A loved one of so many tears will not be forgotten-as long as we are at the feet of Jesus.

20^th Sunday Ordinary Time Year A     20 August 2017    

Deacon John William McMullen

Lord, help me. 

Gospel: Matthew 15.21-28

Jesus continues to go head to head with the religious authorities, the scribes and Pharisees, who are insistent upon telling Jesus how he has got to focus on who’s in and who’s out, who’s clean and who’s unclean in God’s eyes.  So many voices shouting him down when He calls for mercy and love.

So Jesus took his disciples on a retreat of sorts, a pilgrimage to a location where he could get away from all the arguing. (No Twitter or Facebook and no 24 hour news cycle).

He leaves Jerusalem and goes north, through Samaria and Galilee and continues north. He leaves the comfort of his home in Galilee, and crosses over the border into the territory of Tyre and Sidon! Greek Syro-Phoenicia.

Jesus is not safe. He’s on the move.

The disciples did not want Jesus going into the wrong neighborhoods or, God forbid, crossing any borders.

And that’s when she showed up - A Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon."

A Canaanite woman? The Canaanites were the bane of Israel’s existence!

But, wait. In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ own genealogy mentions several Canaanite women. One was Ruth. She married the Hebrew man Boaz. She then became the mother of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of King David. So king David’s grandmother was a Canaanite woman!  Ah ha.

The woman says, “Have mercy on ME, but the concern is for her daughter who is tormented by a demon.” How many mothers have children who are tormented by various demons?

Where is Jesus in her desperation? He is silent. This does not mean he doesn’t hear her. He just doesn’t speak. He doesn’t act. Not yet at least.

* The disciples are annoyed by this woman’s prayer. “She’s bothering us! Send her away! Dismiss her! She’s too loud! Just give her what she wants to shut her up, then send her away! Was it because she was a Canaanite woman? Racism? Sexism?

Jesus knew what his disciples were saying and what they were thinking. “She’s too much for us. She’s a mess. Why can’t she be respectable and be a good woman and just be quiet and keep in her place. “Know your place, woman.” We can hear it.

She is disturbing their peace.

But she is calling on Jesus, not them.

Why is it so difficult for some people to allow women or minorities to say what they feel and think and be heard in their own their voice, without their words being distorted or ignored, and their personhood dismissed altogether?

Think of this woman’s courage. I wonder how many other people wanted to call out to Jesus, but didn’t have the courage.

We can hear the voices shouting her down. She’s from a different religious tradition.

Send her away!

Pretty soon all the gentiles will want to follow you and have a share in the kingdom of God.”

She’s a woman of color.

Where’s her husband anyway?

She’s got a demon possessed daughter.

Get her out of here!

Throw her out!

She didn’t send her daughter to Catholic school. She’s not in our women’s bible study.

Why, she isn’t in our parish directory, and she certainly doesn’t have collection envelopes.

Don’t let her kind in here, or else there will be others who will want to come in.

Imagine this woman’s desperation. She will do anything for her daughter.

She casts herself upon the mercy of the Lord only to hear nothing.

But Jesus’ silence and his disciples’ efforts to silence her did not deter her from calling upon the Lord.

Send her away.

Dismiss her.

But Jesus answers: “I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

The woman then throws herself down at Jesus’ feet: “Lord, Help Me!”

Jesus answers: “It is not right to throw the food (bread) of the children to the dogs.”

The woman boldly replies: “Please, Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps, the crumbs, that fall from the children’s table.”

And Jesus proclaims, “Woman, great is your faith!”

She is humble and admits, “Yes, I am a dog. I confess my guilt. I come from nothing.

But a crumb of your goodness can change my daughter’s life!”

* I wonder if Jesus said, "It is not right to take the food of the children and give it to the dogs" because that's what the disciples were saying, so Jesus allows his disciples to hear what prejudice sounds like.

The woman uses the dog metaphor to her advantage.  "...being so bold as to become Jesus' teacher, or at least the disciple’s teacher.”

  

Did Jesus humble himself and allow her to teach the disciples the nature of mercy?

Did Jesus think, “Well, I‘ve tried to teach them. I’ll allow her to teach the boys a thing or two”?

Regardless, the apostles received a lesson that they would remember for they take the gospel message to the ends of the earth.

“Woman, great is your faith!”

Jesus is challenging all of us who are tempted to cling to a fearful, stingy faith.

Meanwhile the Woman is at the feet of Jesus.

She has cast all of her cares upon the Lord. 

“Woman, great is your faith!”

She reminds us of the Roman soldier who came to Jesus and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my son shall be healed” (Matthew 8.5-13; John 4.46-54).

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven…” And Jesus said to the centurion, “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.” And at that very hour [his] servant was healed (Matt. 8.10-11, 13).

So Matthew’s gospel is showing us that Gentile dogs are invited into the kingdom.

Were all like dogs. Aren’t we. We depend totally upon our Master for our daily bread. Woof, woof!

The woman is willing to humble herself, like a dog who eats the scraps, the crumbs that fall from the Father’s table, but the crumbs of bread are bread. She desires to be nourished with the same bread that the children of Abraham eat at the banquet table of God, and these crumbs are a foreshadowing of the Eucharistic feast that we will soon celebrate at this altar.

“Woman, great is your faith!”

But let us reflect on the silence that Jesus gave the woman’s request.

How do we deal with the silence of God?

But what of our own experience of silence when we pray?

Many of us know that anguish.

Many of us know what it is to pray and pray and pray and hear nothing.

The silence of Jesus is difficult. Many of us feel like Jesus does not hear us or at least is not responding to us.

We pray: Lord, help me!

And some still hear the words from certain disciples: “Send her away!”

She stands weeping in the rain at the corner of Vann and Covert waiting for the bus to go to a job interview.

She receives communion with tears in her eyes, but then slips away at the end of Mass, feeling ashamed or less than the beautiful parishioners.

She has worn out the beads of her rosary from her constant praying, wearied from weeping in prayer for her child who is addicted to drugs.

She is exhausted from praying for her husband who is lost in pornography or to alcohol – or both.

Others pray as they go through a separation or a divorce;

others are experiencing terminal illness or unemployment.

Still others may have lost a friend over philosophical or political differences;

or a relative may have joined the Ku Klux Klan.

But take heart.

Keep praying.

A loved one of so many tears will not be forgotten

– as long as we are at the feet of Jesus.

Lord, help me.

Notes:

See the Collect for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time in the previous Sacramentary that was in use from the 1970s until 2011 when it was suppressed by the Promulgation of the Third Edition of the Roman Missal.

Almighty God, ever-loving Father, your care extends beyond the boundaries of race and nation to the hearts of all who live. May the wall, which prejudice raises between us, crumble beneath the shadow of your outstretched arm.

A Desperate Mother's Love Without Borders: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - August 17th, 2014

Gospel Mt 15:21-28 

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon."

But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.

Jesus' disciples came and asked him, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me."

He said in reply, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."

She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.

 A Desperate Love Without Borders

Did I just hear what I read? Jesus ignores a desperate woman with a demon possessed child and then he says, “It is not right give the children’s food to the dogs.” At first glance, this story might seem demeaning to women; she was ignored, pushed away, and was considered no more than a dog. Jesus disturbs us with his actions and his words today.

Jesus continues on his journey north until he is at the border near Tyre and Sidon surrounded by Gentiles. The disciples likely had no idea where he was going or why he was heading north into Gentile territory. I’m sure they thought Jesus was out of bounds!

The Canaanite woman approaches Jesus as he moves along the border. One can imagine the hostility between the Jews and the Canaanites; it was like the rancor between Jews and Palestinians or some Texans (or "Ameircans") and Mexicans today. As Jesus walks along the border near Tyre and Sidon, the woman calls him Lord and Son of David.

But Jesus represented all that the Canaanites despised. One can almost see a showdown Jesus and his disciples are on one side of the border while the Canaanites are on the other side – with the poor woman and her possessed daughter caught up in the ugly war of political and theological differences, trapped between two worlds, likely cast away by her own people because of her possessed daughter, hence her reason for dwelling at the border of her country.

Jesus was her last great hope. Yet Jesus ignores her cries. Jesus’ silence must have been deafening! Then Jesus’ disciples add insult to injury; they are desperate to get rid of her! “Send her away! She’s embarrassing us. You can’t have riff-raff following you around. You have a godly reputation to keep. Pretty soon all the gentiles will want to follow you and have a share in the kingdom of God.”

She couldn’t win, she was despised by everyone. She was completely abandoned. She had thrown herself upon the mercy of the Lord God only to hear nothing. But Jesus’ silence and his disciples’ ugliness did not deter her from calling upon the Lord!

        Imagine this woman’s desperation. We do not have a lot of information about her, but sorrow filled her life. Her daughter had gone to the dark side of demonic possession. One also wonders where her husband was in all of this. Perhaps he had abandoned her as a result of the nuisance of a troublesome daughter and all the difficulty she caused their marriage. Or maybe the woman was a widow and had no one to rely on. Her life and that of her daughter must have been as desperate as we can imagine! Lack of financial means, emotional pain, fear and exhaustion! And now spiritual abandonment! The worst thing imaginable.

        And yet in this woman’s desperation she keeps getting pushed away! She is longing to belong, she is longing for happiness, and is will do anything for her daughter – even seek the God of Israel. She throws herself on the ground in front of Jesus and begs for mercy, but he tells her he is on a mission to the lost sheep of Israel.

        Certainly one of the disciples should have been troubled by the way Jesus was treating this woman. Or was he trying to get their attention by acting like them?

        Jesus then says, “It is not right to throw the food of the children to the dogs.” So now she is reduced to a dog.

        Maybe it was a common cliché tossed around like “It is not right to take the wealth of the rich and throw it to the poor” or “The poor are poor because they lack morals,” or “America is for Americans.”

It is clear that the disciples did not want Jesus crossing into any unfriendly territories, or going into the wrong neighborhoods or, God forbid, crossing any borders.

        Yet Jesus’ mere presence along the border of Tyre and Sidon is teaching his disciples that all territories and lands are the Lord’s and all peoples are called into the Kingdom of God. It is the good news that never grows old.

        Yet there are borders that we put up between ourselves and the Lord. We may think we know we have all the answers, we think that certain people are not good enough, we may consider certain attitudes tolerable or acceptable, or we may be guilty of placing ourselves first when others are clearly in more need. Or we may have preconceived notions of who God is or believe that one can only be a real Christian if one has a particular socio-political or theological view. Or what I see so much of today is the idea that one has to be perfect before one can be a Catholic or a Christian. How sad! Christ came to call the unworthy – and that includes all of us!

        A closer look at this wonderful Canaanite woman reveals to us an example of a Mother’s love for her children. A love that protects at all cost, even to the point of ridicule. “Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

       The woman was not distracted from her mission: saving her daughter from the demon. This Gentile woman fulfilled her mission, because of her boldness in faith, love for her child, and trust in a merciful God. And she was willing to even accept the scraps from the table of the master, all for the love of another human being.

        The woman’s persistence shows that Jesus is accessible to all people–even those along the borders, on the fringes of society, the marginalized. 

There are still Canaanites in our midst: outsiders who some people would rather ignore and send away, and women and men who are bearing great family burdens, and those who have suffered great losses, yet still come to church, kneel in the pew and remain faithful to the Lord, despite their doubts and questions, they still cling to their faith.

        Jesus dared cross established borders that his disciples wanted to keep, and ministered to the one who called upon him in faith. And the woman found acceptance across the forbidden border.

        We are called to be like Christ.

Jesus allowed this woman to enter his world.

This one act changed everything.

Jesus is changed by the encounter with this woman of faith.

And so are his disciples.

And so are we.

All are welcome to enter the House of the Lord! All are invited to His table!

This woman turns Jesus' ministry to the gentiles, the non-Jews. She not only wants to enter the House of Israel, but she wants to sit at the table of the Lord, and is willing to accept the lowest place in the house – even if it is as a desperate dog.

The woman only wanted a crumb of bread from the Master’s table.

She was desperate to belong.

She was desperate for the Lord.

How desperate are we?