Homily—20th Sunday in Ordinary Time -- August 16, 2020

 

 
 

Today’s readings speak of God’s absolute, all-encompassing, and inclusive love.  In the first reading Isaiah tells us, that God’s “house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”  The Psalm tells us that we should rejoice because God guides all the peoples of the earth and rules us everyone with justice and impartiality. 

 

The passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, also addresses the inclusiveness of God.  At first glance, it might seem that Paul is telling the Roman gentiles that they (and we) only receive God’s mercy because the of the disobedience of the Jews.  But what Paul is saying would be better understood as, through God’s gift of free will, we have the choice to obey or to disobey God’s will.  Yet if we do disobey, God’s mercy and forgiveness are always available to all repentant hearts.  God is always calling us to return when we have strayed.  For as Paul writes, “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” 

 

God’s love, justice and mercy envelopes all people.  As people of faith, these are virtues we are meant to live by as well.  In today’s Gospel, Matthew shows us how, even Jesus had to grow in this regard.

 

In today’s passage from Matthew, at first Jesus ignores the Canaanite woman.  It’s like how we ignore panhandlers hoping they’ll just go away.  But the woman persists calling for help for her sick child.  Jesus ignores the disciple’s suggestion to “get rid of her” and responds to the woman saying, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”   Author Kathleen MacInnis Kichline[1] suggests that Jesus response to the woman reveals what is weighing so heavily on his heart.  He is as aggrieved for his people as she is for her child…. Nonetheless, his response addresses not her need but his own, not what she has come here for but what he has come here for, the question burning within his heart.  "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” 

 

Jesus response is harsh and it calls us to remember that Jesus is also human like us in all things but sin.  Therefore, Jesus vision was limited because He was the product of his socialization just as we are products of ours.  Luke writes in chapter 2, verse 52, “Jesus increased in wisdom and age and in divine and human favour.”  Luke writes this as a closing to the story of finding 12-year old Jesus in the temple says,  This encounter with the Canaanite women is an example of a growth moment for Jesus. 

 

So, until the woman speaks again, out of desperation in her need and her love for her daughter, Jesus does not realize what she and He have in common.  She speaks out of her own pain but unknowingly addresses his.  “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table.”  And Jesus hears her.  She will gladly receive from him what his own people reject.  

 

I think it is with relief and gratitude that Jesus then answers her.  “O woman, great is your faith.”  You know that kind of relief when someone has really heard us, heard what we haven’t even known the words to form, has heard what we did not know to say?  He is happy here, happy to reply, “Let it be done for you as you wish.” 

 

How remarkable that Jesus can be changed by an encounter with the other.  There are many Gospel stories of how people are changed by an encounter with Jesus but in this story, we see a mutual transformation.  In this case, we can enter into the Gospel narrative in the persona of Jesus himself.  It is hopeful to consider that it is, ultimately, Christ-like to encounter another, a person different that us, who challenges our world view, and to be changed by that encounter—even if it takes us a while to get there. 

 

Please share your thoughts on an encounter with another that challenged and changed you?

 


[1] Kichline, Kathleen MacInnis (2014). “Canaanite Woman”. Retrieved from:  https://www.sistersinscripture.com/content/newsm/news?show=VIEW&a=50

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2023-06-04_Trinity Sunday_Pride Month

Image
Trinity Sunday_Pride Month June 4, 2023   Today is the Feast of the Holy Trinity.   June is both Pride Month and Indigenous Peoples Month in Canada.   Today, I used one of the bible translations accepted by the English-speaking Church because I want to share with you how word choice can limit inclusive and creative thought.   Due to the patriarchal culture of the time, God is addressed as Adonai or Lord in speaking to God, with only the first letter capitalized, as is used by Moses’ prayer in the first reading.   The word LORD in all caps is used six times in today’s first reading.   The name of God used most often in the Hebrew Bible when speaking of God is the Tetragrammaton , romanized as YHWH .   However, the Jewish people traditionally do not pronounce it, and instead refer to God as HaShem , literally "the Name".   This conveys that God cannot be reduced to a “he/him” or a “she/her”.   The culture of our time allows for the use of non-gendered, all-encompassing wo
Read more

7 July 2013 – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Image
Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 66.10-14 Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 62 Second Reading: Galatians 6:14-18 Gospel: Luke 10.1-12, [13-16], 17-20 Today’s gospel is about evangelization.   The word, “evangelization” has become, for many of us, a word that sends up red flags.   This is because, unfortunately, for almost two millennia, evangelization has been used more as a weapon than as an invitation to follow Christ’s example of peace and love.   Let’s examine evangelization from Jesus’ perspective.   He knows there are plenty of people out there who would be open to hearing the Good News.   He also knows that there are plenty who don’t want to hear it.   But Jesus sends out his disciples like lambs into a sea of wolves.   We live in a culture of ravenous consumption and accumulation.   We seek to accumulate more and more money, more and more power and more and more ad nauseam.   The more we have, the more we want and more we have to get; the more we get t
Read more

The High Cost of Free Trade for Indigenous and Afro-Colombians

Image
Victoria Marie, PhD Presented at the Racial Violence and the Colour Line of the New World Order Conference Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia April 2, 2005 The power of spreading the word… When governments speak they don’t speak the truth. Plan Colombia is not addressing social probems but spending more on war, which seems to have the aim of eliminating the civilian population (OFP, 2004) . Introduction Colombia has been in a state of civil war for the past 40 years. The combatants are the legitimately armed actors, such as the army and police; paramilitaries, who protect the interests of legal and illegal businesses; and two major groups of revolutionary forces. However, it is the civilian population that is most adversely impacted from the ongoing conflict. They are endangered by the warring factions, who routinely murder, displace or conscript them. The aim of this paper is to explore how this conflict and economic policies have adversely affected the people of colour in Col
Read more