20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); August 20, 2023

Is 56:1,6-7.  Ps 67.  Rom 11:13-15,29-32.  Mt 15:21-28

Deacon Jim McFadden

       Today’s Gospel (Mt 15:21-28) presents us with a unique example of faith in Jesus’ encounter with a Canaanite woman, a foreigner to the Jews.  The scene unfolds as Jesus leaves God’s holy land and enters pagan territory, probably to spend time with his disciples away from the crowds, whose numbers were increasingly growing.  There he encounters the woman who approaches Jesus seeking help for her sick daughter: “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon” (Mt 15:22b).  Her cry is born from suffering, from the sense of helplessness of a mother who witnesses her daughter tormented by evil and she can’t do anything about it; she can’t heal her. 

            The Lord, at first, seems not to hear her cry of pain or simply ignores her as “he didn’t say a word in answer to her” (v. 23a), which causes an intervention of the disciples, who want to get rid of her to avoid the trouble she was causing.  They are exasperated and they ask Jesus, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us” (v. 23b).  Jesus’ seemingly indifference does not discourage the woman who persists in her plea for help.  Her daughter is suffering and she won’t give up.

            This mother insists even though Jesus tells his disciples that his mission is directed only to “the lost sheep of Israel” (v. 24) and not to the Gentiles, such as the Canaanites.  At this point in Jesus public ministry, he has construed his identity and mission within the boundaries of Israel.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the Messianic hope, who will gather all the Twelve tribes of Israel into one Kingdom again. 

            Not taking “no” for an answer, she lays prostrate, but this time she simply says, “Lord, help me” (v. 25).  Notice that by paying homage to Jesus, she is doing an action appropriate to God: she prostrates herself.  Moreover, in her plea there is a subtle omission. When she addressed Jesus the first time, she called him, “Lord, Son of David,” which acknowledges his particular origins as a Jew and his connection to the House of David. She knows that by stressing his Jewishness, she places herself and her daughter outside that orbit.  The result is that her pleas go unheard, which means her daughter won’t be healed.  So, this resourceful woman, who would give her life for her daughter, will do whatever it takes for her daughter to be healed.  So, she drops the “Son of David” and simply says, “Lord, help me.”

            Jesus’ reply is troublesome to our contemporary ears: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs” (v. 26).  The harshness of this saying affirms the traditional approach to Salvation History: namely, to the Jews first.  Indeed, the Jews saw their vocation as being “a light to the nations” (Is 42:6). 

            Right away the woman gives off one the best one-liners in Scripture: “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” (v. 27).    And with these words, the woman shows that she has perceived the inherent goodness of the Most High God who is present in Jesus and who is open the needs of His children and has compassion for their suffering.    Her heart is full of wisdom; she is filled with trust in Jesus, and she touches Jesus’ heart, which provokes words of admiration: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” (v. 28). 

            This woman has great faith.  Through her persistence and cleverness, she reminded Jesus of his true identity.  He is a Jew, but more importantly, he is Lord of the universe, “For in him were created all things in heaven and earth…all things were created through him and for him” (Col 1:16).  Her faith in Jesus was so great that she could bring her story, marked with wounds of a mother’s anguish borne by her daughter’s suffering, and she could bring all of that to the feet of Jesus asking him to heal them, to give their life meaning. 

            Brothers and sisters, each of us has our own story and it’s not always neat-and-tidy, but is often a difficult story with a lot of pain, many disappointments, losses, misfortunes, and sins.  What do we do with our story?  Hide it? Ignore it?  No!  We must bring our story to the Lord and say, “Lord, if you will it, you can heal me.”  This is what the woman in today’s Gospel teaches us: the courage to bring our own painful story before God, before Jesus, to touch God’s tender mercy, to touch Jesus divine mercy.  We can do this if we keep the face of Jesus always before us, if we understand what his Sacred Heart is like: a heart that feels compassion, that bears our pains, that bears our sins, our mistakes, our failures: a heart that loves us no matter what, just as we are.

            So, let us join the Canaanite woman and plead, “Lord, help me.”  Amen.