This mother had every reason to give up. She was not the right race, she was powerless politically and Jesus flatly told her no. If ever there was a moment to give up, it was then. Yet she basically ignored Jesus' "no" and persisted in her begging.
The next story has a man brought to Jesus and the story says that his friends begged. No asking or just put him nearby like some people. These openly begged for Jesus to respond. That fact that they begged implies the need to beg, i.e., a slow response from Jesus.
In comparison my prayers don't seem very passionate. Often I have taken the first rejection as a "no" from God. And what does this mean to a generation that looks for "signs" from God more than it looks to Jesus? If either of these stories had occurred within the millennial generation, I think they would have ended differently. They would have definitely settled for a "no" answer. Yet perhaps the entire section is recorded to teach us about the person of Jesus and how we get his attention. If so, how does my prayer life compare? Perhaps another question that I have to answer would be "what is there in my life that I am so passionate about that I am ready to beg?"
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