Pestering Prayers
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The great people of prayer—Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, and a nameless Gentile mother from the region of Tyre and Sidon—insist that prayer is a dialogue with a personal God, even at times a struggle and a wrestling. In fact, it was this anonymous mom whom Jesus singled out as an exemplar of prayer after she had wrestled with him over her request.
This had to chagrin his disciples. They'd tried to send her away because she was an annoyance, a pain in the neck. "Pain in the neck" is a good expression for someone who, like a stiff, sore neck, will irritate you no matter which way you turn. She wouldn't take no for an answer. She pestered and probed and cajoled until she got what she wanted. And Jesus, the master of prayer, lauded this pain in the neck as a great example of how to pray. That's the way it so often is with God: his ways are not our ways, and what makes us want to stop our ears, opens his. God, it would seem, likes to be pestered.
Shameless in Her Pleading
Part of what so moved Jesus about this woman's prayer had to have been the fact that she was a mother. Matthew's Gospel (15:21-28) says that she approached him when Jesus went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. "A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely'" (Matthew 15:22).
She was a mom at prayer. There is something deep in the character of God that responds to the prayers of parents, and to all who pray the way parents pray. Maybe it's because the prayers of moms and dads can be so humble and self-effacing, because to be a parent is, almost by definition, to be humbled, even humiliated.
This can make parents shameless in their pleading.
Probed behind the Silence
I think Jesus also loved it that this Gentile woman wasn't turned back by his silence. When at first she prayed to the Lord, "Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word," neither a yes nor a no (Matthew 15:23, italics mine). The silence of God is the greatest test of our faith. Sometimes it's in places with names like Dachau, Buchenwald, or Pol Pot's Cambodia; or as we look into the terrified eyes of an abused child or the gaunt stare of an AIDS baby. God's silence can be seen in the rows of amputees in a veteran's hospital or the mentally tortured in a psychiatric ward. God's silence is felt in the weight of crushing grief, described by C. S. Lewis in A Grief Observed:
"Meanwhile, where is God? … When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be—or so it feels—welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?"
Related Topics:
Faith, Persistence, Prayer
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Average User Rating:
Trae
Beautifully written! It inspired me to dig in the word :-)
K.
Excellent article - just what I need right now to cling to God and keep on asking and reminding myself of his promises. Stephanie Pease's comments about why Jesus handled the situation this way makes a lot of sense. I also wonder if there was something in his manner that encouraged the woman; a wink maybe, I don't know. Anyway, thanks for posting this article!
Stella
Thanks alot it has inspired me.Persistant in prayer pays and it shows how humble one is in the eyes of God. God is good all the time and He is our privider in times of neeed. Just now am so desparat i need a car am in a foreign land Please God visit me even as am in this Land and provide me with your choice of car so that your name may be glorified in Jesus name You are onmpresent Lord.AMEN
Stephanie Pease(Registered User)
I agree that Jesus sounds curmudgeonly when he makes the comment to the Gentile woman about taking food from the children and throwing it to the dogs. I also agree that when theologians try and explain this comment away as not as curmudgeonly as it sounds, that their arguments feel faked and forced. One exception I have found is the explanation of theologian Kenneth Bailey in his book "Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes". He argues that Jesus was teaching his disciples a lesson about their prejudices. That the attitude they displayed, when taken to excess, leads logically to the ridiculous and hurtful statement that Jesus expressed out loud. By saying out loud what they were all thinking in their hearts, Jesus forced them to acknowledge their unloving attitudes. This argument does not soften the impact of what Jesus said, but retains Jesus' character as loving and accepting of the marginalized.
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