After the little faith demonstrated by Peter in a stormy sea, Jesus was amazed to encounter a gentile woman, a stranger, with an irresistible faith in Him (Matthew 13:21-28).
A gentile woman
While in the region of Tyre and Sidon, Jesus was approached by a Canaanite woman from the neighboring pagan territory to ask Him to help her daughter being tormented by a demon. In the context of the caste system in Jewish society, this woman alone by herself and as a gentile was not qualified to be part of any social interaction. She was a seriously marginalized person, and being unclean, to be avoided at all costs, as the initial silence of the entire group of Jesus indicates. As she kept pestering them, the disciples considered her a nuisance to be rid of. Following the silent treatment, the privilege of God’s chosen people was next voiced out to put her in her proper place. Jesus said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This priority is graphically driven home by the addition that “it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”
The evangelist actually is lining up here the usual reasons why some early Christians found it difficult to have anything to do with pagans. It was not scorn for the Canaanite woman that was here intended, but the responsibility of Jesus to His mission to take care first of the children of Israel. The woman would bypass this argument with something even more fundamental. She responded with acumen that even “the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” In comparison with the children of Israel, pagans may be looked down upon like dogs, but they usurp nothing from the Jews. In the context of God’s universal love and magnanimity, Jews or Christians do not exhaust divine goodness and mercy, for they are surely not loved by God to the exclusion of all others.
Great is your faith!
Jesus acknowledged the great faith of the Canaanite woman. She came to Jesus crossing the borders of pagan territory. She did Him homage, called Jesus not only “Son of David” but “Lord;” and she asked Him, “Have pity on me” and “Lord, save me.” In Matthew’s gospel that is exactly the way the disciples of Jesus approach and address him, for instance like Peter on the stormy sea, as we have just seen. The gentile woman could not be discouraged or put off. She boldly asserted her faith that Jesus could help her and heal her daughter; she humbly persisted and persevered in her faith in Jesus.
Jesus understood His mission to the Jews. But after the resurrection the mission shifted to the gentiles as well, as He sent His followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). In the community of Matthew, those who might question the mission to the gentiles have this gospel narration to illustrate to them Jesus’ own recognition of the faith gentiles are capable of. No one is excluded from salvation: all are invited to the faith in Jesus that saves. Jesus Himself welcomed gentiles and brought them to salvation, and His disciples are summoned to be open to others as the spread of the faith demands, even as these are different and strangers.
Alálaong bagá, in obedience to God’s plan that all peoples be included in His one family, we ourselves have to cross borders and tear down walls that separate us from each other. We may not build fences between us and those strangers who are different from us socially and culturally. The fences that are there already must come down and prejudices overcome, so that we can finally recognize that we are one in God’s love. The faith of the Canaanite woman shows that the time must come when everyone can eat “the bread of the children” and not only “crumbs falling from the table.” The vision of the thousands in the deserted place, where people of all sorts can pour in, being fed by the Teacher who does not want anyone being sent away hungry and empty, remains a challenge to his followers. Sitting at the table of the children of God, as at the Eucharist, is an undeserved privilege and an inestimable grace, but never a right we could claim for ourselves at the exclusion of others.
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