Perseverance

Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Deacon Thomas Stephenson

August 17, 2014

Saint Paul is called the Apostle to the Gentiles for good reason, as he was the one who truly reached out and brought the Gospel to people who were not Jews. He even calls himself that, Apostle to the Gentiles, in the passage from his letter to the Romans we heard as today’s second reading. As is so often the case, we can gain a better understanding if we take some time at home to read the entirety of Chapter 11, including verses 16 to 28 that we didn’t hear today. Saint Paul explains that, in rejecting the Gospel, in rejecting the truth of Jesus as the Messiah, some of the Jewish people, his own flesh and blood, have helped to extend the Good News beyond the Jewish people.

We may think that it was only because of this rejection that Saint Paul brought the Gospel to the Gentiles, but we can see that reaching out to all peoples was always part of God’s plan of salvation. In His mercy, the Lord wants everyone to be saved. In our first reading, through the prophet Isaiah God tells us that even foreigners, “who join themselves to the Lord”, “who keep the Sabbath”, who hold fast to His covenant, all these He will make joyful in His house of prayer. There are many other Old Testament references indicating that God would bring in all types of people, and that Jews and Gentiles would worship Him together.

We may think that this is all just ancient history, but it is history that still has relevance to us. The Lord does not just include all peoples and nations in His plan of salvation, He includes all individual persons; He includes each of us. We read from the Old Testament, we read from the Epistles, we read from the Gospels because these all help us to understand how we arrived here, and that we ourselves are part of this.

The Canaanite woman became part of this, too. Why was Jesus even there? This area, near Tyre and Sidon, was not on the way to anywhere else He was going. This is in the southern part of what is now Lebanon, so you can tell it was out of His way. And, this was a predominantly pagan region, not normally a place for a Jew to travel. He went there intentionally, to push the boundaries and to interact with these people.

We have previously discussed how much hostility there was between the Samaritans and the Jews, but it was probably even worse between the Jews and the Canaanites. They absolutely despised each other. Yet, it is not just a Canaanite, but also a woman, who approaches Jesus for help. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” We can only imagine how difficult, perhaps even humiliating, this must have been for her. She should not have even been approaching Jesus, much less asking anything of Him. And to make it even worse, the disciples ask Jesus to get rid of her. Not very compassionate, are they? Can you imagine how she must feel, to be ridiculed as pest that should be chased away? In her own land? She had to have confidence that Jesus would be able to help her, to cure her daughter, or she would not have put herself in that position. Jesus does not send her away, He does not refuse her; at first He simply ignores her. And then, He challenges her. But, like many others we hear of in the Gospels who ask Jesus for something, she is persistent, she meets His challenge. How much more does she demonstrate the strength of her faith, and how much stronger does her faith grow, from the challenge Jesus presents, and by persevering?

When we are facing difficulties, and God does not help us immediately, does our faith grow, or diminish? We each have our own examples of this, and the longer we have lived, the more examples we have. Tomorrow (August 18) will be the 20th anniversary of my mother’s death from cancer. For the six months that she was sick, my whole family prayed for her healing almost continuously. Does the fact that she was not healed mean that our prayers were ignored, or refused? In His mercy, the Lord said to the Canaanite woman “Great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” She had faith that Jesus could cure her daughter, and His challenges increased that faith. If anything, my faith grew during the time of my mother’s illness, and has continued to grow since. That she was not cured does not mean that our faith was weak, only that the Lord had something else planned. Of course, I can’t say for sure where my Mom is now, but I’d like to think that she is in heaven, or at least soon to be there after going through purgatory. And I still pray for her soul. Don’t forget, it is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy to pray for the living and the dead.

My example is not unique. We have all lost loved ones, or experienced other serious difficulties, and prayed for God’s help and mercy. Our faith should give us comfort and strength, and the hope that at some point we will see our loved ones again. Most of us can also point to examples when the Lord did grant us our request, when He did answer us quickly and as we wished. Our faith can be increased and strengthened in this way, too – if we recognize that it was through God’s help that the result we wanted was achieved.

Although it should not be our focus, one thing that should be addressed is Jesus’ reference to giving children’s food to the dogs. It is likely that some of His disciples looked at the Canaanites as dogs. However, the term Jesus used generally indicates a house pet, a dog that was cared for, not abused or despised. This may have been a somewhat gentle way of Jesus exposing, and defusing, the prejudice and hostility that existed between the Canaanites and the Jews. This can be a lesson for people today, when we see so much strife in so many parts of the world. Certain groups of people look at other groups as dogs, or pigs, or other animals, which dehumanizes them and facilitates their slaughter. All of us will eventually worship together, but we will do so out of love for God, not out of fear of the gun or the sword.

The Lord wants our faith in Him to be strong. Although He may or may not give us what we want, when we want it, He will always give us what we truly need, when we need it. But we must have faith. And, like the Canaanite woman, we must be persistent. We must never tell the Lord that, since He hasn’t given us what we want yet, we are going to stop asking, or stop believing. Our faith is more important than anything else in our lives. Our salvation depends on it. So let us ask God for the grace to persevere in prayer when we are challenged, and to use those challenges to strengthen and deepen our faith.