First Reading – Isaiah 56: 1, 6 – 7
Second Reading – Romans 11: 13 – 15, 29 – 32
Gospel – Matthew 15: 21 – 28
Following Jesus means that we ought to leave our comfort zone and accept God’s ways of thinking and acting. He calls everyone to be with him, be close to him and respond to him. Yet his ways are different and purposeful.
Looking into the world around us we are baffled and shaken by conflicts that spring from religious intolerance. There are the attacks on groups of other religions, hate filled writings published, continual hatred and mistrust is shown. Even though there is a desire by a few for unity and togetherness, there are more forces that take people in opposite direction.
Today’s three readings show God’s plan as revealing and unfolding a more generous love that stretches to people inviting them to follow him. This reveals generously a world where the Kingdom of God exists and is big enough to welcome everyone. Wherever hatred and narrow-mindedness and prejudice come from, surely, they are not from God. But they must wait in patience to recognise the divine message and his working which finally leads to a response.
In the Gospel of today we have the healing of the daughter of the Canaanite woman and Jesus praises the faith of the pagan woman and cures her daughter. We are presented with his apparent hesitation to heal her daughter until her persistence demonstrates her great faith.
Today’s Reading from the Gospel of Matthew, the account of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, is one of the rare encounters of Jesus with gentiles. When Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon in Southern Phoenicia, he was approached by a woman who abounded in love for her daughter who was tormented by a demon. Most likely she would have heard of the great miracles that Jesus was performing towards the Jewish people, this Canaanite woman took it upon herself to personally locate Jesus and asks him to have pity on her. The Gospel narrative tells us that at first, Jesus ignored her. He did not show any response to her request. The more Jesus ignored her, the more the woman shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me.” When the woman was shouting repeatedly the disciples of Jesus were getting annoyed and urged Jesus to send her away so that she would go away, and they would have their peace.
However, the woman has other ideas. She is not about to take no for an answer. Anyway, the determined lady knew a good thing when she saw it and she was not about to give up on Jesus. She threw herself at His feet and repeated the words, “Lord, help me.” What is important is that her prayer expresses both helplessness and faith. Even when Jesus responds sharply that it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs, a slang used to indicate the gentiles. The gentiles, in the eyes of the Jews were total outsiders and unclean and were considered no better than dogs. But she responds with an answer that catches Jesus off guard. She tells him that even though dogs do not get children’s food, they will surely eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. Seeing how great her faith and her remarkable perseverance, Jesus tells her, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.”
Reflecting on the miracle we understand that Jesus’ reason for not listening to her is that he was sent only to the house of Israel and not to others. He seems to be saying that, since she is an outsider, her problem is of no concern to him. In fact, Jesus’ mission and work was almost entirely centred on his own people and it was left to his disciples to go out to the world and preach. We know from the Acts of the Apostles, they did not realise that at first. It took some special experiences before they realised that the gentiles could also be filled with the Spirit of God and were being called to be followers of Jesus. Matthew stresses the key issue of today’s Gospel namely the place of the gentiles in a Christian community that originally considered itself exclusively for Jewish people.
Finally, the Canaanite woman teaches us the need to persevere in our prayers. We must realise that when we ask God for something it does not always result in getting what we have asked for. It helps us to see more clearly what God wants for us and what the best is really for us. What we need most is not the carrying out of our own wishes but having the peace and security that can only come from our being in total harmony with God’s will for us, so that his will and mine are identical. Here is the woman who asked much from Jesus and ultimately her prayers are answered. She had her love and faith in Jesus, and she loved her daughter too. She is rewarded for her faith and perseverance in her prayers. At the same time today’s Gospel is an affirmation that God’s love and mercy are extended to all who call on him in faith and trust, no matter whom they are or where they are. We had the words of Prophet Isaiah that the foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord and have loved his name and held on to his covenant, the Lord will bring them to the holy mountain. He will make them joyful in his house of prayer.