Homily for 20th August 2023

 

My dear brothers and sisters this Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time we celebrate Justice Sunday in India. In the first reading, we come across the prophet Isaiah emphasizing the requirements for justice and righteousness even though the period of exile for the Israelites was about to come to an end. While Israel was always tempted to define its service to Yahweh by the performance of cultic duties like ritual sacrifice, Sabbath observance, etc. the prophets kept reminding them that justice is a basic duty of the faith community. The fundamental requirements of Yahweh remain unchanged. Israel needs to practice justice and righteousness so that it will be ready to receive salvation when it comes. The reading promises happiness to the person who maintains justice and does what is right. And this promise is not limited to only the Israelites but also to Gentiles. Yahweh’s kingdom is open to the whole world. The faithfulness of the Gentiles demonstrates their desire to be included among the people of God. Yahweh intends to break down the barriers that give special privileges to Jews and deny those privileges to Gentiles.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul emphasizes the absolute and unconditional promises of God made to the patriarchs. Such promises shall not be affected by the sins of people. He shows that God does not distinguish between Jew and Gentile. Though Israel has the status of enemy concerning the gospel because of its unbelief; it is also the beloved with regard to its election by God. Paul imagines Israel’s disobedience as both purposeful and temporary. It is purposeful as part of God’s plan for the salvation of Gentiles. It is temporary because it ends when faced with widespread Gentile belief. God uses unlikely circumstances to build the church: Gentiles believe when many in Israel turn away; then many in Israel believe when provoked by Gentile belief.

In the gospel, we come across a very interesting narrative of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. This text has a lot of symbolic details which have to be understood to fully grasp the depth of the passage. Jesus goes to the district of Tyre and Sidon which were Gentile regions. The word Canaanite refers to an amalgamation of different groups living in the land of Canaan which is the ancient name of the whole land before Abram arrived. The Canaanite empire provided a formidable military challenge for Joshua and then later the Judges. They were also thoroughly pagan and their presence in the land was a strong threat to the purity of Israel’s religion and morality. There was, therefore, a long history of spiritual and military conflict between the Israelites and the Canaanites. The woman came crying out to Jesus knowing full well the ancient rivalry between the Jews and the Canaanites. But she was desperate for her daughter, and so would cry out for mercy from the visiting Jewish Messiah.

There is often criticism over Jesus’ use of the word ‘dog’ for the Canaanite woman. How could Jesus use such offensive and derogatory language? The word for dogs here refers to a small pet dog of children who are harmless and helpless. It’s a way of speaking which indicates that the woman accepts Israel’s historical privilege over the Gentiles. Though she may not be able to sit down at the Messiah’s table and eat with the “children of Israel” she wants some of the mercy of God, His saving grace to all people. Jesus who was rejected by the Jews is gladly accepted by the Gentiles.

Matthew draws a very interesting portrait of both Jesus and the Canaanite woman in this narrative. Jesus clearly makes a distinction between Jew and Gentile. Now there are two ways to interpret Jesus' behaviour. First is to say that Jesus was testing her to see how strong her faith was. Another way to interpret this is that Jesus who had just started his public ministry was still discovering what his mission really entailed. He still had to overcome the cultural and social biases that surrounded him and recognize His true mission. The words of the woman force Jesus to reconsider the boundary separating her from the house of Israel. And Jesus in all humility accepts that the woman is right. The encounter with the Canaanite woman prepares us for Jesus’ great commission to go and to make disciples of all nations.        

When we look at the Canaanite woman one defining feature of her personality is her never give up attitude and her perseverance. Just look at the text carefully. She is rejected or fails not once, not twice but three times. The first time Jesus doesn’t give her any answer. The second time Jesus disqualifies her as she is not an Israelite. The third time Jesus answers her with a reason. Three times she fails and yet she keeps trying. Only on the fourth attempt is she able to convince Jesus to help her. This Canaanite woman teaches us a very important spiritual and practical lesson. We have to keep trying even if we fail…. many a time we fall into the same temptations, we repeat the same sins, sometimes we get into addictions and whenever we try to come out of it we find ourselves sucked back into the same habits once again. At times we make spiritual resolutions perhaps to pray regularly, or to read the bible daily and more often than not we find ourselves failing to live up to these resolutions and we quit. The Canaanite woman teaches us that the good things in life take time and therefore we need to keep persevering.  Also, there is an interesting progression in the movement of the woman in the narrative. In the beginning, she is in the crowd away from Jesus, and then later she comes and kneels before Jesus and dialogues with Jesus. Our perseverance in prayer takes us closer to Jesus, it makes us ready to receive what we are asking for. I don’t say that if we persevere, we will get whatever we are asking for but if we persevere our prayers will be answered although it might not be in the way we want it. Jesus commends the woman’s faith. True faith doesn’t cease trying. True faith doesn’t depend on the prayer being answered.

I pray that on this Justice Sunday we may be able to break away from our exclusivist thinking and focus on justice more than rituals and model our prayer based on the Canaanite woman’s prayer of perseverance. May God bless us all.