Persistence in the Face of High Improbability August 17, 2014
Episcopal Church of the Ascension The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess
Introduction. The un-named Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel reading was extraordinarily persistent. She broke through the protective circle of disciples surrounding Jesus and pleaded her case, even when Jesus’ initial reaction was not positive. Her determined persistence ~ acting on her faith ~ carried the day. The probability that she could convince Jesus to heal her daughter was very low, yet she persisted. She was a Gentile, a woman, and a person from a nation that had typically been in deep conflict with the Jews; yet she persisted.
In writing this sermon, I reflected upon times in my own life when I have persisted in the face of what seemed like overwhelming negative odds. For example, when Peg and I were first married, we had difficulty in conceiving a child. Tests indicated that the underlying problem was mine, and we were told to give up hope. But with God’s help, we persisted, sought a second medical opinion at a large teaching hospital, and received the treatment we needed. Two children and five grandchildren later, I am grateful for the gift of persistence in the face of fear and disappointment. Fear and disappointment because we knew that there were no guarantees that persistence would change the original outcome.
And I remembered the long nights in seminary; one in particular comes to mind ~ studying all the earliest Anglican theologians in the original Old English. I was studying in bed, surrounded by twenty open books, and I understood about 10% of what I read. The strongest temptation came over me ~ just quit this seminary stuff. This is next to ridiculous! I will never preach a sermon using Old English, nor did I have any desire to do so. I remember calling Peg and saying, “Come up to New Haven, because I’m pulling out and need you to help me move out of here!” As we talked, I remember beginning to re-experience the clarity of my vocational call and my faith. I went back to those books and persisted forwarded.
II. A Deep Spiritual Truth. I believe that today’s brief and in a way slightly perplexing Gospel teaches us a deep spiritual truth: that based upon our faith as believers in Jesus Christ, we have the strength and the wisdom to persist in the face of mightily powerful challenges in our lives. And that strength and wisdom enable us to do so in hope. In the Gospel, the pleading, unnamed woman addressed Jesus as “Lord.” Throughout Matthew, only believersaddressed Jesus as Lord. In addition, Jesus praised this woman for her great faith. Search the Gospel of Matthew and you will find that she is the only person to receive such high praise from Jesus. Read again the conclusion of our Gospel: “’Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.”
Right now, many of us are facing or will in the future face significant and tough challenges. We do not always have the resolution to these challenges that we desire. But what we do know is that it is our persistence grounded in our faith that will allow us to seek God’s help, and, to receive in response the grace-filled assistance that God determines to provide us.
Think of the number of times Jesus lifted up the power of persistence ~ the parable of the woman who needed court intervention from a non-caring judge. Due to her persistence, he finally heard her case and justice was done. Or the man who had a need in the middle of the night and knocked on his neighborhood’s door until the neighbor finally agreed to help him. So, my sisters and brothers, we can and must rely upon our faith to persistently reach out to God for the help we need and live in the hope that God will respond because God loves us.
III. Inclusion: There is a second remarkable element to this story. Once again, Jesus broke all the rules and intervened in the life of a woman viewed by the Jews as unclean and alien. Notice how the disciples urged Jesus to send her away. Initially, he hesitated in helping her. It’s not clear why ~ perhaps he wanted this exchange to play out in the fullest way. But he did heal this Canaanite woman’s young daughter.
Jesus was inclusive; he was a rule-breaker, and he set the stage for a whole re-definition of the value of human beings. Think about it ~ the first missionary of the Christian Church was the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus talked with her at length and broke all the religious and cultural rules about gender and race. He challenged the distinctions made by humans and brought them crashing down. He took on the power structure, and they retaliated by killing him. His response was to come back again in three days, destroying death. It is an integral part of our faith to follow Jesus’ loving, inclusive example in the ways in which we lead our own lives and in how we apply and practice our faith.
In just a few moments we will renew our baptismal covenant. We will affirm that we will honor and respect the dignity of every human being. As you know, this idea is revolutionary in our world, just as it was in the time of Jesus. I do not believe that respecting others’ dignity is a passive matter of tolerance. No, it’s a willingness to pro-actively live out that value every moment of our lives. It’s a matter of the small and the large ways we consistently communicate Christ’s love to others. It affects deeply how we greet one another this morning. It affects how we respond to other parishioners who are ill or struggling in some way. It affects how we use our resources and how we participate in our parish community. And folks, it deeply affects our willingness and ability to be tolerant and open to the ideas and perspectives of others, not assuming that we are the wisest among us.
V. Conclusion. You see, the two aspects of this Gospel upon which we are reflecting this morning ~ faith and persistence and breaking beyond existing barriers ~ are mutually re-enforcing. We cannot model ourselves after Christ unless we are willing to step out and be empowered by him. And we cannot be empowered unless we have the mind and heart of Christ.
For example, I am deeply saddened by what has been unfolding in the Middle East. Due to the hostilities there, one of the only health care resources in Gaza is the Hospital associated with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Since there has been no power in Gaza, the hospital must operate on very expensive fuel to run the generators. I want to thank Yvonne Poppen for sending me the initial email I received about this. When we think about human suffering with the mind of Christ, we are moved. I intend to send a monetary donation to the hospital. If any of you are moved to augment that gift, please let me know. This is but one example ~ the key point is that the mind of Christ moves us beyond cultural, social, and political barriers, and the love of Christ allows us to have faith in how fully he will respond to us in our times of need. Thank you God for allowing us to participate in the sacred redemptive love of Jesus.