20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – August 16th, 2020

This Sunday, Mother Church presents us with one of the most puzzling and troubling interchanges in all the Gospels: the meeting of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. At first reading, it seems that the Lord is being cold, unresponsive, and even downright rude to this Gentile woman who is begging for the cure of her daughter. “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” What on earth could have prompted Jesus to respond in such an uncharacteristic fashion? Some suggest that this apparent prejudice against a non-Jew is simply an indication that Jesus, as true man, shared the biases of His culture. But this theory doesn’t square well with the fact of Christ’s divinity, or even with the other Gospel accounts of His interactions with Gentiles – so what is really going on here?

One Sister opened by pointing out that this story is a powerful metaphor for the “battle” of prayer. We have all had the experience of God seeming to ignore our prayers, or to “hide His face” from us. Prayer is an arduous task at times, and it requires persistence. But the ultimate motive behind God’s allowing us to suffer in this way is love. He knows that our faith will only grow stronger if it is tested and we learn to persevere in trust and fidelity even when times are difficult. In a way, this story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman is an “acting out” of the parable of the persistent widow, whose repeated pleas won the day. Sister also said that she reads Christ’s final words (“O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire”) as a cry of joy from His Heart. He has withheld His immediate response to the woman’s plea in order to test her faith, but His mercy can no longer be restrained as He delights in the beauty of faith in this woman’s soul.

Another Sister offered an interesting alternate explanation of this difficult passage: perhaps it has more to do with the Apostles than with the woman herself. The Twelve have spent much time with Jesus by now, and they know that His customary reaction to suffering is one of mercy and love. However, they repeatedly show themselves to still be small-minded. Perhaps what Christ is doing in His unusually harsh-sounding response is “holding up a mirror” to the disciples. In His infinite wisdom, He knows the woman’s heart and how she will not be deterred by apparent hostility, so He chooses this moment to model to the Apostles just how unjust their attitude towards her is. He is then able to show them the power of the Canaanite woman’s “great faith,” in contrast with their own “little faith.” (Imagine how Peter felt, seeing a Gentile woman commended for greater faith than his own!) Jesus then models the appropriate response by returning to His customary attitude of love and granting the woman’s heartfelt petition.

Finally, a Sister pointed out how this story can help to ground us in true humility and trust. The woman knows that she does not deserve a miracle, but while she recognizes and accepts her unworthiness she continues to implore God’s mercy, with wonderful results.  In the same way, none of us deserves grace, but if we acknowledge this fact and throw ourselves entirely upon the mercy of God, He responds magnanimously. We can neither take this free gift for granted nor demand it as a right, but only stand before Him in humble petition, trusting that He will lovingly fill our nothingness with His All. It can be perilously easy to “get used to” God’s incredible generosity – Israel struggled with this problem, and we in the Church continue to face it today! Yes, God is lavish with His grace, but He is not to be taken for granted. Love gives with abandon, but when something is demanded, it ceases to be a gift. We are rather to remember our own utter powerlessness without Him and lean totally upon His mercy – for it alone will never fail!