The Canaanite woman
It’s hard to figure this story out. A woman is hurting and Jesus is uncharacteristically dismissive of her. At first, he ignores her. He won’t even speak to her. Was he having a bad day? A little background can help.
The Canaanite woman belonged to a people who had disregarded and disparaged everything sacred the Jewish people, their values, their traditions. Jesus was a Jew and her people hated the Jews. So, I get it. Jesus is understandably a little wary of this foreigner who wouldn’t go away.
But her persistence pays off. A little humor doesn’t hurt either. “Come on Jesus! Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table!” Does her either. But it was the exhaustion in her eyes that gets to him. In that moment she’s no longer “one of them”. Jesus now sees her as a fellow traveler on the road we all walk.
And maybe that’s the day that Jesus realized that the lost sheep of Israel are not just the Israelites, God’s chosen people. We’re all God’s chosen people. The whole human race is God’s people. We’re all the lost sheep that God pursues.
I was reminded of that, this last week. Four of us from the parish were with a non-profit that seeks to serve and learn from the Lakota people who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It’s located in the high plains of western South Dakota.
Among them is a “spiritual practice” where at the start of each day they take a deep breath and a sip of water and say, “Water is life and my life is a gift. Today I will use that gift in service of others.”
What if at beginning of each new day all here were to do a similar practice, a reset for the day? Something like taking a deep breath and a sip of water and say, “Water is life and my life is a gift. God, today help me use that gift in service of others.” Though it won’t solve all the world’s problems, it will help me better face the problems in my own lives and in the world.
Whether we know it or not, God is pursuing all of us including young people. As a young person tries to figure out their place in the world, they have many questions about God and about life.
There’s an organization within the Catholic Church that creates opportunities where they can walk with college students as they seek a deeper meaning to their faith. At the end of Mass, we’ll hear from a young man from our parish who works with that organization. More on the later.
In the Gospel story for today, Jesus sees the exhaustion in the eyes of woman who is not one of his own people, but he makes time for her because he wants to be there for her.
In the same way God is there for us, lost sheep that we are. God is there for the Lakota people of the high plains of western South Dakota. God is there for the college student who’s trying to find his or her place in the world. God is there for all of us who want to live life with authenticity.
Like the Canaanite woman may the faith that brought you here today bring you the peace that the persistent Canaanite woman found the day she met Jesus and so changed forever.