Acceptance

 

Those of you who have been around me long enough know that I don’t like talking to a computer on the phone. The answers the computer gives me never seem to be responsive to what I’m trying to do and I find myself getting more and more frustrated so that, by the time I get to talk to someone, I’m not a very pleasant person anymore. We all tend to get a little aggravated when the answers we get, whether from a customer service representative, repairman, coworker, or family member, are not what we wanted to hear.

 

I find the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman to be one of the most fascinating stories in the Gospels.  It’s the only story I know of in which someone speaking with Jesus got to have the last word. The woman asks Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus declines, saying “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). The woman doesn’t take offense at being referred to as a dog; rather, she replies, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27). Jesus commends her for her great faith and heals her daughter.

 

Jesus was sinless and so we know that He was not just being mean to the woman who made a request of Him. I think He was making a point that God sometimes answers our prayers in ways that may not be what we wanted, in ways that we find difficult to accept. The key, then, is how we accept His answer. If the Canaanite woman got angry with Jesus and left, she would never have seen her daughter healed.  If we know God’s answer and refuse to accept it, we will miss out on whatever He has in store for us.

 

It all comes down to a matter of will. Can we say, as Jesus did,” Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42)?