It was a spontaneous conversation. I had just returned from a long absence when I engaged a gentleman in conversation. I talked about my trip, my experience with the vibrant faith I encountered, and he, in turn, shared a little of his own faith journey.
Retired, widowed he found more and more solace in rosary prayer, mass, sometimes twice a day. He joked when he said,” I want God to know my name”. What a wonderful response. I want God to know my name. He knows all our names. They are written in the palm of his hand. The psalmist today in psalm 106 voiced a similar desire:” Remember me as you favor your people”
The women in the gospel passage today certainly wanted Jesus to know who she was. It’s an interesting gospel on several levels. We who profess believe in Jesus have been taught that he is like us in all things but sin, that not only was he the Son of God, but he took on flesh in the womb of his mother, Mary.
This humanity of Jesus was in full view today. It strikes me that Jesus was exhausted. He purposely tried to avoid engagement with any one at that moment quietly entering a house and hopefully going unnoticed. He wanted to be alone. In some ways he was acting like some of us. At times we want to be left alone, not have to perform or engage
This woman was not going to let him be alone. She had a need. She was different from the people that Jesus had been engaging with and he told her this. She wasn’t deterred.
It was a strange interaction. She was reminding Jesus of something he would have heard attending synagogue services: remember me as you favor your people.
Saint Mark in telling us about this encounter wanted all who would hear, particularly the fledging Christian community, about being inclusive. The women wanted Jesus’ attention, to do for her what she heard he had done for others. She not only got his attention, but she has gotten the attention of all who continue to hear this passage.
It was a plea to be heard, to be recognized. It is a plea that manifests itself today across the world, in our homes, the workplace, in our church.
In Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we read that before faith was revealed we were locked in by the constraints of the law but with the coming of Christ among us, those constraints were released. The lady in the gospel today was in the presence of faith: the person of Jesus. She had faith in him. She would become a daughter of God because of her faith in Jesus.
