August 14, 2011 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us; may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth; among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult because you rule the peoples in equity; the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
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.
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.
Reflection
In the current film adaptation of the superhero series, Captain America, the title character is portrayed as a scrawny asthmatic who tries unsuccessfully to sign up for military service during the throes of World War II. Steve Rogers, the young man who would become Captain America, goes from one recruiting station to another, falsifying his name and downplaying his physical ailments, all in an effort to join the Army. Ultimately, a senior scientist happens to overhear an exchange between Rogers and a recruiter, at which point the scientist, impressed by the young man’s tireless persistence and resolve, intervenes on Rogers’ behalf. Rogers, an emaciated teenager from Brooklyn, goes on to become a figure of superhuman strength following an injection of serum developed by this scientist. This most unlikely of people—an orphan of no great physical strength or social standing—becomes the very emblem of human strength and American commitment during the War.
And so it is in today’s Gospel. The woman who approaches Jesus is a Canaanite—a member of the tribe that the Israelites had vanquished when, led by Moses’ successor, Joshua, they had escaped captivity in Egypt and conquered the land of Canaan. The Canaanites, therefore, were sworn enemies of the Jews, whom they believe to have displaced and subjugated them. For a Canaanite—a woman, no less (in a society where women who were not blood related did not dare speak to men in public)—to engage Jesus like this is extremely unusual.
The woman, like the Rogers boy, is a misfit, and yet she is set apart by the author of this story in a remarkable way: in all of the Gospel of Matthew, this woman alone is described as being “great of faith.” Not John. Not James. Not even Peter. But a woman—and a Gentile at that! Clearly, the evangelist wishes to emphasize the enormity of this woman’s belief, and the immense role that the virtue of persistence played in the efficacy of her undertaking. At first, Jesus rebuffs her, but she refuses to be dismissed. Jesus’ response—that it is not right to throw to the dogs what rightly belongs to the children—strikes us as particularly harsh, especially coming from the God to whom we are invited to bring our every need.
Jesus’ remark bears a bit of deconstruction—why would he spurn her so callously? It must be remembered that Jesus was a human being like any other, inasmuch as his earthly ministry was limited by the physical constraints of a human body. Though ultimately he commissioned the disciples to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth, he himself remained exclusively in the relatively small region of Judea and Galilee. He never traveled to Athens, Rome, or Alexandria, much less Central America or Southeast Asia. There are only so many hours in a day, and, at the time of Jesus, it was impossible to film a sermon, upload it to Youtube, and have it broadcast around the world. Jesus’ response, in effect, is reminding us that his primary mission, while here on Earth, was to the Jewish people of that particular region.
Just as it is very sad that there are starving children in urban Detroit and even worse conditions in famine-plagued Somalia, a parent’s primary concern must be to make sure that his/her own children have enough to eat before s/he worries about finding the resources to feed others. In other words, Jesus is attesting to the very real boundaries imposed by limited resources—he only had so much time and energy, and if he began ministering to additional communities, he wouldn’t be taking care of his primary charge, the Jews.
What this woman says to Jesus is, “Yes, you have a responsibility to feed your own children first, but if the food’s already made, and there’s some left over, why not let the hungry creature eat it?” She is saying, in effect, that she is already there among the peoples to whom Jesus and his disciples are ministering. She is not asking him to come to a distant land with her; what she is asking should just be a “scrap” of the “food” that’s already been prepared.
The archetype presented by this woman ought to be familiar to us—the undersized outcast who petitions some great master for instruction and ultimately ends up impressing the mentor-figure by virtue of his/her persistence. We see it in dozens of motivational movies, from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky to Cool Runnings’ Jamaican bobsledders. Perhaps the most potent example from contemporary culture, and the one most analogous to today’s Gospel, is the character portrayed by Hilary Swank in the movie Million Dollar Baby. Like the Canaanite woman, Swank’s female boxer is a misfit, a woman who dares step foot into a man’s world, and one rebuked sharply by Clint Eastwood’s Coach when she approaches him for tutelage. Ultimately, she wins him over with her perseverance and refusal to take, “No” for an answer.
So what does this mean for all of us? We, like the Canaanite woman, often ask Jesus for things. We bring to him our petitions—to heal an ailing relative; to find us a job in a tough economy; to help us find a girl/boyfriend—and oftentimes, it feels as though we are shot down, much as the woman in today’s Gospel is. There is an adage that goes, “God answers all of our prayers, but sometimes, the answer is ‘no.’” The question thus becomes, “Is that a ‘hard no?’ or a ‘no, not right now, but perhaps later, under different circumstances’?” A man might ask his girlfriend for her hand in marriage after they’ve been dating for a few months, and her response might be, “No,” but it is because she is still in graduate school and the two have not yet been dating long enough that she feels certain he is the one she wants to marry. That is, she may well be saying, “No, not right at this moment, but possibly in the future, if certain conditions are met.”
So may it be with God. In some instances, “No” is a final decision, and in others, it is an invitation for us to demonstrate our resolve, as was the case with the Canaanite woman and Hilary Swank’s boxer. The challenge for us is to discern which type of “rejection” we are receiving, and, if we think it only a deferment rather than an outright rejection, to figure out how to move forward persistently and patiently.
Questions for Reflection
1) Have you ever asked God for something and felt like the answer was, “No”? Why do you think that was? Do you think it worked out for the best? If not, did any good come of it?
2) Do you believe that God answers all of our prayers? Does it seem as though he answers all people’s prayers equally and fairly?
3) What, in your life, do you see as the value of persistence? Is there any example of an instance when your persistence paid off? Any times when, despite your persistence, you still failed to attain your goal? Where do you see God at work in that?
