Persistence

Mark 7:27-28: "(Jesus) said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."
In this Scripture, we meet a woman who we are told is a Gentile (a non-Jew) of Syrian-Phoenician descent. Jesus has left the territory of the Jews, God's chosen people, and entered a territory with other kinds of people. He enters a house, perhaps to rest from his journey, but instead gets approached by a woman whose daughter is plagued by an evil spirit. She requests that Jesus heal/exorcise the demon from her daughter. Jesus gives a curious response, calling the woman's people dogs. This is a challenging statement for us to deal with because we usually see Jesus being inclusive of all kinds of people, even those who are outcast by others. Why would Jesus use such a derogatory name for this woman's ethnic group?
Most scholars think that Jesus is pointing out the order of his ministry: to Jews first, then to non-Jews. In many places we learn that the good news has to go out to the Jews (God's chosen people) before it can go out to the rest of the world. This makes sense if you consider the special covenants God had with them, covenants promising to deliver them, to save them, to give them an eternal inheritance.
What is most interesting in this Scripture, though, is the woman's response to Jesus: "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." She is not disagreeing with the order of Jesus' mission (first to the Jews, then to others). She doesn't even take offense to being called "a dog." Instead, she is persisting in her request that Jesus give some kind of spiritual help to her daughter. You can see her persevering love, the love of a good parent. What good parent would not go any distance, persevere any amount of time, provide any kind of help they could for their hurting child? What a model of parenthood this woman is! Even when it seemed she was turned down by Jesus, she persisted out of pure love for her daughter! And the rest of the story? "Then (Jesus) said to her, "For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone." The purpose of this story is to show the result of persistent prayer.
So, parents, persist in your prayers to Jesus for your children! They are powerful indeed! If you have no biological children, pray for the children and youth of the Church and our society today! Those prayers are powerful too!