Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the Time!!! And All the Time!!! God is Good!!!
The universal embrace of God’s saving plan is clearly evident in this reading. This chapter of Isaiah serves as a preface to the concluding major unit of the book. A prominent theme in this final unit is sincere service to God, which leads to the prosperity and peace only God can give. It all follows from the prophet’s earlier oracles challenging God’s people to step away from pride and to recognize that their true purpose is to serve the interests of God.
A very heated debate was going on in Matthew’s community at the time of this Gospel. It focused on the place of gentiles in the Christian community. Could Jewish Christians and gentiles coexist in the same community? The purpose of today’s story about the Canaanite woman petitioning Jesus for help answers that question in the affirmative.
The Canaanite woman. The setting is the pagan region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman emerges and petitions Jesus to help her daughter tormented by a demon. The designation Canaanite implies that the woman is a gentile. Jesus assumes the role expected of a Jew, he ignores the gentile woman. He then reaffirms his own Jewish mission. He is to minister only to Jews, “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The disciples, as would many Jewish Christians in Matthew’s community, want the woman sent away.
Faithful persistence. Ordinarily the rebuffed Canaanite woman would have left when confronted by such a negative response. However, she does not leave. In fact, she goes further than the first time. Now she pays Jesus homage and refers to him as “Lord.” Again she petitions Jesus to help her daughter. This time the response of Jesus is almost shockingly harsh. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” A derogatory designation for Canaanites was dog. That should have been the final blow to the woman’s hope for help. But it was not!
Faith overpowers fear. The Canaanite woman quips right back to Jesus that “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Jesus is almost speechless. This woman has won the day. Her faith is so powerful that nothing, not even a personal rebuke from Jesus, will prohibit her from getting what she wants. She is bold and willing to risk everything to get her daughter help. She is convinced that Jesus, the lord and the son of David, is the one who can help her. When Jesus finally speaks, all he can say is, “O Woman, great is your faith!” She gets her wish and her daughter was healed that very hour. This is a powerful story about the dynamics of faith crossing all barriers, embracing all peoples. Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org.©2016. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius