Father Riley's homiley for August 16, 2020

Father Riley will lead Holy Eucharist at 10am at Christ Church, Saint Joseph Sunday August 16, 2020.

   PROPER XV - A - 20 - IS. 56.1,6-8, ROM 11.1-2a, 29-32, MATT. 15:21-28

Jesus has retreated to Gentile territory. Tyre and Sidon are North West of Galilee in present day Syria. Here to fore Jesus has been surrounded by crowds. He has healed them, taught them, and feed them. Following all of that, he has had an exchange with a group of faithless Pharisees who had come up from Jerusalem to challenge him.

Now he simply seeks some solace in a place where he hopes to go unnoticed. But it was not to be. A local woman, a Canaanite, whose daughter is possessed by a demon recognizes him and calls out to him to have mercy on her.

As a mother, the woman identifies clearly with her daughter’s illness “have mercy on me,” for she sees her daughter’s well being as her own and her daughter’s sufferings as her own. She goes so far as to addresses Jesus in messianic terms - “Son of David.” At first, Jesus ignores her plea.

The disciples sought to send her away for by now she had become a bother. Jesus responds by stating his mission. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The woman kneels before Jesus and begs for mercy.

Again, by his remark, Jesus seeks to send her away with her request unfulfilled. “It is not right,” he said, “to feed the dogs with the children’s bread.” Her faith in Jesus, however, is undaunted. “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.”

Her faith is admirable and appeals to the compassionate heart of Jesus. Compare that to the disciple’s faith up to this point which has been on and off. Remember Peter from last week’s story and the disciples who were afraid of the storm and of Jesus whom they thought at first were a ghost.

Peter was chided for his lack of faith. Yet Jesus rescued him. This foreign woman, on the other hand, recognizes in Jesus the source of her daughter’s salvation. Her faith in Christ’s ability to heal her daughter is unwavering. She is not to be denied her request for God’s mercy.

Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Was Jesus’ action an exception and extension of God’s grace granted on the basis of the woman’s strong and humble faith? Or was his response made to the very kind of faith he was looking for?

What Jesus has just done in granting the woman’s request was to announce that the Gentiles can now share in the riches at the table of God’s children. His mission was to Israel first. He has made that clear in the beginning. The kingdom for which God’s people had longed was beginning to appear. He was its herald, and as the disciples were starting to realize, he was himself God’s anointed king.

That is why Israel had to hear the message first. He was fulfilling God’s promise. God’s purpose was unfolding. It was now and yet not yet. However, we see in today’s story the future breaking into the present. Previously Jesus had remarked on the faith of a Gentile Centurion whom he encountered in Galilee. (8.10)

Now he comments on the equally remarkable faith of a Canaanite woman, a non-Jew living way north of the land of Israel. The woman’s faith broke through the “waiting period,” the time when Jesus would come to Jerusalem as Israel’s messiah, be killed and raised again, and then send his followers out into all the world. (28.19)

The disciples, and perhaps Jesus himself, at this point are not yet ready for Calvary. The Canaanite woman is already insisting upon Easter.

If there is one theme that runs throughout the readings for today it is that of the Mercy of God. The prophet Isaiah implies God’s mercy will be given to all those who join themselves to the Lord…who love the name of the Lord and wish to be his servants. And he adds “I will gather yet others besides those already gathered.”

The Psalm is explicit as it pleads for God’s mercy and blessing. St. Paul, in today’s Epistle, speaks to a Gentile audience who has already received God’s mercy becoming children of God, as well as Israel and does so by reminding them that God’s mercy extends to all.

Where would we be the Canaanite woman have been without the mercy of God breaking into the present? Did Jesus grant her request simply based on her persistence? Where would we be without God’s mercy?

The issue Jesus faced in today’s story was whether or not to bestow God’s mercy on a Gentile. His ministry before His Passion was first to the Jews. Christ’s refusal to respond to her in the beginning was not only because she was a Gentile, but also to reveal to the disciples her profound faith and love.

What then are the issues we face today that we pray God will respond to post haste? One of the greatest moral and cultural issues of the last hundred years has been racial identity.

The world was horrified to learn that the Nazis had killed six million people whose only crime was to be Jews. The world today, including our own nation, still makes racial distinction between people of different races.

The challenge is on, and recent events have only served to magnify the issue of the widespread belief that all humans are created equal, irrespective of race and color.

How do we make that work within actual societies, where people of different backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony? There is still much prejudice, much hatred and much suspicion to be overcome.

So, we read today’s gospel story in our own setting. Which promises of God, then, have we imagined might be fulfilled in the distant future, but ought to be claimed in the present with a prayer and faith, like that of the Canaanite woman which refuses to be put off?

Could it be perhaps the promise of God in today’s first lesson, which the prophet Isaiah who speaks for God relates to those who have ears to hear? “Thus says the Lord: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for my salvation will soon come, and my deliverance be revealed.”

To keep justice and to do righteousness without distinguishing between race, culture, or religion and to do it with a merciful and a compassionate heart following the example of Jesus, is an offering and in some cases a sacrifice that is well pleasing and acceptable to God. AMEN+