My Sisters and Brothers:
Today’s Gospel gives us the account of the Canaanite woman who pleads with Jesus to heal her tormented daughter (see Matthew 15:21-28). She persistently “kept calling after” and cried out to Jesus: “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” The Gospel tells us the disciples simply suggested “sending her away.” We even heard what seemed to be very harsh language on the part of Jesus when he said to her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel . . . it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” But those words were really only meant to emphasize the fact she was not Jewish; the real story is she would be shown mercy by Jesus none-the-less. In the end, Jesus recognized the “great faith” of that lowly, pagan, Canaanite woman, and she therefore received the blessing of her daughter’s cure as a result. As usual in the Jesus story, there’s no doubt this event absolutely scandalized the “religious leaders” of his time. In their eyes, a person such as the Canaanite woman deserved no attention, no respect, and certainly no blessings from those who were considered to be “the righteous.” But Jesus changed all the rules! Unfortunately for us, I believe there are still some “religious leaders” and “religious people” of our own time who are still shunning, showing contempt, and denying blessings to “modern day Canaanite women.”
The fact is there are many people in our world who are “different” from us; we might even be tempted to label such people as “sinners” much the same way the religious leaders at Jesus’ time would have given that same label to the Canaanite woman (and all of the people of her community). The “different” people in our lives might be members of our own families, the people with whom we work, our neighbors, those sitting next to us in the church pews; they might be foreigners, undocumented people, refugees, homeless people, drug addicts, panhandlers, gay and lesbian people, those with other cultural or racial backgrounds, republicans or democrats, etcetera, etcetera. The list could be rather long! Sometimes we might easily judge these people and we may readily dismiss them by our thoughts, words, and/or actions. We might have justified ourselves, and our conclusions, and believe that such people are unworthy of our attention and respect. But just as Jesus allowed the Canaanite woman to express her faith and to show confidence in his power, I believe so too must we allow for that possibility from the “different” people in our lives. The unfortunate fact is that some of these people have been so maligned they’ve been reduced to believing they are “unworthy” of the respect of others; they might then literally believe they’re only good enough to eat those metaphorical “scraps from the floor that fall from the table of their masters.”
I believe the Church Jesus founded was meant to be inclusive and loving, and even radical in its embrace of every single human being. It’s so sad to me to know that “religion” has often gotten in the way of what Jesus intended for his Church, and for the people who call themselves by his name. I believe today’s Gospel may challenge us to self-reflect about this. We might ask ourselves if we as individuals, and as a community, are indeed willing to open our doors and truly welcome all who might come through them, and without distinction, even if such people happen to be “different” from us. Or would we rather “send them away” because of who they are? I think I’m being clear about what my preference would be!
My friends, let’s remember that, in his time, Jesus changed all the rules! And we must always strive to imitate his radical ways of doing things, even as we interpret and apply “the rules” of this day and age. May we as a church community, and as people of faith, never align ourselves with the judgmental, the unmerciful, the hateful, and the self-righteous “religious people,” and others like them, of our own time. May the “modern day Canaanite women” always have a place in our lives, and especially in the pews of our church, and in our hearts! Let’s encourage each other with this message!
Praise God! Friar Timothy
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