TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (2023)
Readings:
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Psalms 67:2-3, 5-6, 8
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28
We are right to be somewhat offended by the reaction of Jesus and His disciples to the approach of the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel. Indeed, one would hope for at least a little discomfort on the listener’s part. While what we have in the gospel might more accurately be called ‘cultural racism,’ that doesn’t excuse the thought “that one’s own race is superior and has the right to dominate others, or that a particular racial group is inferior to the others.”
To put differences into perspective, we are dealing with a people (Israelites) who were proudly convinced that God called Abraham in the Book of Genesis (12:2), and God chose his offspring, Israel, from all the nations on earth to build His covenant kingdom. They will defeat in battle all the nations on the earth, and they “were to make no covenant with them… they shall not intermarry… for they will turn your sons from following Me… and then the anger of the Lord will flare up against you” (Dt. 7:3-4). They were to treat the foreigners harshly, and they would do that because “the Lord loved you and because of his fidelity to the oath He had sworn to your ancestors” (Dt. 7:8).
Centuries of such thinking would follow, but from time to time prophets would spring forth from Israel and make every effort to insert a balance to their religious beliefs (some of which are held, even today, by nationalist Christian sects). One such balance is given to us in our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah: “And the foreigners (non-Jews) who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Just as there are peoples today who express an extremist and unchristian version of the gospel, so also, at the time of Jesus, most Pharisees and Scribes were spreading words of intolerance, and it was in this atmosphere that Jesus and His disciples existed. That intolerance of the “different” would get Jesus put on a Cross.
Just previous to our Sunday gospel story, Jesus has an encounter with the Pharisees over the disciples not washing their hands before they eat [laws of purification]. Jesus goes so far as to call them hypocrites for “they honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” What enters the stomach is of no consequence; it is from the heart that “comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.” It is in this context that Matthew gives us the story of the Canaanite woman.
Today’s psalm response speaks of “all nations” praising God, and in our second reading Paul is quick to point out that he is “the apostle to the Gentiles” and that God “has mercy on all.” Perhaps the Canaanite woman was more convinced of that than Jesus disciples, for in her desperation she has the courage to approach Jesus and cry out “have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” The first rebuff comes in Jesus’ apparent desire to say nothing to her. The disciples have grown impatient with her, and they want Jesus to send her away (second rebuff). Jesus finally speaks to her, stating: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” That certainly was the party line, and a Jewish audience (to whom Matthew was writing) would expect to hear that. After the woman humbles herself by “doing Jesus homage” (she recognizes a truth that is not shared by all), the third rebuff comes when Jesus says to her: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Ouch! If that language, used frequently in Jesus’ day to describe non-Jews, stung the woman to the core, there is no evidence (third rebuff) in the gospel. Barely missing a beat, the woman responds, “Please, Lord, for even dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Jesus grants her wish, because “great is her faith.”
Most of us would have lost faith (she always spoke to Jesus in a reverential/Messianic manner) by the second rebuff. In her heart, the Canaanite woman knew that Jesus was the One, the one that could change the troubling situation her daughter had been in for some years. The Canaanite woman’s faith was born of years of desperation. She was not about to give up even after being referred to as a “dog,” something she often heard Jews say when pagans walked by. Her faith and humility is contrasted with the so-called holy Scribes and Pharisees, who, in Jesus’ eyes, are only hypocrites.
The overall lesson of today’s liturgy is appropriate for the time in which we live, for a lack of tolerance, a lack of respect for those who are different from us seems to have grown exponentially over the past few years. The liturgy makes it clear that God’s love and mercy is intended for all peoples. No one is incapable of sharing God’s love, and the flow of grace from God above flows to all: to those who are different from us, to those who live “on the other side of town,” to those who live in poverty, suffer addiction, or those who have personality ‘disorders’ that we may never understand. The colors of our skin, or the different places we may or may not worship, present no barriers to God’s love. As Paul said in our second reading, “God delivered all to disobedience that He might have mercy upon all.”
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