Two women who drew the best out of Jesus

In the gospel of Mark it is women who draw out the best from Jesus. You remember the story about the woman suffering from a haemorrhage found in Mark 5:21-43. She felt so unworthy to approach Jesus that she crawled through the crowd in the hope that she would not be discovered. All she wanted to do was merely touch Jesus’ cloak. In doing so, she had the faith to draw power out of Jesus, power that instantly healed her. Jesus also knew that there was just one person in all that crowd who could do that and sought to hear her story, a story of extraordinary faith. Today we hear of another woman, in Mark 7:24-30, who sought a moment when Jesus would be alone because she also felt unworthy to approach Jesus. Why? Because she was a pagan, a non-Jew, who was looked down upon by Jews, she knew that she was crossing what many Jews saw as a sacred boundary that separated Jews from others. But she desperately wanted her daughter to be freed from the devil that possessed her. Now, in a different way, this woman drew the best out of Jesus. Maybe he was testing her when he made that awful suggestion that was probably common in those days (one may wonder whether similar comparisons are made today!) that pagans were like house-dogs and so were not entitled to the benefits granted the Jews. This woman met the test by saying that even house-dogs can eat the children’s scraps that fall from the table. She no doubt won Jesus’ admiration because this woman understood even better than his closest followers what Jesus was on about and the scope of his mission. No one is excluded because Jesus would banish the devil of exclusion and call all into communion as sisters and brothers before the one God of us all. Thank God for the faith and determination of these two remarkable women.