A story of faith and a story of welcome!

In today’s Gospel, at first Jesus does not answer the Canaanite woman.   Then he tells her that he has come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Finally he says:  “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to dogs.”

Wow!  That is a harsh reply spoken by Jesus – so uncharacteristic of Jesus.  Usually Jesus is the one challenging the status quo.  What gives here?

Let’s see:  why might this Canaanite woman not belong?  Three reasons:  She’s a woman.  She’s a Canaanite or a Gentile.  Also, she’s annoying because “she keeps calling out after us.”  How does this apply to us:  While only half of us are women; most of us are Gentiles (non-Israelites); and, if we are honest, most of us are annoying at least some of the time.  Do we belong in the kingdom of God?

By all accounts, this is an unusual Scriptural event.  Does Jesus really intend to shun her?  What was he trying to teach his disciples who clearly want her out of the picture?  Does this sound like the Jesus who said:  “Come to me all who labor are burdened  and I will give you rest.”

For me, the take-home message is twofold:

First, this is a wonderful story of faith.  This Canaanite woman is driven by faith from beginning to end.  Because of this faith in who Jesus is and what he can do, she will not be put aside by anyone.  Remember, she is not fighting for herself; she is fighting for the life of her daughter.  She is a woman; she is a Gentile; and she is a mother who would not be denied. 

The power of her faith makes her willing to risk insult, encourages her boldness, gives her a sense of empowerment, and ultimately brings about the transformation she seeks.  Her faith gives her this incredible boldness in the presence of the disciples and in the presence of Jesus.  Does your faith, does my faith give me this kind of confidence in the healing Lord? 

Faith can clearly bring power to the powerless.  She would not take “no” for an answer.   As a result of the mother’s faith and persistence, Jesus declared her daughter healed.  So too for us, those who persist in believing and trusting God will find themselves rewarded with inner peace and an assurance of ultimate well-being.  I had the privilege of anointing an older woman this week who had just entered a home hospice program.  Even though cancer had weakened her considerably, together with her daughter and grandson, her faith empowered her to exhibit such an inner peace and gratitude for the blessings of her life.  Her faith was a source of inspiration for all of us.

Second take-home message:  Everyone belongs.

Reflecting on the disciples’ encounter with the Canaanite woman,  who do we attempt to exclude from God’s presence today?

Let’s face it:  the inclusive work of the Church is hard work, and it goes against the way the world is organized, the way our worldly hearts want to behave.  We would rather hang out with people like us  -- people who speak our language, vote for our political  party, share our skin color, live in our zip codes.  But that is not the way of God, and, please God, not the way of the Church.  We see in our Gospel story for today, where Jesus met a Gentile woman, who begged him to heal her daughter.  This posed a problem for Jesus, not because he did not care for this woman and her daughter, but because the plan of God was to begin the spread of Christianity from the center of Israel.    Jesus wanted to honor God’s chosen people, the Israelites.  Yet, human need and this woman’s great faith “converts” (in parenthesis) Jesus to reveal more fully that everyone is welcome, everyone belongs in the kingdom of God.

The Canaaanite woman becomes a sign of the Gospel universality.  No one belongs under the table, much less away from it.  As we come to the table of the Lord to celebrate Eucharist at the Lord’s altar table, is it not true in the plan of God that no one belongs under the Eucharistic table, no one is to be excluded.  All are welcome.

A way of looking at the welcome of Jesus is to ask ourselves:  if Jesus will welcome even us, who are we to issue restrictions?  In the words of Pope Francis:  “Who am I to judge?”  May we never lose touch with our own craziness, our own messiness, our own sinfulness and yet know, at the same time, we are God’s beloved.  As God issues no restrictions on the love he has for us, so too, may we issue no restrictions on God’s love for all of His people.

Today’s Gospel story is about an expanding circle of grace.  That circle had to be learned by the early Church and by ourselves as well.  We often heart the phrase “to think outside the box.”  It describes the capacity to expand our concepts beyond the familiar, comfortable and even our orthodox patterns that define our reality.  Religious beliefs are even harder to change because they come to us in absolute terms. 

What convinces Jesus that the Spirit is at work in the Canaanite woman is her deep love for her daughter and her persistent faith in his power to heal the child.  Jesus encounters deep faith and love in religious outsiders like the Canaanite woman or the Roman centurion, but also in religious outcasts within Israel – lepers, sinners and the poor who neither know nor keep the Law.

The Gospel challenge for us today is to ask ourselves do we withhold love for people we decide are outside of God’s grace because they are different from us.  Our place at God’s table may put us next to someone we never thought would be as cherished by God as we ourselves want to be.  With this comes the challenge to love them as God loves them.