What did you think of Jesus’ behaviour in the gospel story we have just heard? Many people are quite shocked that early on in the story he can ignore the woman, and then later on be so dismissive of her. To know what is going on, however, we need to focus on the woman – she is the central character. What can we say about her?
The first thing we notice is that she is a foreign woman, a Gentile. She doesn’t belong to God’s chosen people. This is why Jesus begins be ignoring her; it was the right religious thing to do. The next thing we notice about the woman is that she is in great distress; she is desperate. She is desperate for her daughter, who is tormented by a demon. So in fact she is behaving like a loving mother. This explains why she is so persistent in her pleading with Jesus. She is going to do whatever it takes to save her daughter. Later on, when Jesus acknowledges that she has great faith, we will understand that her faith is somehow tied to her capacity to love.
But that is to get ahead of ourselves! As the story unfolds, Jesus ignores her, and the disciples become agitated – she is annoying them. They seem to urge Jesus to say something to her, so as to keep her quiet and get her out of the way. But Jesus won’t follow this suggestion, and the woman herself and her persistence eventually make him change. She confronts him with a clever dialogue, finding a retort to everything he says. This dialogue is important because it shows how both Jesus and the woman change through the exchange. It all seems to revolve around a discussion about dogs. Jesus speaks of throwing food outside the house to the dogs, reinforcing what he had said earlier, that this Gentile woman is an outsider who does not belong to God’s Chosen People and is therefore not his concern. She twists this around and speaks of feeding the dogs inside the house under the table. She makes herself and her daughter insiders. This is a very subtle shift, and is also evident in the way she addresses Jesus. Previously, she had referred to him as Son of David, but now she refers to him as Lord. She has come to recognise him as Lord of all people, and not just God’s Chosen People.
At this point Jesus acknowledges her great faith. Yes, the saving gift he offers is for all people. Something new is happening here: it concerns the offer of salvation and it concerns faith. This woman recognises Jesus as the one who has the power to offer salvation even to those beyond certain boundaries of race, culture or religion. But we also see that her faith consists in her relentless pursuit of Jesus, desperately looking for the salvation he offers. She is faced with what would normally have been an impossible situation as a woman and an outsider, but she finds a way forward. She acts with great courage and creativity in discovering Jesus as the Saviour of all people.
How can you and I draw on this witness of faith? Let me suggest three things. The first is that we should embrace the faith of this woman, and the new situation it represents. This means that we should see our faith as something that puts us in relationship with all people. Faith should not be something that is seen simply as belonging to the Christian community, as if we practice and live it only with those people. With Jesus there is a new age of salvation, and it embraces all people.
The second way we can draw on this gospel is to develop a deep concern for the salvation of all people. The thing that motivated the Canaanite woman to act was the dire situation of her daughter. If we share her faith then we should take note of the people and situations where salvation seems absent. These could be the situations where hope has disappeared, and people feel trapped in certain situations or a particular way of life. It could be the situation where people become so absorbed in themselves that they slowly lose the capacity to love someone else. It could be the situation where people’s lives become shallow and meaningless, often while they are seeking illusory goals. The faith of the woman in the gospel challenges us to look outward, and help outsiders to find a place in the loving embrace of God.
The third way we can draw on this gospel is to show imagination in the way we live our faith. Other people will respond to the gospel of God when it is attractive, and not something that seems to make life dull and boring.
Recently, during World Youth Day, Pope Benedict reminded young people that the Lord is asking them to be prophets of a new age – and that new age was recognised by the woman in today’s gospel. Today the Lord asks you to be messengers of his love, drawing people to God and building a future of hope for all humanity.
Fr. Gerard Kelly
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