Tyre and Sidon…
In the time of Jesus,
hearers of Matthew’s Gospel,
a gospel written for Jewish believers,
would have taken note of this.
Tyre and Sidon is Gentile territory.
Perhaps Jesus went to this region to get some rest.
After all this region would be free of the Jewish crowds
who come to listen to his words,
to experience his compassion,
and to be healed.
But we see his reputation precedes him.
This woman,
this Gentile woman,
seeks Jesus’ help as any good mother would.
Here we see a side of Jesus that upsets
how we view and experience Jesus.
We may be used to seeing Jesus
as one who never hesitates to heal,
who is quick to forgive,
and generously offers compassion.
But in this gospel reading we hear of Jesus’
silence toward this Canaanite woman who requests healing for her daughter.
It is as if he is turning his back on her
because she is outside the scope
of what he perceives is the focus of his ministry.
When he finally does speak to her,
he suggests that her culture is to be associated with dogs.
Some may say that Jesus was “testing” her.
But elsewhere in the gospels when that is the case,
the writer points out that it is a test.
That is not the case in this scene.
We like to think that Jesus knew everything from the beginning…
that he knew the full scope of his ministry.
But lest we forget,
Jesus is fully divine AND
fully human.
If Jesus is fully human,
then that means that he developed and learned
just like the rest of us, except without sin.
And just in case we begin to think,
that sin is part of being human,
it has been suggested that sin actually
leads one to be something less than human.
In Matthew’s Gospel,
with it’s Jewish emphasis,
Jesus is often referred to as teacher or rabbi.
But here, in today’s Gospel passage
we find a Canaanite woman
as Jesus’ teacher.
It is through her persistence,
her pleading,
her reverence to him,
that Jesus begins to get the picture…
Perhaps this Gentile woman opens Jesus’ eyes to a new reality…
He has come not just for the lost sheep of Israel
but to extend salvation to all of humankind.
The reward?
O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.
For those early Jews hearing this Gospel for the first time,
the message is clear.
As Saint Paul reminds us,
nobody is outside God’s love and salvation…
Gentile or Jew,
servant or free,
woman or man,
Nobody!
We live in a world that does not seem to believe that.
Exclusion is a way of life.
We have seen what extremism can do in the Middle East
and in other parts of the world…
the killing of those who believe differently.
We have seen the desperation of people forced from their homeland
trying to find a place of safe haven for themselves and their families,
many losing what they had hoped to save…
their lives.
Even in our own country in these last few days,
we have been reminded that attitudes of racism and hatred
that we had hoped were part of our past,
regrettably are not.
Regardless of one’s political leanings,
embracing any kind of paradigm that excludes,
looks down on another,
puts our own interests before the needs of those truly in need,
is contrary to the Gospel,
and is contrary to God’s Law.
My friends, the Gospel of Jesus Christ
is not something that we take out and open up on Sunday,
and then close up and put away until next Sunday.
Being disciples of Jesus Christ demands
that it be interwoven throughout our days,
throughout each moment of our lives.
It demands that we look at the situations we face each day
and ask, “What would God want me to do?”
Jesus’ heart was opened by the pleas of the Canaanite woman.
By virtue of our own baptism,
if we really do believe its power and grip on our hearts
to conform us to Christ himself,
we are called to set aside our certitude
and any thinking that leads to “us verses them.”
Jesus reminds us today through his own experience,
what a Christ-like response looks like.
When we look into eyes of those who suffer,
encounter those whose experience is different from ours’,
whose race and culture is different from ours,
when he hear their stories,
our hearts can’t help but be moved.
To be open to this movement of the heart
requires that we know Jesus in our own lives.
I’m not talking about knowing about Jesus.
We must KNOW Jesus in our own hearts.
We must KNOW that the salvation offered is for each of us personally.
To quote Pope Benedict XVI…
Only where God is seen does life truly begin.
Only when we meet the living God in Christ
do we know what life is.
We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution.
Each of us is the result of a thought of God.
Each of us is willed, each of us is loved,
each of us is necessary.
There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel,
by the encounter with Christ.
There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him
and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.
My friends when we encounter the Living Christ,
our hearts will be opened to love and mercy,
and no mountain will be too high,
and no valley will be too low.
We will go to great lengths to extend that love and mercy
to all of God’s children