20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME , YEAR A

Isaiah 56:1,6-7   

Romans 11:13-15,29-32  

Matthew 15:21-28

A GOD FOR ALL 

God is for all and not for only a selected group of elites. He cares for all and he wills all to be saved. Thus, today's readings show that this universal dimension of God’s saving plan has been gradually revealed throughout the history of salvation. The prophet Isaiah proclaims that God’s goodness will be manifested also to foreigners, that is, the non-Jews. His covenant will be extended to all nations, for God wants his house open to all the nations. 

In the second reading, St Paul expresses his joy that the pagans had come to faith in Jesus and had a share in God’s mercy. For the rejection of our Saviour Jesus Christ by the Jews resulted in his more rapid acceptance throughout the Gentile world. 

In the gospel, Jesus answers the prayer of a persistent pagan woman and praises her great faith. At first glance, Jesus’ attitude towards the Canaanite woman is strange, surprising and appears as contradictory to what we know about him. First, despites the fact that the woman was shouting and calling Jesus for help, Jesus simply ignored her. Even the disciples intervened not as a result of their compassion for this desperate woman, but because her shouts were causing nuisance to them. 

Second, Jesus affirmed that he had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which suggested that the woman’s problem was of no concern to him. This affirmation does not only contradict what we have heard in the first two readings, but also makes us wonder what would Jesus be doing in the district of Tyre and Sidon, a pagan territory, if he knew he was sent only to the house of Israel. 

What is important to underline is the pagan woman's faith in Jesus, the Son of David. In fact,  Jesus tells her that “it is not fair to take the children’s (Israelites’) food and throw it to the dogs.” These words may be offensive, but they did not discourage the woman. She insists in her prayer and says: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Her faith and perseverance are indeed impressive and worth emulating. Like this woman, let us never get tired in our requests to God. Even when we feel he does not care or ignore us, let us never give up. May he bless and keep all of us. Amen