Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 17, 2008 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
[Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28]For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. (Isaiah) For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. (Paul) O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. (Matthew)
Isaiah is addressing the Jewish community that has returned from exile and finds itself now living in close proximity to pagans (Gentiles). His vision welcomes anyone who seeks God and honors the sabbath. They are invited to offer sacrifice even though they are not Jewish! St. Paul is struggling to understand the place of the Jewish faith in God's plan of salvation which is accomplished through Jesus Christ, whom his Jewish audiences rejected - yet God's call to them and mercy toward them cannot be said to have been revoked! Perhaps we have a response to the question of inclusion/exclusion/universality/particularity in the Canaanite woman's faith and persistence. It is the universal plea of a mother seeking help for her sick child. It is the universal plea for God's mercy, which overcomes the cultural and religious boundaries. The boundaries are considerable and none of the three scriptures today declare that those boundaries do not exist! I experience them when a person comes up in the line at communion with arms crossed to seek a blessing, or even more so, when their hand gesture indicates a certain hesitancy about what to do! There is a desire to be a part of what is going on even if all the faith and dogma prevent complete communion. One cannot help but feel that desire and faith, as Jesus did in the case of the Canaanite woman,even if his initial response to her is rough! A positive and welcoming attitude is certainly better than the centuries of violence and religious hatred that burden Christian (and other) consciences and continue to this day! We Christians cannot "relativize" Jesus to the level of Mohammed or Buddha or Confucius or the Old Testament prophets or any other great religious teacher. His response to the Canaanite woman is that of the Lord of all life and not simply a particularly skillful teacher or healer or charismatic preacher. Sometimes the faith of an "outsider" is greater than that of an "insider." I certainly have encountered that kind of person in my many years as a campus minister. Pope Benedict's recent response to a question about faith and sacraments showed that he has moved from a very strict interpretation of faith to a much more hopeful and compassionate attitude, even as he and we must continue to profess the faith handed down to us. We must find a way to respond, as Jesus did, to the "Canaanites" who come to us in faith. We must find a way to say, "Great is your faith. Let is be done for you as you wish." AMEN
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