Proper 15: Gospel, Matthew 15:21-28                                       

Matthew 15:21-28

We have been learning this week of the largeness of God’s plan. His desire is that salvation from on high would encompass all peoples. And while the people of Abraham have a special locale in God’s heart, they were to share that immense heart of love with everyone with whom they crossed paths. One needs only to turn to the first few verses of Genesis 12 to find God’s great promise and call to Abraham. The result? The signal blessing of God to all the families of the earth.

In the gospel above we run across a mother, a Gentile mother, whose daughter is demon-possessed and she comes to the Nazarene Carpenter. She uses His very Jewish label, “Son of David” to gain His attention. She does, but in what seems to be a rather cold exchange the compassionate Savior basically fills her in on the truth that she and her daughter don’t fall in the right camp for blessing from the Jewish Messiah. Of course that isn’t the case at all, but Jesus is after something. And He finds it. In this Gentile mother’s heart, along with the heart of every mom’s desire to see her children whole, there resides something else: faith. And Jesus even labels hers as “great.” Her faith is great, not primarily in a quantitative sense, but it is made great by its object.

The Gentile mother came to Jesus, called on Him in line with all the hope of an expectant daughter of Abraham. And although outside the bounds of the covenant, she found herself well with the bounds of the love of the Covenant God. There was joy all around. From the healing of the demon-possessed girl to the divine acceptance of her mother, all was well. Great faith bears great results.