The New Testament is full of incidents where individuals had a face-to-face encounter with Jesus. But - in all those incidents, there is probably none as moving or as difficult – even as confusing - to understand as the encounter with the Canaanite woman - as we heard in our Gospel reading.
People might get the impression that Jesus seemed to be unsympathetic and even rude, degrading to the woman - a Gentile – an outcast. It is just unfortunate that we cannot hear the tone of Jesus’ voice as he spoke or we cannot see his facial expression as he talked of “giving that which belonged to the children to the dogs.”
But - the woman - evidently, saw in it not a rejection or a snub but an invitation to persistence.
Jesus’ words about dogs and children are a kind of a saying or a cliché that Jesus probably heard all his life: “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
And so – the woman, understanding Jesus’ intent, the woman says, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the children’s crumbs or scraps that fall from the table.” What a wonderful exchange between Jesus and the woman.
The woman understood what Jesus meant when He said: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Meaning – The woman accepts the priority of Israel in God’s plan of salvation but she also says, in so many words:
“You are Israel’s Messiah. You are the one through whom God will bring salvation to the whole world – not only to the Jews. But - Please, allow God’s plan for the future of the whole world to break into this present moment, and bring healing to my daughter now.”
Meaning - She believes that Jesus has so much power that he will have more than enough left over from what Israel does not need or want.
The woman lived in a culture where women were meant to be seen and not heard, but she could not keep quiet because of her love for and her concern for her daughter.
Her faith was not shaken by the attitude of the disciples who wanted Jesus to send her away.
So - Jesus is moved and responds to such striking faith: “O Woman, great is your faith! Let your wish be granted.” Jesus’ words give voice to what the woman’s words have already demonstrated: her faith.
Faith life – Christian life is such a paradox in the sense that true believers in God are born in hard times .,, not when things are going well. Great faith grows in times of doubt and despair.
In the hardest times, faith reaches its greatest height. It is strange but true. Until we have known great despair, we cannot know great faith – personally. Great faith has always come out of situations of despair, of hopelessness.
But – it does not mean that we pray or look for misery or desolation or trials - so that we will grow in faith. Life will bring them to us and they will transform us.
The saints - down through the centuries – gave us wonderful examples of faith even in the midst of despair and darkness.
So, let us never lose faith even when we often experience delay in God’s answers to our prayers. Being delayed is not being denied.
The silences of God often refine our desires. Meaning - They help us - they give us a better understanding of the God from whom we seek help. We often come to God for physical or material needs but later find out God meets even our even bigger or greater needs – more than we asked for.
The reward for our faith is not always having our prayers answered. In this case in the Gospel story, the woman received what she asked for. But there are many times when the things we want most are not given to us. And even then, we are assured of God’s love and concern.
It is the strength of our faith that takes us through the greatest challenges of life.
The Gospel story presents us with ideal way to pray and to have humble interior disposition we must have - when approaching God – with humility and persistence and utmost trust in God.
Some of you may be living with a quiet kind of desperateness or hopelessness that is destroying your happiness and peace. You may not be able even to express it. You may not even want to discuss it with anyone. And - hopefully NOT – you may even be considering – something very foolish.
Let me urge you to do what the Canaanite woman did. Turn to God who loves you and cares for you…
In the Gospel, Jesus said: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Yet, after Jesus’ resurrection, He told his disciples: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.” (Mk 16:15).
Meaning - Even to the Gentiles… Meaning - to us.
By virtue of our baptism in Christ, we are now Beloved Sons and Daughters of God – Children of God… co-heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.
We do not need to settle for “crumbs falling from the Master’s table”, so to speak. Those are for dogs! Jesus’ death on the Cross – our being baptized into His death - has promoted/adopted us and made us children of the Master.
The Master invites us to the table and feeds us with the finest spiritual food.
In the Eucharist, Jesus not only gives us food and drink – He gives us very Himself – His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. You know what – the truth is - Every Mass is actually a Healing Mass. You do not have to look for or wait for a Healing Priest.
But remember - We separate ourselves from His table when we go back to sinful life.
Jesus sees all that is good within the human heart. He saw the faith of the Canaanite woman. He sees your faith. He sees my faith. Jesus knows how hard we are trying our best to be faithful to Him and to serve Him.
How wonderful is that?! We have such an awesome God!
He knows us better than we know ourselves. He loves us more than we love ourselves.
Hopefully, may we all get to the point in our lives, when we can say: “We, not only believe - we know.” Amen.
God bless…
