August 2017

In today’s Gospel we meet a lady who was certainly not for turning. She was a woman who wouldn’t change her mind, but, incredibly, seems to have successfully encouraged Jesus to change his. Jesus and His apostles have moved towards pagan territory in the north of the country, close to modern day Lebanon. A woman from the district approaches Jesus, crying aloud. She is described as a Canaanite woman, which means that she would have been regarded by the Jews as a pagan, an outsider, and as ritually unclean. She proves to be one of the most attractive characters in the Gospel. Her anxious cries are not for herself but for her little daughter who is sick. Perhaps she has heard about Jesus’ extraordinary ability to heal the sick people. Her efforts meet with apparent rebuff on the part of Jesus – no word from Him, just a stony silence. That doesn’t stop her crying out for His help. In the end the apostles are so annoyed that they beg Jesus, “Give her what she wants.” He explains that for the moment His mission is restricted to the Jews, “the lost sheep of the House of Israel”. But the expression He uses sounds insulting: it’s not right to throw the children’s food to the house dogs. Far from putting off this good woman, Jesus’ words seem only to encourage her. Jesus is moved by her persistence, her love for her daughter, her sense of humor – but above all by her faith, her conviction that Jesus could and would help her.

This incident reads like a commentary on what happened in the early Church. The first Christians were all convert Jews, and there was great uncertainty as to whether Gentiles could become Christians unless they were first prepared to become Jews. Only gradually, especially through the influence of St. Paul, did the Church come to see that her mission was to the whole of humanity. In today’s world many people find it hard to respect “the other”, the one who differs from them because of the color of their skin or the sound of their accent or the land of their birth or the religion to which they are affiliated. There is no excuse for Jesus’ followers ever to lose sight of the fact that His love is for everyone: Catholics and Protestants, Jews, Hindus and Muslims, believers and unbelievers – all alike are His. In fact Jesus’ final words before He ascended into heaven were that the apostles should go forth to all the nations. He died for all without exception. His Spirit is at work in all. Like that wise and wonderful woman in today’s Gospel, please God we too will not be for turning, will never lose sight of the fact that where human beings are concerned there are no “house dogs”, only beloved sons and daughters of God.