Tearing Walls Down in Jesus’ Name

Homily: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 15:21-28
16 August 2020

Have you noticed that over the past months the protocols prescribed to prevent the spread of Covid 19 have gone from the practical to the ridiculous? There is the logical mandatory wearing of masks, proper and frequent handwashing and social distancing to the eyebrow raising motorcycle barriers and the wearing of masks inside homes! I remember seeing this funny viral video of a wife imposing physical distancing between herself and her husband within their own home. As the husband attempts to sit beside her on the sofa to watch TV, she takes out a measuring stick to ensure that they are at the prescribed distance from each other. At bedtime, the husband again attempts to sleep next to his wife on their bed but she promptly props two pillows between them to form a barrier. The exasperated husband gets up, takes out his salary from his wallet and counts it. Upon seeing the thick wad of cash, the wife lunges at her husband and tries to grab the wallet, forgetting all about physical distancing! (Wives, don’t be offended… this is just a joke.)

In Biblical times social distancing was already observed to stop the spread of contagious diseases like leprosy. The Jews were very particular about remaining ritually pure. So, they distanced themselves from all that they deemed unclean or unworthy. In fact, women also had to distance themselves during their monthly period as they were deemed unclean until the bleeding had passed. Another cultural practice that Jesus was born into was the distancing of Jews from the Gentiles, whom they viewed as idolatrous and often intent on persecuting them. This hostile divide is highlighted in the conversation of Jesus with the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel from Matthew. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24) This response of Jesus to the woman’s request for healing for her daughter expresses a popular belief among Jews that Gentiles could not share in their divine inheritance. Jesus was not being mean. It was not a personal affront. He was merely asserting the fact that the Messiah was initially meant to come to Israel to deliver God’s chosen people. The small-minded disciples considering her a nuisance, said “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” (Matthew 15: 23)

Further in the story, the woman persists and follows them around. Jesus cautions her saying: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:26) The food he speaks of is Himself, the Word of God and the Bread of Life that God the Father sends His children, the people of Israel. As we mentioned earlier, Gentiles had the tendency for polytheism and idol worship so it is not unusual for Jesus to compare them with dogs that eat and feed off anything indiscriminately. For the woman to say that “even the dogs feed on the scraps that fall from the master’s table” (Matthew 15:27) is a public declaration that she acknowledges there is truth to Jesus and His teachings. Though an outsider, her sincere faith in God’s boundless love tears a hole in the wall of exclusivity of Jewish claims on God’s beneficence. In recognition, Jesus commends her faith: “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matthew 15:28) and by granting her request, Jesus surprises His disciples with another revelation—- that His message and mission are inclusive of all peoples, for all time. The passage from Isaiah describes a God who desires to be in relationship with all people be they locals or foreigners who sincerely seek him. “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7) This universality of God’s salvation is what St. Paul likewise affirms as he claims to be a Jew and yet commissioned to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

When we started our fight against Covid 19, we sang together in the face of this adversity to “Heal as One”. But since then our society has been considerably fractured by political affiliations, conflicting medical and economic opinions and flawed understanding of what constitutes curtailing personal freedom. There is so much colour-labelling going on that it diminishes our sense of patriotism and magnanimity towards our own countrymen. On the world scale, hate incidents have increased and social media is abuzz with the many forms of discrimination and cruelty toward people of Asian descent. Some journalists even use the racially charged term Wuhan Virus to refer to SARS Cov 2.

As Christians, especially in this time of pandemic, we are called to strive to do away with the divisions that exist among us that prevent us from filling the world with the compassion it desperately needs. We are meant to be instruments of God’s universal blessing to all peoples and reflections of God’s unequivocal and impartial love for humankind. Banded together under the banner of Jesus Christ, we will always be stronger than those that sow division in our midst. By working with each other and allowing the Lord to lead us, we will survive this world crisis and know with confidence that any disaster stemming from this pandemic will be resolved.

The Canaanite woman would not give up until her daughter was cured. When we approach Jesus in prayer, we too must not be discouraged. Jesus is always here for us. We simply have to keep faith. From our end, let us continue to strive for unity among us and enter more deeply into the communion we are called to foster. This is the way we can truly “Heal as one!”