Mama Bear

Have you ever known what you wanted and taking no for an answer was just not an option? Kids and teenagers are great at pleading their causes for things they know they want and they can negotiate with the best of them. No one, however, is quite as fierce an intercessor as a mom, most especially when her child is sick or in danger. Am I right? When a mom even senses that her child is in distress, the cry from within her is so powerful when unleashed and everybody better get out of the way because mama bear is ready to battle. Today’s gospel is a mama bear story. A Greek Syrophoenician woman approached Jesus and fell at his feet. I want us to picture ourselves falling at someone’s feet. This is an act of great humility and would have been humiliating for her in the shame-based culture of the Middle East. Immediately, Jesus recognizes that this non-Jew had tremendous faith and sincere humility. His heart was stirred and he knew he was in a very teachable moment. She begged him to deliver her daughter from the demon that possessed her. Ah, there’s the mama bear ready to fight for her beloved one. Jesus knew exactly what image to use to challenge her faith knowing that she would respond in such a way that would set an example for the rest of us: “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food from the children and throw it to the dogs.” Using a feeding your children image was the proverbial stick that pushed the mama bear into action, which was, of course, his plan. He knew she would advocate for her child. He knew her faith was strong enough to persist in her request. He knew that the witnesses of this scene needed to see what persistence in prayer could do. He knew that it was time to start planting the seeds that the gospel and Jesus came for all and not just the Jews. This one mama bear’s pleading gave Jesus the opportunity to teach us all about faith. How awesome is that? Her response is one of those lines that just makes you cringe because it feels like a rude response to Jesus’ already rude sounding statement. I love that she felt that she could dialogue with him in this way. Guess what, friends? We can dialogue with Jesus in this candid and real way too. She says, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” And I am quite sure that a smirk appeared on the face of Jesus, because she had not only passed the test, she passed it with flying colors. She acknowledged him as Lord, and she advocated in love on behalf of her own with the desire to drive out darkness. Jesus says, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” Yay, mama bear!! 

May our faith continue to grow. May our humility continue to deepen. May our prayer continue to persist. May our tenacity continue to rise up on behalf of our beloveds. We all have a mama bear inside of us that can advocate for our loved ones and Jesus can’t wait to see the faith with which we approach him. Might I add, that number one on our beloved’s list is our self. Yes. I guarantee that there will be no scraps served to the dogs, only a feast for ALL the children of God. It is well with my soul. 

Reading 1GN 2:18-25

The LORD God said:  
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him.”
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman
the rib that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:

“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.

The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.

Responsorial Psalm PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

R. (see 1a) Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
 blessed shall you be, and favored. 
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.  
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.

Alleluia JAS 1:21BC

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
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.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.