Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 16, 2020: For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable...

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable…

Is God’s love open and available to all?

  The people of Israel originally believed that some people had no access to God.  But the prophet Isaiah causes them to rethink this idea:  my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, the Lord tells them, including foreigners who join themselves to the Lord.  Isaiah wants the people of Israel to change how they think of themselves and of their relationship with God; they need to start to think of the people of God in broader terms.  God is joyful as we draw closer to him, Isaiah says; God’s salvation is available to all.  And so the psalmist can sing in Psalm 67, O God, let all the nations praise you!  God wants salvation to be known upon earth, among all nations.

  Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew's Gospel may make us momentarily question this truth, however.  When the woman approaches Jesus for help because her daughter is tormented by a demon, Jesus insults her:  It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs, he says!  This seems unconscionably harsh, but the woman is not, after all, a Jew, and Jesus claims at first that he has been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  But look at the end result of this apparent obstinacy on his part:  what he achieves is to get the woman to state her faith on a deeper level than many of the house of Israel have ever done, and with the utmost humility:  Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.  Ultimately, Jesus broadens his own disciples’ perspectives:  O woman, great is your faith!  Though he may challenge the more unlikely candidates, Jesus clearly offers salvation for all; he seeks hearts that are open to change, ready to receive and to respond to the love he has for them.  In his Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds the Gentiles that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable; life from the dead—salvation— is open to all, Jews and Gentiles alike, so long as our hearts are open to the opportunity of life in Christ.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 20, 2017: Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us...

 Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us… 

Are you open to the Other in your midst? 

   So much in our world today pushes us to isolate ourselves from the Other – from the marginalized, from the foreigner, from those who are not like us and therefore somehow suspect.  Moreover, this was as true in the ancient world as it is today, so much so that in the Book of Isaiah, the Lord has to remind the Israelites that all peoples – Jews as well as foreigners – will be welcome in the temple so long as they hold to God’s covenant.  Psalm 67 reminds us that God knows no boundaries or borders:  O God, let all the nations praise you because you rule the peoples in equity.  Later, Paul will remind the Romans that Jesus came to redeem all humanity, and Paul himself has become apostle to the Gentiles, anticipating God’s mercy upon all.

   It’s odd, then, to read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman.  Jesus himself has chosen to enter Gentile territory, withdrawing to the region of Tyre and Sidon, yet he remains silent when a Canaanite woman of that district approaches him, requesting healing for her daughter who is tormented by a demon. Jesus’ first response is almost shocking in its exclusivity:  I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; when she persists, his second answer is frankly insulting:  It is not right to take the food of children and throw it to the dogs. Does Jesus really mean to put up barriers between him and certain populations?  All of our readings point to the contrary:  this encounter may well be an opportunity for Jesus both to test the woman’s faith and humility and to teach his disciples an important lesson.  The woman is clearly a woman of faith; Jesus’ challenging remarks only make her own her faith all the more, and her trust that God will provide overrides any insults he might bestow upon her.  O woman, great is your faith! Jesus proclaims finally, healing her daughter in that instant, accepting her and her mother into the kingdom.

   God’s mercy is indeed for all!  If we are to respond to the call of Jesus, a call Paul deems irrevocable, we too need to be open to all, to the Other, to the marginalized, to the foreigner – revealing the love of God to all so that his way may be known upon all the earth.

This post was based on Fr. Pat’s 2014 homily.

Image source:  Wordle