NOTES for Mar 7:24-30

When we read in the Gospel that this woman was Syrophoenician, it does not mean that she was “second-class,” of the wrong origin, or had displeased Jesus in some other way. We know that the Savior is always ready to help and heal the poor, the sinful, and the rejected. The point is that she is a genuine pagan: she believes in pagan gods, worships them, and offers sacrifices. This is precisely why the Lord subjects her to such a trial of faith—to help her understand for herself why she is turning to Him for help rather than to her own gods.

A line is drawn here, as it were, between a person's pagan notions and an appeal to Jesus, that is, prayer. Prayer to Christ (and to the Father in Christ) is incompatible with paganism. Paganism does not necessarily mean belief in other gods; it also includes the hope, quite ordinary among many Christians, that is placed not in the one God but in something else: money, one's own abilities, one's political party, sheer luck, and so on. Paganism is living not for God but for someone else—for oneself, for example. If, while being pagans in this sense, we wish to ask Christ for something and turn to Him in prayer, we will have to undergo, together with this Canaanite woman, a complete reappraisal of our faith and understand why we have turned to Christ rather than to our idols...