BIBLE STUDY #55
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
August 14, 2011


Reading 1
Is 56:1, 6-7

Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed.

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants-
all who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.

The Word of the Lord


Reading 2
Rom 11:13-15, 29-32

Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.

The Word of the Lord


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.

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

Our gospel begins with Jesus withdrawing to the region of Tyre and Sidon, part of Phoenicia, and nowadays would be near the border of Israel and Lebanon. One can see this area from Israel by ascending Mt. Carmel in Haifa and looking north toward Lebanon.

Scholars will talk about Jesus leaving Israel and going to Tyre and Sidon, which seems to be clearly indicated in today’s passage, but other Matthean scholars say that Matthew never intended to have Jesus leave Israel, but that a “Canaanite woman of that district came and called out” should be translated as, “a Canaanite woman came out from that region. Therefore, the woman crosses over to Jesus who is still in Israel, not vice versa.

This unnamed Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and says, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." The meaning of the word pity as used here is compassion. She wants Jesus to look on her plight and move his heart to heal her daughter.

She also calls Jesus “Lord”, which is the name the Jews used for God, so she is affirming Jesus divinity. She also calls him “Son of David”, affirming Jesus as the Messiah.

Jesus’ response to her petition is to ignore her. The disciples want Jesus to send her away, but she is persistent in her petitioning, she just won’t give up. What parent would, given the opportunity to have her daughter healed?

Another reason I think this woman is so persistent is that she has so much going against her. First, she is a Gentile, specifically a Canaanite, referencing the pagan inhabitants of the area, and Jews weren’t supposed to have anything to do with foreigners. Secondly, Jewish men weren’t to have anything to do with women (other than their family members). Thirdly, her daughter suffered from an illness that the people thought was caused by sin.

Jesus says, in response to all this petitioning, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." While many have come to believe in Jesus, many have not. There is still much work to do among the Jews.

I think that this also reflects the fact that Matthew’s community is made up largely of Jewish converts and he may be addressing the issue of a lack of inclusiveness in his particular church. It wasn’t until the First Council of Jerusalem in the early 60’s that the issue of Gentiles in this new church was resolved – in favor of the Gentiles inclusion.

The woman did him homage, meaning that she worshipped him, again attesting to his divinity – who else do we worship but God?

Jesus seems to be rude and offensive to this woman, but he is testing her faith. The word ‘children’ refers to God’s chosen, the Jews. Calling Gentiles ‘dogs’ was common practice. There is no indication that she was offended, just persistent. Jesus feeds the children with the food of salvation (or the bread of salvation, as we see in the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000) but the Gentiles (dogs) are prohibited from eating this food of salvation.

The woman response is clever. She agrees that the Jews should be fed first and satisfied, but that these should be enough left over for others. It seems to reflect God’s bountiful love for all people. God has plenty of love for everybody. She doesn’t sway him by argument of claims or merit, but he is persuaded by her persistent prayer of faith.

Jesus tests this woman and she passes with flying colors. She believes he is Lord and Messiah, therefore he can do anything he wants, include feeding gentiles with the bread of salvation or healing her daughter.

Jesus calls this great faith. She believes in him under all circumstances, even when people want to send her away, or even when Jesus tests her. It may be that Matthew is trying to build bridges between those Christians who were born Jews and those Christians who were born gentile. By using a woman in this story, it also seems to me that Matthew is trying to be inclusive of women. Matthew is also saying that no one is excluded from God’s table of salvation. In any event, it is a great story of believing and persisting in prayer all of the time.

The first reading from Isaiah is from the third part of this book, dealing with the Israelites after they have come back from exile. In this section, Isaiah says that when the messiah comes, no one is excluded from the messianic banquet table because of origin, religion, or any other criteria.

Here at St. Joseph’s we try to be as inclusive as possible. Our doors are open to every one who wants to enter. We never judge anyone. When someone presents themselves for communion, we always assume that they should be receiving communion. How can we tell if someone is in a state of grace? You can’t, can you? Too bad that a person in the state of grace didn’t have a shiny little halo over their head. It would be easy, then, wouldn’t it? No halo, no communion. But, that’s not practical.

Or, what if we gave out confession cards to every one (we’re supposed to go to confession before communion if we commit a mortal sin, aren’t we?). It would be like those cards we kept by the door for the paper boy when he came to collect on Friday. We would pay him, and he would punch a hole in the appropriate spot. After confession, the priest could punch a hole in our confession card. We would bring that up to communion and show it in order to be eligible to receive communion. This isn’t fool proof, either.

When we try to be exclusive, I can guarantee that we will exclude people who should be included. If someone goes up to receive who shouldn’t, that’s their problem, not mine. They have to answer to God for that, not me. However, if I refuse someone who should receive, I have to answer to God for that. I say let everyone who presents themselves for communion receive, and let God sort it out (after all, God is more qualified than you or I for this job).

Sometimes we want to exclude other people based on our own set of criteria (we never exclude ourselves, regardless). But our faith calls us to do just the opposite. We need to be accepting of all people. I think we’d all be better off if we concentrated more on our holiness than others.


Fr. Phil