Corpus Christi Blog

Unity of one faith

08-17-2014HomiliesFr. Chad King

 Jesus said to the woman, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Some of you might be scratching your heads right now,-perhaps thinking that doesn’t sound like the Jesus I know- the Jesus who taught us to love your neighbor, and even your enemies.  This is one of those Gospels which, to some, just doesn’t make sense, many have wondered why did Jesus treat this woman so harshly?  It kind of sounds like Jesus had a bad day or something, doesn’t it?  Before I explain what I think Jesus was doing treating the woman that way, let us gain insight from our other readings, for they also give us a clue.

Listen again to our 1st reading- “the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants”- the prophet Isaiah is pleading to the people to turn back to the loving and merciful God who will welcome them back.  Isaiah is telling them that God will accept their sacrifices, because, as our 1st reading concludes, God wants his house “to be a house of prayer for all peoples”.  God wants every person, no matter what gender or race or ethnicity, to come to know Him.  God wants his house to be a house of prayer for all peoples, not just for the chosen or select few, not just for the privileged, but all peoples, even foreigners.  Yes, God at first revealed himself only to the Israelites, to one group of people, not because he intended them to just be thankful that they were the chosen ones, but God wanted the Israelites to make him known to all people, to reveal that there is no God like the God of Israel.  But now, in the person of Jesus Christ, God has fully revealed himself.  Jesus became human, interacted with foreigners and outsiders, he forgave and healed everyone even the outcasts.  Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead not for a select few but for every person, for every sinner.  However, notice that although God wants all persons to know Him, they must turn back, they must repent, and as our 1st reading says, “become his servants”.  People must respond to God.  God wants all people to come to know him, but to do so they have to repent and open their hearts and turn back to Him.  God wants all people to come into His family and become his adopted sons and daughters, but to do so all must see Him as a loving Father. 

God desires everyone to come to know Him, and so he has given himself fully, holding nothing back, not even his only-begotten Son, or the Holy Spirit.  And God continues to reveal himself still today, so that “all may be one just as He is one”.  God is one, and desires his people to be united and confess in the one Creed- to be of one faith in the one God.  And God commands his one Church to make him known, to make disciples of every nation.  This is exactly what St. Paul, the Church’s greatest evangelist, does.  Paul, who calls himself, “the apostle to the Gentiles”, proclaims Jesus Christ to all the non-God believing people.  And in our 2nd reading, Paul is calling the disobeying Gentiles who have not known or believed in the one God, to repent and come to know the God of Mercy that Paul has proclaimed and revealed to them.

Now with that in mind, let us look at our perplexing Gospel to try and understand why Jesus treats this woman the way he does.  And before you think Jesus was just having a bad day, look at how our Gospel begins.  “Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon”.  This region was notoriously known as Pagan territory and so the Jews saw it as a corrupt and foreign area which no good Jew would enter; but Jesus purposely goes there… so he must have a reason.   A Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me Lord, Son of David.  Notice that she acknowledges him using his Jewish title- Son of David.  She does not quite know who Jesus is, just that he is a Jew.  This woman represents all the world, every person who is seeking healing for themselves or a loved one.   Maybe she represents you, trying to make sense of a situation that you can’t get out by yourselves.  Looking for answers, seeking for a solution, she turns to her last hope, a wandering holy man.

But Jesus did not respond to her plea, but remains silent- why? He must have a reason.  Our Gospel then says that the disciples came to Jesus asking him to have her removed for she kept calling out to them also.  When she was met with seemingly no answer from Jesus, what did she do, did she give up and go back home, blaming Jesus.  No she kept calling out for help, she kept pestering, she kept praying.  At the disciples’ request- Jesus says that he came only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  This seems like Jesus is rebuking her in a back-handed sort of way.  Remember that although God wants every person to know him, he fully reveals himself and enters into covenant only with Israel, so that they will be His people, and they in turn will make him known to the entire world.   It appears that the woman did not know which of the disciples was the leader.  But when the disciples went to Jesus asking him to throw her out, and Jesus saying that He was sent to Israel, if she did not know who Jesus was before, she does now.  And notice what she does now that she knows who Jesus is, she does him homage.  She did him homage because she realized that Jesus was the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for.  She did him homage, and from the bottom of her heart, cried out, “Lord, help me!”  Have you ever really cried out to God from the bottom of your heart?

Now that she knows who He is, surely now Jesus will acknowledge her and heal her daughter, right?  No, he doesn’t, instead he says that it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs”.   The Jews referred to the pagan Gentiles as ‘dogs’, so it is like Jesus is putting her in her place with a direct insult.  Why? Again, this doesn’t sound like the Jesus we know who said to love your enemies.  So what is Jesus doing and why?  He must have a reason.

After seemingly being insulted, what does this woman do, does she yell back insults to Jesus?  No, instead she says one of the wittiest comeback lines in all of Scripture, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that from the table of their masters”.  She acknowledges how she and her people are recognized by the Jews, she humbly accepts who she is and where she is at.  She doesn’t complain, she doesn’t blame her misfortune on Jesus.  She accepts who she is, but still calls out for help.  And finally, Jesus says, “O woman, how great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish”.  And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.  Finally, a happy ending to our soap-opera Gospel.

But the question still remains, why did Jesus give this woman the silent treatment, then rebuke her, and then seemingly insult her.  Why did Jesus make her go through 3 rejections, and then finally accept her prayer?   What was Jesus doing, and why?

I submit to you that Jesus was testing her, he was seeing how hungry she was, how much she really wanted what she was asking.  But he was not testing her so that he would know how much she desired it, but so that she would know.  For isn’t it true that when we are tested, our priorities in life become more clear, and only when we are tested do we know how strong our faith really is.  But also, isn’t it true that we grow stronger when we are tested and have to persevere through the difficulty?  This woman’s faith was made known to all around her and it grew stronger the more she persevered.  Another reason though, when we really longing for something, really desire something, our hearts expand, growing in desire the more it has to wait.  St. Augustine was asked how come God doesn’t respond to our prayers when we want, but oftentimes we have to wait.  St. Augustine replied- So that we will be inspired to persevere in prayer, and by making us wait, our hearts are expanded so as to be ready to receive the gift God wants to give.

So my brothers and sisters, whenever God seems to be silent to our pleas, whenever he makes us wait before he answers our prayers, let us be confident that he has a purpose for it.  And by it, perhaps God is making us grow stronger in perseverance, perhaps he is making us focus our priorities and grow in faith, and perhaps he is just waiting for our hearts to expand in order to receive the great gift He is waiting to give us.

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