Humility and Faith

In today’s gospel, we see a very inspiring woman.

and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, "Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She replied and said to him,
"Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go.

We see the woman’s humility and Faith. This is one of the few times Jesus actually “tests” a person. Usually, Jesus grants the people’s requests – for healing from sickness and disease, from freedom from evil spirits, even from death. However, today’s gospel shows us a different side of Jesus. His approach initially seems tough. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs” – meaning Jews first, the chosen people. Sila muna ang tutulungan ko. It doesn’t stop there. Jesus even compares her (being Greek makes her a non Jew, a gentile) to a dog. Grabe diba, request denied, tapos kinumpara pa sa aso. But it’s inspiring how great the woman’s faith and humility is. She was humble to come to him for her daughter’s healing, and was humble enough to accept and not be offended by Jesus words. Then we see her faith, na kahit parang nireject na sya ni Jesus, she still believed. Sabi nya “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Kung baga, sabi nya, OK lang Lord na kung tingin mo aso kami, pero may faith parin ako na kahit konti, kahit tira tira nalang ng para sa Jews, ay makakapag pagaling sa anak ko. And when Jesus told her that her daughter is free from the demon, she did not say “Lord, sumama ka naman sakin para sure” or “Lord, sure ka ha?” She just went home having faith that Jesus words will come true, and she was rewarded seeing her daughter free. How great her faith is! How humble she is! Inspiring!

How about us? How do we react? When God seem to say “no” to our requests, even if we feel that our request is for our good, or for other people’s good, what do we tell him? Do we get mad, insisting that what we are asking is a good thing, or do we humbly accept his will but keeping the faith? Do we respectfully ask in Faith, or are we proud, demanding that God grant our requests because we feel we are entitled to it?

May we always remember to have complete faith in God, yet humble enough to know and accept that His will is perfect, even if it does not seem to coincide with ours.

God bless!