What Did He Call Her?

"In Western cultures we don't have anything like this kind of assertiveness. We only have the assertion of our rights. We do not know how to contend unless we're standing up for our rights, standing on our dignity and our goodness and saying, 'This is what I'm owed.' But this woman is not doing that at all. This is rightless assertiveness, something we know little about. She's not saying, 'Lord, give me what I deserve on the basis of my goodness.' She's saying, 'Give me what I don't deserve on the basis of your goodness—and I need it now." —Timothy Keller, King's Cross, 88-89.