“Thus says the LORD: the people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert.”
-Jeremiah 31:2
The desert is not where we expect anyone to find favor. It is where we expect to find scarcity, the extremes of heat and sun exposure. It is where we expect only loss. And yet, this is where the Lord tells Jeremiah that the people have found favor, this place of great need.
No one else from prosperous Tyre or Sidon would have thought to ask a wandering preacher from Galilee for help, yet this particular woman in the Gospel thought just that. She goes to precisely this person whom all others would ignore. She persists even in the face of silence. She continues to seek Jesus, even when others following Jesus tell her to go away. How many deserts this woman faces, and precisely there… she finds favor.
There are some today who would consider turning to God in prayer as effective as wandering in a desert looking for the necessities of human life. There are others who simply because they seem to be following Jesus think they have no more to learn. Yet, as the Fathers of the Church read this Gospel, they saw this woman’s perseverance as a grace given by God precisely to evangelize not only the Sidonians and disciples of her day, but also of every age that steps into this encounter. How many times Jesus rebukes the smallness of the disciples faith! Even for those who believe, He usually limits Himself to saying, “your faith has saved you.” But with a most singular affirmation, the Lord says to this woman “great is your faith!” (Matthew 15:28) Let us pray for the grace to bring our needs to the Lord with perseverance, even through times of divine silence, even in the face of discouragement perhaps from others. Let us face such deserts with hope, that precisely through such challenges our faith may be increased, and may find what our hearts so seek from our Good Shepherd.