The Woman Jesus Ignored (at first)

Pastor’s Column

20^th Sunday Ordinary Time

August 20, 2017

In this Sunday’s gospel (Matthew 15:21-28) we meet a very persistent pagan woman who keeps asking and asking Jesus for a healing of her dying daughter. Jesus responds by essentially appearing to give her the silent treatment, and then finally answering in a way that indicated he was unwilling to help her.

The woman, however, would not give up, because she loved her daughter so much and knew Jesus could heal her if he so wanted. Jesus ends this by commending her faith and making it clear he had been testing her. By appearing to delay in answering, Jesus encouraged her to greater and greater acts of faith, which Jesus finally revealed pleased God immensely. She ends up getting one of the greatest compliments from Jesus in scripture! What can we learn from her experience when our own prayers seem to fall on deaf ears:

She is persistent.
She does not give in to discouragement, no matter what happens, even when she feels she is being ignored by the Lord.
She is deeply motivated and driven by a fierce love for her daughter, and her request is not for herself, but for her child.
She is humble, knowing her place, but also bold in her requests. She is not afraid to ask the Lord for great things.
She is witty and uses her intelligence in her conversations with Christ (when he finally begins speaking to her!).
She has great faith, using complimentary and faith-filled titles for the Lord in her addresses to him.
She is diplomatic and always courteous to Jesus, even when things don’t go her way.
She knows she is being deliberately tested and that Jesus is not being unkind.
She receives in the end everything she asks for and one of the highest compliments Jesus ever gave someone.

Father Gary

Reflections from Scott Hahn

A Foreigner’s Faith: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Christ and the Canaanite Woman
Readings:
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28

Most of us are the foreigners, the non-Israelites, about whom today’s First Reading prophesies.

Coming to worship the God of Israel, we stand in the line of faith epitomized by the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel. Calling to Jesus as Lord and Son of David, this foreigner shows her great faith in God’s covenant with Israel.

Jesus tests her faith three times. He refuses to answer her cry. Then, He tells her His mission is only to Israelites. Finally, he uses “dog,” an epithet used to disparage non-Israelites (see Matthew 7:6). Yet she persists, believing that He alone offers salvation.

In this family drama, we see fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and the promise we sing of in today’s Psalm. In Jesus, God makes known among all the nations His way and His salvation (see John 14:6).

At the start of salvation history, God called Abraham (see Genesis 12:2). He chose his offspring, Israel, from all the nations on the face of the earth, to build His covenant kingdom (see Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Isaiah 41:8).

In God’s plan, Abraham was to be the father of many nations (see Romans 4:16-17). Israel was to be the firstborn of a worldwide family of God, made up of all who believe what the Canaanite professes— that Jesus is Lord (see Exodus 4:22-23; Romans 5:13-24).

Jesus came first to restore the kingdom to Israel (see Acts 1:6; 13:46). But His ultimate mission was the reconciliation of the world, as Paul declares in today’s Epistle.

In the Mass we join all peoples in doing Him homage. As Isaiah foretold, we come to His holy mountain, the heavenly Jerusalem, to offer sacrifice at His altar (see Hebrews 12:22-24,28). With the Canaanite, we take our place at the Master’s table, to be fed as His children.