MERE CRUMBS?

EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

August 4, Wednesday

      We need a “discernment of spirits” to distinguish between wrong contestation and contestation that bears witness (con-testari) to what is just and right. When the Hebrews revolted in the desert, they protested against the demands of the covenant and the risks they had to take to make God’s future a reality. It was a resistance to conversion. But there is also a kind of contestation that is necessary: a sign of vitality and lucidity that is a call to conversion and rejection of complicity in evil.

      There are some obvious problems with the story of the Canaanite woman. The words of Jesus sound harsh and discriminating against non-Jews. Some exegetes see in it an exchange of wits between the woman and Jesus, reflecting the prejudices of their time and yet fundamentally revealing that salvation is for all without discrimination and prejudice wherever faith is found. The way this story is told reflects the problem of the primitive Church whether to accept non-Jewish converts. Everyone who believes may eat from the Lord’s table and is fed more than crumbs.

 

First Reading: Numbers 13:2-3a,26; 14:1,26-30,34-35

God spoke to Moses: “Send men to scout out the country of Canaan that I am giving to the People of Israel. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each one a tried-and-true leader in the tribe.”

So Moses sent them off from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of God. All of them were leaders in Israel, one from each tribe.

They presented themselves before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the People of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long.

God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “How long is this going to go on, all this grumbling against me by this evil-infested community? I’ve had my fill of complaints from these grumbling Israelites. Tell them, As I live—God’s decree—here’s what I’m going to do: Your corpses are going to litter the wilderness—every one of you twenty years and older who was counted in the census, this whole generation of grumblers and grousers. Not one of you will enter the land and make your home there, the firmly and solemnly promised land, except for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

You scouted out the land for forty days; your punishment will be a year for each day, a forty-year sentence to serve for your sins—a long schooling in my displeasure.

“I, God, have spoken. I will most certainly carry out these things against this entire evil-infested community which has banded together against me. In this wilderness they will come to their end. There they will die.”

 

Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28

From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”

Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”

Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.”

Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.”

He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”

She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.”

Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.

 

Prayer

Father of all,
long ago you chose the people of Israel
to make your name known to all the nations.
Your Son Jesus Christ made it clear
that forgiveness and the fullness of life are the share
of all who believe in him.
Make your Church truly a place of encounter
for all those who grope for you,
that all obstacles and barriers may be removed
and that the riches of all nations and cultures
may reveal the thousand faces
of the love you have shown us
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reflection: Lord Help Me!

Jesus’ seeming indifference does not discourage this mother in the Gospel today. This woman’s inner strength comes from her maternal love and in her faith that Jesus can grant her request. Pope Francis says, this passage made him think of the strength of women. “With their strength they are able to obtain great things. We have known many such women! We could say that it is love that stirs faith. Heartrending love for her daughter causes the woman to cry and helps her not to become discouraged even in the face of the initial rejection; thus this mother kneels before Jesus, saying, “Lord, help me” (v. 25). Jesus points to this humble woman as a model of unwavering faith. Her persistence in beseeching Christ’s intervention is a model for us not to become discouraged, not to despair when we are burdened by life’s difficult trials. The Lord does not turn away in the face of our needs and, if at times he seems insensitive to our requests for help, it is in order to strengthen our faith. We must continue to cry out like this woman: “Lord, help me!” with perseverance and courage. She shows us the courage needed in prayer. Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. John Vianney a French Parish Priest. He was ridiculed as not very useful by his contemporaries, but that did not stop him from being humble before God and spending long hours every day in the ministry of reconciling people with God. He is venerated in the Church today as the patron saint of parish priests. This Gospel episode helps us to understand that we all need to grow in faith and fortify our trust in Jesus. It is important to nourish our faith every day, by carefully listening to the Word of God, with the celebration of the Sacraments, with personal prayer as a “cry” to him — “Lord, help me!” — and with concrete acts of charity toward our neighbour. While addressing the youth during the Asian Youth Day in South Korea, Pope Francis said, “In your Christian lives, you will find many occasions to push away the stranger, the needy, the poor and the broken-hearted. It is these people who repeat the cry of the woman of the Gospel: “Lord, help me!”. The Canaanite woman’s plea is the cry of everyone who searches for love, acceptance, and friendship with Christ. It is the cry of so many anonymous people in our cities, the cry of so many of your own contemporaries, and the cry of all those martyrs who even today suffer persecution and death for the name of Jesus: “Lord, help me!” It is often a cry which rises from our own hearts as well: “Lord, help me!” Let us respond, like Christ, who responds to every plea for his help with love, mercy and compassion.

Video available on Youtube: Lord Help Me!