Homily for Wednesday, 8 August 2018– Memorial of St. Dominic

Wednesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Jeremiah 31:1-7; Responsorial Canticle: Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12ab, 13; Matthew 15:21-28

Does today’s Gospel reading from Matthew trouble us or raise any questions for us?

I wonder, for instance, why, even before Jesus tries to dismiss the Canaanite woman whose “daughter is tormented by a demon,” he simply ignores her. Why, then, when the Canaanite woman refuses to go away when Jesus ignores her, does Jesus seem to insult her? Why would Jesus call the woman a dog, a slur possibly directed at non-Jews in Israel at the time? If Jesus’ mission were truly to open the possibility of salvation to all people and all nations, why does he argue, against his own disciples, that he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”? Does Jesus act this way toward the woman simply to test her faith, when he knows in the end how great the woman’s faith is, and that he will heal her daughter? Are Jesus’ words in fact his, or did Matthew or a later editor of Matthew adjust the scenario just enough to be in keeping with the broader concern of Matthew’s Gospel for coherence of his faith community? (By the way, ancient writers would occasionally adjust texts in this way to fit an overall message; they were not as concerned with exact factual, historical accuracy as we are today).

All these are good questions about this strange and even troubling Gospel reading. But I wonder if, instead of directing our primary attention toward Jesus’ harsh actions or words toward the Canaanite woman, we might want to pay closer attention to the woman’s boldness. The Canaanite woman persists boldly, and even ends with a clever retort to Jesus’ slight against her: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

If any of us were in the Canaanite woman’s place, would we have had the boldness or presence of mind to confront Jesus like this? Since I am not by nature especially confrontational, I doubt I would have had the boldness of the Canaanite woman in her position to stand up to Jesus.

As secularized as our culture is, do we not still have a significant deference to authority built into our culture? And anybody in our culture who is of religious faith (including all of us, otherwise I do not think we would be here) certainly has great reverence, rightly, for the authority of God; of Jesus. I think, then, that most of us would probably have difficulty confronting Jesus as the Canaanite woman did, even if we were put off or insulted by something he said or did.

The Canaanite woman teaches us, I think, something about clever and timely boldness. She persists in pleading with Jesus for healing for her daughter, despite being ignored and then insulted (even if Jesus’ snub of the Canaanite woman were deliberately to test her faith). She is finally praised by Jesus for the quality of her faith, which would have been a challenge to his Jewish disciples should they have presumed that the woman’s non-Jewish status made her automatically inferior in faith to them.

While we are right to maintain reverence for God, the Canaanite woman shows us nevertheless to be bold, even with God. Ask, persistently if necessary, for what we need most. Persistence will purify our prayer, so that we in turn discern what we need most from God; what we need to ask of God most persistently and boldly.