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Last week we heard about the privileged place of the Jewish people as God’s Chosen People. St. Paul explained, "They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; theirs the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.” In today’s second reading he continues this theme by saying even though some Jews rejected Jesus, still "the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” They are forever His People and nothing they can do will ever change that!
We get this message loud and clear in today’s Gospel. This story bothers many who feel like Jesus is rude to this poor woman who simply wants her daughter cured and set free from tortuous demons. We all appreciate God’s loyalty to his Chosen People but does Jesus take it too far by suggesting he came “only for the Children of Israel”? Is Jesus really saying that God only wants to save a small number of people who belong to a certain race and culture? Is He trying to run the world’s most exclusive spiritual club? As is often the case, Jesus is getting at a bigger point and calling all of us to go a little deeper into his teaching of salvation.
So what is the bigger point? And what does all this have to do with us, people of 21st century America? All of our readings today, including the banter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman, are all about God’s inclusive love. The first reading dreams of the day when the Lord’s temple becomes a house of prayer for ALL peoples from every nation. The second reading points out that God used the rejection of his own Chosen People as an opportunity to expand his offer of salvation to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike. In the gospel, Jesus tests the faith of the Caananite woman and, in the end, gave her the food of God’s children, not because of her nationality or culture but because of her faith. This is the exciting, ever-expanding love of God: anyone who has faith is eligible for salvation. It doesn’t matter what country you live in or who your ancestors are; God wants to heal and save you!
So, what appears at first to be insulting, rude, and elitist about today’s gospel is actually just the opposite. Jesus goes out of his way to encounter this foreign woman to give her the chance to be adopted into God’s Chosen People by demonstrating her faith. And Jesus will use her faithful witness to shame those who rely simply on their birthright and bloodline to feel righteous and entitled to salvation. God does this all time, even in our time and in our church. He uses the weak to shame the strong, the humble to chastise the proud. None of us has any reason to think we are better than any other human being. God loves each of us and wants to offer us the opportunity for salvation. His promises to his Chosen People still apply. But now God has expanded the definition of what it takes to be counted among the Chosen. Since Jesus came to save us, it is first and foremost about faith, demonstrated most clearly in genuine prayer. It is faithful prayer that grafts us onto the Jewish tree and allows us to be branches attached to the life-giving vine of God’s covenant.
Fittingly, the Canaanite woman demonstrates how to pray in a way that pleases Our Lord. She shows the three basic movements of holy, heartfelt prayer.
First, prayer begins with trust. The woman faces a desperate situation. She's tried everything to help her daughter. Finally, she tries Jesus. "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." She makes an act of trust. She knows Jesus can help her.
So far, so good, but sometimes we need more than a one-time petition. Prayer requires perseverance. That's the second step. Trust, then perseverance. The woman cries out so much that the disciples want to send her away. So don't give up. Formulate your prayer and keep at. I'm sinking into debt; Jesus help me. My family member, my friend has broken my heart. Please help us. I am afraid of the uncertain future, walk with me Lord! Trust in Jesus and persevere in prayer.
Along with trust and persistence, prayer requires humility. That's the toughest step. Jesus says something that seems offensive, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." Many people would storm away, maybe respond with an insult of their own. She keeps her focus, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table…"
There's a huge lesson for us here. I wish Jesus would do things my way, on my timeline, never let me experience humiliation, but that's not the way he works. Jesus wants humility. Friends, there is nothing more beautiful or irresistible to God than humility. Jesus hears the prayer of a humble heart. We need prayer now more than ever. During this coronavirus crisis, some people have grown in prayer. Others, not so much. If we, as a church, as a parish, and as a nation are going to recover from our current devastation, we have to return to prayer.
The beautiful Canaanite woman models our way forward. May our steps along this path be defined by trust, perseverance and humility and then all will be well! Amen.
