Even the dogs eat the scraps from the table of their master: Jesus came to save all people - Homily 20th Sunday Cycle A

 

One of the activities that my wife and I really enjoy doing together is watching shows about cooking. Some of our favorite shows are Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Chopped, and Parts Unknown. We enjoy watching the shows because they involve some of the favorite things we like to do: eating, cooking, and travel. It’s very interesting to learn about all the different cultures, nationalities, and the unique types of food they eat and ways they cook. It’s opened us up to have a better understanding of people who are different from us.  Food is a common element among all peoples of the world, because we all need it to live, and it brings people together of all diverse cultures and nations. Today’s Gospel has a focus on food that may seem a divisive, but eventually leads to a better understanding of God’s salvation for all people. 

Jesus’ encounter with the Gentile Canaanite woman sure doesn’t sound like the Jesus

Artist: Jean Germain Drouais, 1784.

we’re used to. The woman is very respectful to Jesus, calling him Lord, Son of David, but Jesus ignores her. When Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, it is not at all what we’d expect him say. The woman’s second request for help is met with an insult, “It is not right to take the food of children and throw it to the dogs.” Jews of the day would call Gentiles dogs as a demeaning reference to them. Gentiles were considered a class below the Jews, and they had nothing to do with them.  So, to the disciples, Jesus’ response would be what a Jew was expected say to a Gentile.

Undaunted by the insult the woman gives Jesus spirited comeback: “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  The woman speaks boldly because of her faith in Jesus’ healing power. He was so impressed by her great faith, that he healed her daughter. This probably stunned the disciples, because Gentiles, were not worthy from a Jewish perspective.  In healing the woman Jesus was teaching them that he was not just a Jewish man, but the Messiah of God, who came not only for the people of Israel, but for all people. Jesus goes along with the cultural norm, ignoring and insulting the Gentiles, in order to change the norm of the culture, that God’s kingdom is for everyone who has faith in Him, regardless of their ethnicity or class in the culture.

This parable is a reminder for us of the universal role of the Church to carry out the Lord’s missionary mandate: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Mt 28:18-19). All persons are created in God’s image and likeness and deserve the opportunity to learn about Jesus so they can freely choose to have faith in him as their savior.

How can we help the Church to carry out this mission to make Jesus known to all people?  It’s not just the clergy and religious that carry out this mission.  They play a big part in leading this mission, but it takes all of us in our own unique way in, planting the tiny seeds of faith that grow over time. There are many people we encounter every day at home, work, school, and where we play or serve that still don’t know Jesus. They may not look, speak, or act like us and we can be apprehensive in getting to know them. We can be like disciples thinking they are not worth paying attention to.  But if we take some time to personally get to know them, learning about their interests, family, and challenges, it can be a first step in showing them God’s love through our friendship.

We might start with some common ground of a favorite food we both like and sharing a meal with them. Henry Nouwen said, “A desire to eat together is an expression of the deeper desire to be food for one another, by being Christ for one another”. There are many people in the world today who don’t experience any love at all, because they are lonely or isolated. By sharing our love with them, they are experiencing God, because God is love.        That could be the first step in carrying out the Church’s mission.

I recently read a story about a ministry reaching out to the people who beg for help at stop lights or exit ramps. We’ve all seen them, and quite often it seems to be the same person day after day.  We can be skeptical and cynical of why they are there, but we can give the benefit of the doubt that they really do need help. It can be so easy to be like the Jews who ignored the Gentiles thinking of them as not worthy of our attention. One of the recommendations to minister to these people was to ask them their names and to give them some socks, a bottle of water, soft snacks along with a prayer card.   Many of these people are alone, homeless, have a mental illness and no family. One person who responded to a ministry volunteer said it was the first time in over two weeks that someone had spoken his name. A few weeks later the volunteer saw the same person again and greeted him by his name and asked how he was doing.  The person recognized the volunteer and responded, “I’m much better now hearing you say my name again and asking how I am doing.  Thanks so much.” This simple action was a sign of God’s love to the person down on their luck.

Simple acts of love and kindness in friendship can open the opportunity for us to share our faith in Jesus with others.  It may be offering to say a prayer with them when they share a struggle with us.   It could be an invitation for them to join us at Mass or to share a book with them. By sharing our friendship with them it shows us we care, and they’ll be receptive to listening to us and our faith in Jesus. May the Eucharist we soon receive strengthen our faith in Jesus and give us the courage to share in friendship our love and faith with all the People of God.