All for the Lord and the Lord for All-HOMILY FOR THE 20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 20th August 2023 YEAR A

All for the Lord and the Lord for All-HOMILY FOR THE 20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 20th August 2023 YEAR A 

Isaiah 56:1.6-7; Ps.67; Rom.11:13-15.29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

 _Jesus was preaching the Gospel…and healing every infirmity among the people_ (Matt.4:23)

All for the Lord and the Lord for All

The key to unraveling the beauty of the account of today’s gospel, lies in understanding a conventional thoughtful background. The Israelites saw themselves as God’s own people; God belongs not just to them but to only them. This mentality extended to mean that the non-Israelite communities were pagan cities. As pagan cities, they cannot know God, they cannot have God and they cannot be saved. God became like a natural resources that was discovered only in the land of Israel and was meant for Israel alone (no exportation). It was with this mentality that both Israel and non-Israel communities understood the presence and ministry of Jesus. If Jesus was truly God, he has come to save only the Israelites; if He was simply a prophet sent by God, he was sent to minister only to the Israelites. So, while the controversy of Jesus’ identity lingered on, it was clear to Jews and non-Jews that Jesus belonged to the Jews alone.

The non-Jewish communities did not really have a problem with this. They did not feel cheated or unloved by God. They simply accepted it the way it was and rather focused on what they had. Besides, they may consoled themselves with the fact that no one has it all in life; maybe they had their own account of salvation that benefited them. So, it was not expected that Jesus will extend his teachings and works to the non-Jewish communities or that a non-Jew will dare to seek Jesus’ services. The disciples of Jesus, being Jews, had this mentality too. More so, Jesus, in the gospel reading of today, pretended to be acting with this mentality.

First, it was surprising that this Canaanite woman disobeyed the rule and came before Jesus to ask for the deliverance of the daughter. I want to suppose that since the rule was mutually accepted by Jews and non-Jews, both parties would not have been happy with the woman for “crossing boundaries”. The Jews may perceive her as “having longer throat”. The non-Jews will see her as “falling their hand”. Yet, this woman damned the consequences and came before Jesus for the healing of the daughter. At first, Jesus did not answer this woman. It was very easy for both the woman and Jesus’ disciples to interpret Jesus’ silence as unwillingness to assist the woman. Jesus ought not to help this pagan! The woman knew that she ought not to be helped, and that was why she persisted in her plea. For the disciples, since Jesus will not break the conventional rule by attending to a non-Jew, let him just send the woman away so that her disturbance will stop. Everyone seemed to be on the same page: this woman has no right to what she was asking of Jesus.

When Jesus will finally speak, he buttressed the rule by referring to the Israelites as children and the non-Israelites as dogs. This may have sounded harsh, but it was not something unusual. The Jews saw themselves as God’s own heritage, and the pagans, they saw as dogs. The non-Jews were aware of this derogation. So, it is easy to understand why this woman was not offended by the derogatory words pronounced by Jesus; infact, it was expected. What is actually new, surprising and shocking here is that this woman, while admitting that she was a dog (one who had no right to get anything from Jesus), still pleaded that she should get at least a little, as a dog would have crumbs from the master’s table. This woman was desperate to get Jesus’ attention irrespective of the conventional barrier.

On the part of Jesus, his seemingly reluctance was to test the extent to which the woman was holding on either to the conventional rule or to her faith in Jesus. Will she be discouraged by Jesus’ reluctance and then fall back to the rule that reminds her that she should get nothing from Jesus? Was Jesus her only hope? The persistence of this woman gave answers to the above questions. This woman was not operating based on what is conventional but based on her faith.

This is where we must pause and do some self-reflection. Every now and then, we encounter Jesus in Church, prayer and other avenues. Is this encounter based on what others have said or on our faith in Jesus himself? If we follow Jesus with the lens of what others are saying, we will never be able to find and experience Jesus personally. Christianity is authentic to the extent that the individual has personally experienced Christ and is living out the fruit of that experience. You cannot truly live out something that you have no personal conviction of.

The account of others will always accommodate some elements of unfaithfulness. Some of us have given up on our weaknesses and are teaching others that there is nothing wrong in swimming in their weaknesses while still serving God. Some of us have lost the fervor of ardent prayer life and a life of witnessing. We then go about teaching others that Christianity is in the heart; what we do outwardly does not matter. Some are erroneously teaching that since Christ has died for sins, our personal sins cannot inter with our salvation; we must be saved, irrespective of our sins. Beloved, do not take tutorial from someone who did not pass a course.

So, the first reading blatantly tells us what we must do: “keep justice and do righteousness…” Again, the Lord said: “my house shall be called a house prayer for all peoples”. Jesus is not the exclusive property of anyone or any group. Jesus is for all. Let no one tell you that cannot grow in your prayer life, that you cannot overcome sinful habits, that you cannot rely on the will of God, that you cannot wait for God’s time, that you must stain your hands to make it in life, that you can never get better spiritually, financially, morally or otherwise. You essentially belong to the Lord. He loves you and will work everything for your good.