Pastor's Corner: It's not all about me?

The Scripture readings that we are using for this Sunday, Aug. 20, are as follows:

First reading - Isaiah 56:1-6

Second reading - Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

Gospel reading - Matthew 15: 21-28

In the First Reading from Isaiah, we read that the prophet is telling the people of God - the chosen people - that God's salvation is going to come for "foreigners who join themselves to the Lord." That His (the Lord's) "house of prayer will be called a house of prayer for all people." I would ask that you hold on to these statements by the prophet and when we get to the Gospel reading from Matthew. These statements will help clarify a bit the mystery of Jesus' actions in the Gospel reading.

In the Second Reading from the letter to the Romans, Saint Paul is telling the Romans (and us) that we as gentiles are being used to make "his race," the Jews jealous. We (gentiles) are to be a kind of a goad to help the Jews recognize that their disobedience has become an occasion of Grace to the gentiles and that as the Jews begin to recognize this grace and mercy of God given to us, they will begin to recognize that they are in need of and may receive this same grace and mercy. Paul goes on to say that "God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all."

I would ask that you take special notice of the word all that is the part of the focus of both readings mentioned above. The way the word is used indicates that God's desire is to have all people, not just the Jews as the chosen people. We are all chosen by God as his people. But do we all respond to that call?

Just prior to the Matthew 15:21-28 reading (Matthew 15:1-20) Jesus is confronted by the Scribes and Pharisees. They challenge Jesus on why he allows his disciples to break Jewish tradition by not washing their hands before they eat. Jesus responds by accusing the Scribes and Pharisees of breaking God's law for the sake of their tradition and implies that they (Scribes and Pharisees) are hypocrites.

In Matthew chapter 16 Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and Sadducees and they ask Jesus to perform a sign from heaven which would prove to them that he (Jesus) is indeed the Messiah. Jesus silences them by stating that no sign can be given to an evil and unfaithful people - them.

These two readings, Matthew 15:1-20 and Matthew 16 are bookends to the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Matthew 15:21-28. These "bookends" can help us to understand the Gospel Reading about the Canaanite Woman and this is a difficult reading to understand because Jesus seems to be very out of character in it.

After reading about Jesus' interaction with the Canaanite woman one might think that Jesus' humanity is really showing. He seems to be a bit prejudiced and very rude to the woman. As a result of the history that the Jews had with the Canaanites it is easy to understand where this prejudice and rudeness might find its roots, but the Son of God should not act this way, nor has he acted this way in previous interactions with gentiles.

As I have spent time in the Gospels over the years I have come to realize that Jesus is always portrayed as having a purpose in all that he does. All his actions are to make evident the power, grace and mercy of God. He also uses every situation to provide a teachable moment for his disciples. He wants them to learn how to share the grace and mercy they have received. That is what he wants for us also.

In this interaction with the Canaanite woman Jesus wants to teach the disciples and us that we have developed judgments and prejudices throughout our lives, many of which we may not even be aware of. Jesus chooses to go into a region, Tyre and Sidon, in which there are no Jews it is region where historical enemies of the Jews live - check out Joshua and the destruction of Jerico. I guess acquiring this kind of prejudice could be called historical trauma.

When Jesus encounters the woman, he exhibits the judgments and prejudices that would be the norm for a Jew at that time. A question that I have is, did Jesus do this on purpose so he could expose the cultural prejudices that the disciples and we have? The interaction between Jesus and the woman also provides us with a clear vision of how faith can overcome judgments and prejudices. The woman's faith does not allow her to take offense at the comments Jesus makes to her. The woman's faith also should raise our awareness that God's grace and mercy are available to all people (remember the word all from the first two readings.)

In a world where prejudice and hatred seem to be running rampant, it seems that we should become more aware of what our faith in Jesus calls us to. It calls us to remember that we are all sisters and brothers who are immersed in and in need of the grace and mercy of God. We must treat one another as such.

Blessings

Deacon Tim Maroney

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church