[Is. 56:1, 6-7; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt. 15:21-28]
Today's Reading from the Gospel of
Matthew, [Mt. 15:21-28] the account of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, is one of
the rare encounters of Jesus with Gentiles. Most likely this woman heard of the
great miracles that Jesus was performing towards the Jewish
people. Hence she took it upon herself to personally locate Jesus and to beg His mercy on her. In Deuteronomy and post-deuteronomic literature, the Canaanites were viewed as a very sinful race that embodied every possible evil and godlessness. The Canaanites were viewed as a nation that was to be exterminated. It was not the general practice for the Jewish people to mix with the Canaanites.
people. Hence she took it upon herself to personally locate Jesus and to beg His mercy on her. In Deuteronomy and post-deuteronomic literature, the Canaanites were viewed as a very sinful race that embodied every possible evil and godlessness. The Canaanites were viewed as a nation that was to be exterminated. It was not the general practice for the Jewish people to mix with the Canaanites.
So, when Jesus was approached by woman
from a race that was avoided by the Jewish people, at first, he ignored her. He
did not answer her at all. [Mt. 15:23] The more Jesus ignored her, the more the
woman shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me!" The more the
woman shouted, the more the disciples of Jesus were getting annoyed and urged
Jesus to send her away so she would stop shouting. [Mt. 15:23] The determined
woman did not want to give up on Jesus. She threw herself at His feet and
repeated herself, "Lord, help me." [Mt. 15:25] Jesus responded,
"It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
[Mt. 15:26] To this, she answered, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from their master's table." [Mt. 15:27] Seeing how great
her faith was, she having remarkably persisted, Jesus told her, "Woman,
great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was
healed instantly." [Mt. 15:28]
There
are certain things about this woman that we must learn. First and foremost, she
had love. She made the misery of her child her own. It was love for her
child that made her approach this stranger; it was love for her child that made
her accept his silence and yet still appeal; it was love for her child
that enabled her to endure the apparent rebuffs; and it was love for
her child that helped her to see the compassion in the words of Jesus.
There is an incident reported during the China
Earth quake. After the Earthquake had
subsided, when the rescuers reached the ruins of a young woman's house, they
saw her body through the cracks. But her pose was somehow strange that she
knelt on her knees; her body was leaning forward, and her two hands were supporting
an object. The house had collapsed on her. With so many difficulties, the
leader of the rescuer team put his hand through a narrow gap on the wall to
reach the woman's body. He hoped that this woman could be still alive.
However, the cold and stiff body told him that she had passed away for sure. They
left this house and were going to search the next collapsed building. For some
reasons, the team leader was driven by a compelling force to go back to the
ruined house of the dead woman. Again, he knelt down and used his hand through
the narrow cracks to search the little space under the dead body. Suddenly, he
screamed with excitement," A child! There is a child! “The whole team
worked together; carefully they removed the piles of ruined objects around the
dead woman. There was a 3 months old little boy wrapped in a flowery blanket
under his mother's dead body. Obviously, the woman had made an ultimate
sacrifice for saving her son. When her house was falling, she used her body to
make a cover to protect her son. The little boy was still sleeping peacefully
when the team leader picked him up.
Jesus saw such a sacrificial love in the Canaanite
woman. The driving force of her heart was love; and there is nothing nearer to
God than love. And Jesus recognized her love for her child and rewarded her
by granting her request.
Secondly, this woman had faith. It was her faith
that made her call Jesus "Son of David". It was a popular and
political title. It was a title that looked on Jesus as a great wonder worker.
This is a title that projected Jesus as a great and powerful man. So, she
put her trust in the earthly aspect of Jesus. But Jesus made her look beyond
the earthly, and in him she recognized something that was not expressible in earthly
terms. Jesus changed her faith in the wonder worker to a faith that worshipped.
She began by following and ended up on her knees. She began with a request
and ended in prayer.
This is a great lesson we have to learn from this
woman. Often, our approach to Jesus, too, is the same. Our petitions remain at
the temporal and mundane level. But Jesus invites us to go beyond.
"If God answers your prayer, He is increasing your faith. If He delays
He is increasing your patience. If He doesn't answer, He has something better
for you."(Dato Vijay Eswaran – In the sphere of silence). This is what we
see in the life of the Canaanite woman. Hence, when we feel that our prayers
are not answered be assured that He has something better for us.
Thirdly, this woman had indomitable
persistence. She did not come to Jesus as a possible helper, but she looked
upon him as her only hope. She came with a passionate hope. She came to him
with a clamant need; and she refused to be discouraged. Prayer for her was the
outpouring of her passionate need. Hence she could not accept a "no"
for answer. She went on till she received what she wanted, an ultimate
"yes" from Jesus. She was focused on what she wanted. Hence, she
ignored the crowd around her; she ignored the disciples; she ignored the
comments of the people. She was focused on what she wanted.
There was once an arrow maker who had a shop in one
of the streets of a tiny village in ancient India. One day, a king's procession
passed by while he was busy shaping and making each arrow perfect. The
magnificent procession went past and not once did he look up. Dattatreya, a
sage who was passing through the village at that time, crossed the street
and asked the arrow maker if he saw the procession. The arrow maker asked
him, "What procession?" Dattatreya immediately prostrated himself
before the arrow maker and told him, "You are my guru."
The
story of the Canaanite woman teachers us to grow in love, faith and to be
focused on what we want to achieve in life. Then it is certain that we will
strive till we turn all the "nos" to "yes". May God help
us.
Satish