Ever drive down the freeway and approach a highway that goes to some faraway place, and just want to take it?  Maybe we’ve just come from a disastrous business meeting, a breakup with a girlfriend, or a blow-up with a best-friend – and we just want to ditch it all and get away.

No doubt the mom we meet in this Sunday’s gospel felt the same way.  Her daughter was gravely ill, and she had nowhere to turn.  But she didn’t run away from the problem, she ran to the solution.

At first Jesus didn’t pay any attention to this woman because she was all wrong – wrong gender, religion, race, and ethnicity – but she was determined. She knew Jesus could fix it.  She knew that life trumps death, hope trumps despair, healing trumps illness, and Jesus overcomes it all.

“Ditching it all” only ever gives a fleeting moment of relief – it doesn’t ultimately help.  She had to persevere, she had to be determined, she had to stay on the highway no matter how difficult and troublesome.

Every day you and I are tempted to take the easy route.  That exit ramp to evasion is an enticement we often can’t resist.  In our world of short attention spans, quick rewards, and the avoidance of anything painful, it makes doing the hard work of staying the course toward what’s good and right, even tougher.

But this is where the reward is – and we know it.

Each one of us have been given a project, an attitude, a relationship, a commitment, to which the completion will bring glory to God.  But the road gets tough.  We want to take the exit ramp, any exit ramp.  Jesus’ message to us is that it pays to stick to it.  There is a reward for ambition, determination, and perseverance.

What places in our lives are demanding this?  Are we quitting too soon?  Are we avoiding what we ought to be up to?  What do we need to do to quit running away from the problem, and run toward the solution?

Reading

Matthew for Everyone – NT Wright

Not Your Parent’s Offering Plate – J. Clif Christopher

Beginner’s Grace – Kate Braestrup