Who are “registered Catholics” or “baptized pagans”?

The Lord Jesus often encounters the unbelief of the natives and states: “Not a single prophet is rare in his own country” (Lk 4:24). The teachers of the law and the leaders of the nation not only do not accept his teachings, they cannot be addressed by the miracles and signs that he performs, but on the contrary, they cut into his life.

The opposite is a woman from the region of Tire and Sidon, which is the land of the Gentiles, whom the Jews despise. The buckwheat woman turns to Jesus. He is addressing a Jew. The dialogue that echoes on that occasion is interesting. Jesus does not answer the woman. It would seem that Jesus has a hard heart towards this distressed woman who pleads for the healing of her daughter who is terribly afflicted by an evil spirit. It would seem that the apostles are more inclined towards her when they intercede for her. This was just so that they would have peace from the woman because the woman was calling loudly. However, Jesus fulfills the promise that God the Father gave to Abraham for his faith. Jesus does not reject the woman. Jesus wants the woman to express herself like Abraham, that is, to express her faith in God, in the Deity of Jesus Christ. The cold attitude of Jesus does not deter the woman. He does not give up on Jesus. She believes that Jesus can fulfill her request and heal her daughter. Syrians and Jews lived in enmity.

What attitude to take towards them? How to treat him? What to do, because we must not remain silent…
A woman comes to Jesus and begs: “… to cast the devil out of her daughter” (Mk 7:26).

Let us think about the difficulty of faith of those who stand outside the Church – who do not believe and do not want to believe; who say they believe and do not practice their faith; who have already departed from God, live as heathens, unbelievers; who laugh at faith even though they “believe”; who left Christ and today are members of sects, followers of various movements and cults. But also those who profess another religion.

Jesus wants the woman to show the Jews what is decisive, what God asks of us. Total devotion to God. Man’s dependence on God. To trust in God more than in oneself, belonging to a family, language, nation, or homeland. Jesus’ words addressed to the woman are not an insult to the woman, but a test for what the woman will say so that Jesus can give an explanation, a lesson to the Jews present based on her words. The firm faith of the woman amazes the crowd. She believes that children have the right to bread first and then puppies. But she only begs for the very crumbs that the Jews despise. The woman believes that Jesus is the Messiah. And such a woman, full of faith, should Jesus have rejected? After all, she asked Jesus as God to heal her daughter, so that the evil spirit would no longer have power over her. Jesus praises the woman’s faith.

The woman agreed with Jesus, and Jesus agreed with her. She honored his will as holy, and he fulfilled her will. His goodness did not lag behind her faith. He called her faith significant. Such faith is great, which seeks great grace from Christ.