20th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 

Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7

   Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28

 

 

"Lord, Son of David, have pity on me!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

 

 

If last Sunday we saw the wavering faith of the disciples, today we are given an example of the Canaanite woman's faith. If the disciple’s wavering faith dismayed and frustrated the Lord, the great faith of this woman pleased him so much. But not only faith is being taught in the gospel today It also hints about the woman's virtue of commiseration which enables her to humble herself and plea unceasingly for her daughter's recovery. Let us meditate on these points: faith and commiseration.

 

1. There is no doubt that Jesus came for everybody. He was always mindful of God's universal salvific will. But when he came, he came as a man and more particularly as a Jew. That is why he was also subject to the imperatives of society, culture, politics, religion and other aspects of human life. Such is the background of today's gospel. So, there was indeed a very strong reason why Jesus reluctantly entertained the woman. She was a Canaanite and Jesus was a Jew. The centuries old barrier that separated the Jews and the Gentiles became the woman’s most difficult test as he now came to Jesus for a request. And as the woman herself might have expected, she got heart-breaking answers from the Lord: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel…it is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to little dogs."

 

On the one hand, Jesus' statements were down grading. The woman must have felt the pain of it. If there were just any other way to remedy her situation, to come to Jesus would probably never come to her mind. But on the other hand, the same statements stimulated her faith. They came more as a challenge than as an insult. And precisely so. For Jesus himself had no desire to insult her. Rather, he had at least two noble intentions. First, he wanted to see a strong faith that would ironically come from a gentile. Second, by so doing, the disciples - and all Jews for that matter – would realize that they had no monopoly of faith and salvation. Salvation is for all, and especially for those who accept it with a kind and open heart. And Jesus was not in vain.

 

“It is true, sir, but even little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” This was the woman's humble answer which expressed her faith that only Jesus was the answer. But that faith was not only humble in character, it was also assertive. Humbly yet firmly believing that Jesus had everything in his hands, she insisted to have her share. Even the crumbs which fall from their master’s table would be enough. Certainly this won the favor and admiration of Jesus. He even took the pride of announcing to all hearers: "Woman, how great is your faith.” And surely, it was her faith that granted her petition; "It will be as you wish.”

 

2. Humility. Assertiveness. These would characterize the greatness of the woman's faith. But the other exemplary virtue that accompanies the woman's faith was the virtue of commiseration. Commiseration means bearing the pain and suffering of the other as if this pain and suffering were one’s own. It is pity and compassion, but more than that. It is more of empathy than mere sympathy. It is feeling the afflictions and distress just exactly as how the concerned has them. “Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon”

 

This is precisely the case of the Canaanite woman. She could have said, “Lord, have pity on my daughter.” But the gospel is quite clear: “Have pity on me.” It was not the Canaanite woman herself who was tormented by the demon, but her daughter. But she came to Jesus with such a petition. So, one message is clear. She bore the misery of her daughter unto herself. Her daughter's sufferings became her own sufferings, her daughter’s afflictions and distress were her own afflictions and distress. If ever she humbled herself, it was because of her daughter. If ever she became assertive and persistent, it was again because of her daughter.

 

If we get closer to the gospel, we actually discover that this poor Canaanite mother was “turned down" for three times as a matter of test. First, she did get any answer from the Lord. As if the Lord saw and heard no one. She was left prostrate to the ground. Unheard! Second, she got the answer, but what a harsh one. She did not belong to the house of Israel, and so the conclusion is clear. Rejected! Third, she was considered no more than a dog. So why a dog should be treated like human beings? Insulted! As we see, the tests grew in intensity. Everybody must have felt the increasing tension as the woman persisted with her request. Unheard. Rejected. Insulted But all these things did not stop her. And there was only one overwhelming reason for this: her daughter.

 

This is riot surprising. What the Canaanite woman felt and did is just exactly what all mothers would feel and do. This is most normal. But this normal maternal attitude did not escape the cognizance of the evangelist. The woman's petition must have strike Matthew himself. We have all the good reasons to believe that Matthew did not fail to note it so that he might set an evangelic reminder to all humanity about the irreplaceable role of mothers. Countless children may reject their mothers, but seldom could a mother forget her child. And if mothers always commiserate with their children, how much more for a loving and compassionate God? This is a reality which even the prophet of old would assure (cf Is 49:15).

 

This enforces once more the place of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the faith of the Church, in the faith of her children. We don’t need to be so scholarly just to explain our devotion to mother Mary. Our evangelical basis is extremely fundamental. If this gentile woman commiserates her daughter, how much more for the virgin mother? As her children, our sufferings become her own. She brings them before her son, right at the very door of his sacred heart. How can Jesus then refuse his own mother?

 

The gospel itself provides this undying example. As Jesus could not help but feel too the sorrow of the widow of Naim over the death of her only son, he could not also resist the Canaanite woman’s commiseration over her daughter’s situations. Jesus too commiserates. In both occasions, it was the tears of the mothers that to touched his compassionate heart. The anguish of these mothers must have reminded the Lord of his own mother. In man's sinful and miserable history, for a thousand and one times mother Mary comes to her son begging in similar fashion: "Jesus, have pity on me. My children are terribly tormented.” And for thousand and one times, too, Jesus invokes his compassionate response: "Woman, how great is your faith! It will be as you wish.”