allows us to see the reality of human disobedience so that His mercy might be revealed to all. God knows our weakness. He knows we will fail—and He loves us anyway.
How different would our prayers become if we truly believed that?
Instead of approaching God with demands, we could pray like the Canaanite woman: Lord, I know I do not deserve anything from You, but I know You are good. I know You are merciful. Have pity on me.
And notice: she does not give up.
Jesus seems silent, and she keeps praying. She is challenged, and she keeps praying. She does not understand, and she keeps praying.
Her faith is not based on getting what she wants. Her faith is based on knowing who Jesus is.
Sometimes God answers exactly as we hope. Sometimes He does not. Sometimes He seems silent, and sometimes we cannot understand what He is doing.
But we can always say, “Lord, I trust You because I know who You are.”
We do not come to God because He owes us.
We come because He loves us.
May we ask for the faith of the Canaanite woman—a humble faith, a persistent faith and a faith that does not demand, but trusts.
Father James Schibi, Pastor