"The Canaanite's Daughter," by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Musem / Public Domain.
Matthew 15:21-28 for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
In
this Gospel, the sick girl’s mother is one of the Canaanites— who are
foreigners, enemies, worshipers of heathen idols.
The
first thing the sick girl’s mother called Jesus was LORD, SON OF DAVID.
With
that name, she prophetically acknowledged Jesus to be the chosen Messiah, the
Anointed One of the God of ISRAEL.
Lord, Son of David!
After
that, her brave persistence in begging for help is only secondary.
Jesus
came as the Messiah of the JEWS—
God’s CHOSEN PEOPLE.
Every
human being is able to become a CHOSEN ONE of
God through the mercy of God and faith in Jesus as the Messiah promised to the
Jews.
Today
in his Gospel, Christ emphatically asserts that his mission was for Israel.
However,
he fulfilled his mission by suffering and dying for Israel and for ALL of sinful humanity.
Like
the Canaanite woman today, we also beg for healing, whether of body, mind or
spirit, whether for ourselves or for others.
Christ
carried our sins, weaknesses, diseases and our death; and he destroyed them in
himself by his own suffering and death on the Cross.
He
can offer us particular healings of body, mind or spirit.
However,
those are merely crumbs on the floor compared to what he offers us in his
Eucharist.
Faith
in Christ offers us SALVATION:
the privilege to eat at the table of the sons and daughters of God— and not as
mere FOREIGN GUESTS, but as SONS AND DAUGHTERS brought
to birth within Christ’s Body— NATIVE
sons and daughters born of God through faith and baptism.
We
might continue to pray for mere crumbs.
Yet
God himself gives us the whole table— and his dining room as well.
In
his Son Christ Jesus, God himself is the Open Door through which we enter.
God
in Christ is the gracious host who serves us at table.
God
in Christ is the Living Food and Drink set before us.
When
we partake of this Banquet as God’s children with faith and fidelity, God gives
us the gift of a full, undivided share in his own life.
In
his Gospel today, Christ finally answered the Canaanite woman’s pleas for the
healing of her daughter.
O woman,
great is your faith!
Let it be done for you
as you wish.
With
his Eucharist, he says to us: Let it be done for you
even BEYOND your wishes.
Let
us at least begin to wish what GOD
wishes.
Turn. Love. Repeat.
