Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Readings provided for us for any given Sunday, are related to one another sometimes easily recognized, sometimes more loosely, with the Second Reading only obliquely so. Today, however, the Readings are quite strongly unified in their focus on the Universality of God’s mercy and the openness of God’s Kingdom.

The Jewish people’s identity came from their conviction that they were unique in the world as God’s chosen People. They were correct in their thinking about their “chosen-ness,” but mistaken in their thoughts that God’s love was meant to be exclusively their own.

They were meant not only to enjoy their “chosen-ness,” but to use their living faith as a means to reveal God to the world-at-large. We see this referenced in:
+ the First Reading: the foreigners as a whole
+ the Second Reading: the Gentiles, especially
+ the Gospel: the Canaanite woman in particular

The universality of God’s Kingdom and of Our Lord’s saving Death and Resurrection, however, are not meant to be understood as similar to that which is found in “Unitarian-Universalist” thought today, who define God and religion not necessarily as God reveals it, but according to individual design.

True universality requires a knowledge and acceptance of God’s Holy Will, revealed in Old Testament times as the Law, and in the New Testament as the Teaching of Christ. Further, acceptance of this universality is meant to be participatory in something, which, in its nature, is larger than oneself, not merely an individual’s assumptions.

This is how God describes participation in this, through the Prophet Isaiah: the “foreigners” wishing to gain access to salvation as promised by God must:
- give themselves to the Lord
- minister to Him
- love the name of the Lord
- become His servant
- keep the Sabbath
- hold to God’s Covenant

God leaves nothing to chance here, nor to individual interpretation of His Will. Saint Paul speaks of his ministry to the Gentiles (the “foreigners”) as an attempt to save some of them, knowing that some will reject his message because their belief system is too closely tied to that of the secular world. Therefore, they will remain outside the Kingdom.

This brings us to the story of the Canaanite woman, a person who quite literally lived outside of the kingdom of the Jews, yet approaches Our Lord with a request. As a Canaanite, she would have been a pagan, and, therefore, at least on the surface would really have no right to make a request of Jesus, yet somehow there was a spiritual attraction to Him.

So, here comes the Lord, walking through Canaanite territory. Our heroine somehow recognizes Him and calls out to Him but note: she addresses Jesus as “Lord, son of David.” Had she, in the midst of a pagan culture, begun to believe in Him, or was she just buttering Him up to convince Him to grant her request?

Their conversation takes on an air of repartée  as the Lord appears to taunt her, even to make her beg, to grovel for what she wants. One might wonder: is this any way to draw a person into the Kingdom?

Well… yes: Within the passage of a few minutes, the Lord
+ purifies her motivation
+ deepens her humility
+ increases her faith
+ forms her in relationship…

… all in a manner we would not have expected.

This is also how He draws each of us, in a very unique and personal way, into a deeper understanding of, and participation in, the Kingdom of God. Universality, though universal, must be personal. Let’s take a closer look at the conversation, which is given to us in three exchanges.

First:
The woman calls out to Jesus, boldly making her request. Then Saint Matthew informs us: “But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.” Curious… don’t you think?

Here she is drawn into the very silence of God. The Lord’s silence here is not a lack of response; the silence is His response. What is meant by that? Before the act of Creation, before the first words of Creation were uttered, “Let there be light…” the Holy Trinity existed for all eternity in wisdom and love, with no need of language as we humans experience it: but in silence: pure, divine and eternal.

Saint Matthew does not say that the Lord turned His back on the woman… or walked away… or ignored her…only that He said not a word. Did He, then, gaze into her eyes with the same silent wisdom and love with which He beheld the Father in heaven for all eternity?

In doing so, in an instant, He draws her beyond her humanity, revealing divine wisdom and love in His silence, strengthening her faith (if not only her resolve) to maintain her position. Then, the Lord fires the first salvo across her brow, to test her faith, saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…” thus letting her know that He doesn’t simply pass out miracles on a wholesale basis to non-believers.

Secondly:
We come to their second exchange: Motivations purified, humility burgeoning, Saint Matthew tells us that the woman “did Jesus homage” …. quite likely meaning that she knelt down before Him. Her demeanor changes, and her request is now simplified, saying only, “Lord, help me!”

This time He speaks to her, but in a quizzical manner, saying: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Though it seems very much like an insult, the Lord is, instead, testing her faith further, using vernacular phrases with which the Israelites and Canaanites would describe one another — as dogs — an image with which she would have been familiar.

And thirdly,
Undeterred, the woman initiates the third exchange: “Please, Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their Masters’ table.” Here she accomplishes what God the Father requests through the Prophet Isaiah:  the foreigners must:
+ give themselves to the Lord
+ minister to Him
+ love the name of the Lord
+ become His servant

Recognizing this beyond her clever speech, Jesus responds, “O woman, great is your faith.” So, we learn from this exchange that God’s Kingdom of mercy and love, being universal. is not presumptive: one participates in the Kingdom through faith. Our initial faith does not have to be perfect, fully-developed, or even all that strong. The Lord will strengthen, develop, and perfect our faith through our interaction with Him — that is — through our trusting prayer.

But there does have to be interaction:
+ there has to be desire
+ there has to be openness to God’s Will
+ there has to be trust in His Wisdom and in His response.

My own experience of prayer has sometimes been similar to the interaction between the Lord and our Canaanite woman. While desire, openness and trust are part of my prayer, that doesn’t mean that prayer is always easy. Calling out to the Lord in prayer, not unlike the woman in the Gospel, I sometimes tell God
+ what to do
+ how to do it
+ when

This prayer, earnest as it may be, however, is usually met with God’s silence. Over the years, however, I have learned that the silence does not constitute a refusal, but an invitation into God’s wisdom: to consider my request from God’s point of view,
which is often beyond my human level of awareness.

The silence, while sometimes frustrating, discouraging, or heart-wrenching, is also purifying and transformative. Desire, verbalized in prayer, and met with silence, can be led to open-ness in which purified, transfigured prayer is also simplified, echoing the words the woman speaks, “Lord, help me!”

Open-ness to God’s wisdom and His Holy Will finally lead to trust, a trust sometimes hard-won through tenacity and perseverance… in which, on the other side of silence, I say, “But help me to find you in whatever comes…” in which I no longer identify with the Canaanite woman,  but more closely with the dogs willing to take the scraps that fall from the table.

Prayer, then, is not about trying to convince God to do what He might not have done otherwise without my attempt to convince Him; it is primarily about desire, open-ness and trust transformed by humility: the context in which we must always approach God. Humility becomes the hallmark of our approach to God, and opens up our participation in His Kingdom.

To cap off, as I said earlier, the Kingdom is universal, but it is also personal; it requires some work and perseverance beyond our disappointments and discouragement in prayer. When we do what God requires of us as outlined by the Prophet Isaiah:
+ join ourselves to the Lord
+ minister to Him
+ love His Name
+ become His servant…

God will respond, as He says further: “Them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make joyful in my house of prayer.”