Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A)

 

     Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) [Mt 15:21-28]

20.08.2023

The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

Readings: (1) Is 56:1.6-7 (2) Rom 11:13-15.29-32

1.  Theme in brief

A deeper and persistent faith

2.  Focus Statement   

Healing or salvation is a gift given by Jesus to anyone who has “great” and persistent faith irrespective of his/her ethnic or racial background.

3.  Explanation of the text

Matthew has placed this passage immediately after Jesus’ dispute with the Pharisees and scribes regarding purity and impurity (15:1-20) to show that Gentiles will no longer be considered impure. Here, a Gentile woman belonging to the hated Canaanite race becomes a model of genuine faith. This indicates that God's compassion is no more restricted to the chosen race (Israel) and will lead to the world-wide Gentile mission in future. It looks as if Jesus purposely goes to Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile territory (15:21) and does this miracle to show that a Gentile woman has better faith than the chosen people (Israelites).  

In her desperate moment, the woman firmly believes that Jesus is the only hope for her daughter who is tormented by a demon (15:22). By addressing him as Lord and Son of David (15:22), she acknowledges that he is the promised Messiah from David’s dynasty (or from the Jewish race). All that she asks for is a prayer we often repeat in the liturgy: “Lord, have mercy” on me (15:22).

The disciples request Jesus to send away the woman either by attending to her need quickly or refusing her, because she seems to be a nuisance to them (15:23). Though he hears her shouting, first he does not answer at all (15:23), and later says his primary mission is for Israel whom he compares to a lost sheep as Isaiah did in his days (Is 53:6). If we think that Jesus is unwilling to answer her request because she is a Canaanite, this story would get an ethnic or racial colour. In fact, he is not interested in her race but in her faith.

In fact, Jesus severely tests her faith even after begging for help (15:25).  The first test comes when Jesus shows at first his reluctance to help her on the ground that his present mission is limited only to the lost seep of Israel (15:24), though a time will come when it will be equally open to the Gentiles. The second test comes when she comes and kneels before him (acknowledging his divine origin) and begs for his divine assistance (15:25). At that time Jesus answers that it is unfair to throw children’s bread to the pet-dogs in the house (15:26). Though this indirectly implies that the Jews are like children and Gentiles are like pet-dogs, it all depends on how one says it. Jesus’ compassion for her and her daughter and his appreciation for her faith later on clearly indicate that he must have used these seemingly rough words with a smile just to test how deep her faith is. She passes in the test of faith and comes out successfully when she wittingly replies that even the pet-dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table (15:27). She indirectly admits with all humility that though she is like pet-dogs, she must be permitted to eat at least the crumbs from the children’s share. She recognizes Israel's priority in the divine plan.

At the darkest moment of her life she goes on pleading persistently in spite of being snubbed both by the disciples and Jesus in the beginning. Here is a Gentile woman who is convinced that he is the Messiah and seeks his mercy, whereas the Jewish leaders reject him. Jesus appreciates and rewards her “great” and persistent faith by healing her daughter (15:28). The message becomes clearer that healing is a reward given by Jesus to anyone who has “great” faith irrespective of his/her ethnic or racial background. Though she only asks for crumbs that fall from the master's table, she receives a sumptuous feast when she sees her daughter in the pink of health. Jesus’ praise for her faith (15:28) makes it clear that both the Jews and Gentiles can approach God only through faith in him as Messiah, and not on the basis of their race.

4. Application to life                     

We notice four characters in today’s gospel text: the Canaanite woman, her daughter, the disciples of Jesus and Jesus himself. All the four had different attitudes. The daughter was tormented by a demon and not in her sound mind; the disciples wanted Jesus to dismiss the woman immediately; the woman recognized the divinity in Jesus by calling him the Son of David; but Jesus recognized her great faith and rewarded her by healing her daughter instantly purely on the merit of that faith.

It is a human tendency sometimes to do favours requested by people who are not so close to us, just to get rid of them. Like the disciples of Jesus, we too think of helping people, of the kind of Canaanite woman, to be freed from the nuisance they cause, and not really out of compassion or love as Jesus did. Once we can get rid of them, we think we can have peace. Thus our personal convenience takes precedence over genuine human need. It is good to examine and see how many times we have become deaf to the needs of the poor and the suffering and avoided them for our comforts. Are the poor and the needy persons a nuisance for us?

Secondly, discriminations and prejudices based on somebody’s gender, ethnic or racial origin, nationality, tribe or caste and religion are very common among people all over the world. We notice stereotyping and name-calling of people belonging to another ethnic/ racial/ caste/ religious community in various parts of the world. We have also witnessed religious crusades or hate campaign against others’ religion and ethnic cleansing or genocide in the pages of history up to modern times. Even today religious fundamentalism or fanaticism gives rise to wars, riots and terrorist activities. From today’s gospel text we come to know that Jesus crossed three barriers in order to heal the daughter of the Canaanite woman.

First of all, she was a woman who did not matter much in his society because of gender discrimination between men and women; secondly she was a hated Gentile and a follower of an idolatrous religion; and worst still she was a Canaanite by race whose people were considered to be national and religious enemies of Israel. Jesus did not attend to her appeal in the beginning, not because she was a woman, or a Gentile, or an enemy of his race and religion. For him all these things were immaterial. He just wanted to see the depth of her faith by testing it.  Once she passed the test of faith, he rewarded it by healing her daughter instantly. Though she was a pagan, Jesus finds in her “great faith” (15:28) in contrast to the “little faith” of disciples whom he had chided earlier. His heart is bigger and larger than our exclusive boundaries. He wants to tell us that God looks into our hearts and the depth of our faith and not at our gender, race, caste or nationality. Faith alone brings salvation and not our races. We have to examine ourselves and see whether we exclude or shut out some people from our service or dealings due to prejudices against their caste, race, nationality, religion and bad record; whether we make room for everybody in our dealings; whether we are ghetto-minded; and whether our faith in Christ and the example of this non-Israelite woman motivate us to overcome our racial and religious prejudices with the power of faith.

Various type of prejudices mentioned above are so deeply rooted in us that our Christian faith has not succeeded in removing them fully. Why? We have two natures, so to say. Our first nature is human nature. As far as human nature is concerned we are like all other people of the world. But the culture in which we are born makes us unlike other people of the world. It becomes our second nature, since it gets deeply rooted in our psychic system through a process called ‘enculturation’. (Anthropologists use this term for the process through which a child unconsciously imbibes the cultural patterns of the society into which it is born and brought up.) Because of enculturation we think that our customs, food, dress, songs, attitudes, etc., are the best ones and others’ are not so good. Similarly, we are brought up to think that our religion is the best one and what others believe is mostly superstition.

Today’s gospel deals with the issues of inclusion and exclusion in our social relationships and in the Church. Jesus makes it clear that the only condition for salvation is faith and human need. Anyone who is in need of God’s grace and our helping hand should not be turned away. When this condition is met, our policy should be: “Include all, exclude none!” All of us have our boundaries. But our Christian faith is supposed to equip us with supernatural grace to go beyond our boundaries and rise above our natural inclinations. But quite often ethnic/ racial/ caste/ religious prejudices predominate over faith even among those who have undergone long years of spiritual formation and theological training. This passage makes it clear that God’s mercy is above ethnic and religious barriers that we humans have established. We need to make conscious efforts every day to overcome our prejudices with the power of faith. Otherwise the result will be scandalous divisions, groupism, unhealthy competitions, power struggle based on group affiliation, etc., in our Christian communities, dioceses and religious congregations. Today’s gospel invites us to move from our narrow-mindedness to broadmindedness, from ghetto-mentality to universal outlook, and from exclusive relationships to inclusiveness.

Thirdly, the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel teaches us about the need for persistent faith and perseverance in prayer. It is clear that she loved her daughter so dearly. That ardent love motivated her to plead with Jesus with persistence and perseverance. She considered Jesus not only as her only hope but also the only hope for her daughter’s life. From the beginning her approach to Jesus was of total trust and humility. First she addressed Jesus as the Lord and Son of David (that is, the promised Messiah from David’s dynasty). Then she asked him to have mercy on her. Later she knelt down before him in humble prayer, begging for his help. She did not give up at both the tests put by Jesus: (1) that his ministry for the time being is limited only to Israelites; and (2) that it is not fair to give children’s bread to pet-dogs. Jesus rewarded her indomitable and persistent faith. The decisive question is whether we show our unshakable trust in God by persistently praying, like her, especially when God delays granting us what we ask for in prayer for reasons known to him alone.  Even after praying regularly if we do not get what we ask in prayer, there is a great temptation in all of us to give up prayer altogether. Our prayer of petitions is not meant only to get personal favours from God, but also to increase our dependence and trust in him. Repeated pleading like the Canaanite woman, makes us humble beggars of God’s mercy and increase our intimacy with him. Intimacy or communion with God is what prayer is all about.

5.  Response to God's Word

Do we exclude or shut out some people from our service or dealings due to prejudices against their caste, race, religion and bad record? Do we make room for everybody in our dealings? Are we Christians ghetto-minded? Do we have the persistent faith like this Canaanite woman? Do we perseverance of faith, especially when God does not grant us exactly what we desire? Due to our failure to make conscious efforts to overcome our prejudices with the power of faith in Christ, do we become a part of those forces that create scandalous divisions, groupism, unhealthy competitions, power struggle based on group affiliation, etc., in our communities?

6.  A prayer.

Gracious Lord, grant that genuine human need may take precedence over our personal convenience in our conduct. We are sorry for the times we excluded or shut out some people from our service or dealings due to prejudices against their caste, race, nationality, religion and bad record. Grant that we may make conscious efforts every day to overcome our prejudices with the power of our faith and move from our narrow-mindedness to broadmindedness, from ghetto-mentality to universal outlook, and from exclusive relationships to inclusiveness.