My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you. And a very blessed Sunday to each and every one of you. That day in which we remember the resurrection of our Lord and therefore his victory over death, having purchased for us eternal life through the passion of the cross. My brothers and sisters, we receive that goodness through a gift that we call faith. Faith that is given to us by God in his mercy, to be able to believe and to communicate with him and to build a relationship with him. And in today's readings we are given the beautiful reminder that this gift has been offered to all nations.
We remember that Jesus said in one of the Gospels, at the end of his earthly life and his earthly journey. He says to the apostles, “Go out and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). So all are called to faith. And God is a respecter of no persons reasons, male or female, Greek or Jew, free man or slave, as Saint Paul says. None of that matters anymore. What matters is that we are found to be in Christ. In whatever our state of life, whatever our circumstances.
In today's first reading, the Prophet Isaiah reminds the Israelites that even foreigners are welcome at the table of the Lord. “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants, all who keep the Sabbath free from profanation, and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make joyful in my house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:6-7).
Our Lord is saying that even foreigners saw the beauty, the goodness of the true and living God. In fact, the reading begins in this way, “Thus says the Lord, Observe what is right. Do what is just” (Isaiah 56:1). Observe what is right. Do what is just.
In other words, we look around us, even in our own world of today, and we see that there is a good path and there is an evil path. There is truth, and there are lies. There's self-gain, and there are those who live for others. We know how to distinguish. We know how to discern those who are doing well with the Lord, those who are estranged from Him. And we are called to choose to be close to Him by observing His Word, keeping His commandments, His directives, for a good, honest, and life to the full.
In the second reading, Saint Paul is speaking to the Romans, and he is reminding the early Christian converts that though he is speaking to the Gentiles, his own race of people, the Israelites, are still very much a part of his thinking, his concerns, his heart because The Lord wants us to be merciful to all, to everyone.
And listen to what Saint Paul says to the Romans. “I am speaking to you gentile Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the Apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous and thus save some of them” (Romans 11:13-14). “Just as you once disobeyed God, but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,” their disobedience which saw Jesus go to the cross. And through that sacrifice, every nation on earth was blessed. “So they have now disobeyed in order that by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:30-32).
My brothers and sisters, our heavenly Father sent his Son into the world for all of us, which is why we need to be careful how to read to day's gospel.
The Canaanite woman that pleads on behalf of her daughter. She runs up to Jesus. “Have pity on me, Lord, son of David. My daughter is tormented by a demon” (Matthew 15:22). And my brothers and sisters, we should always be careful that we don't read a passage of scripture Without delving into its deeper meaning, into its context, into why it was written, into who the key players in the passage are.
So knowing that Jesus has come to save us from our sins, we know that he would never reject anybody who comes to him for help. In fact, how many times did he cure the non-Jews, right? The lepers, that weren't Jewish, the servant of the centurion. How many times? Did he extend his mercy to those who were not a part of the chosen people of God?
Our Lord's first reaction to her is nothing. He just ignores her. We're told that “Jesus did not say a word in answer to her” (Matthew 15:23). And then what does he do? He rejects her. Because she kept on begging him and asking him and all that faith that was stored in her heart, given in her heart, her generosity, her love for her daughter. It was still waiting to burst out of her heart.
And Jesus rejects her. He says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the hosts of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). And we're told but the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me” (Matthew 15:25).
And now he seemingly insults her. Imagine, he says to her, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs”. And that's when she said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” (Matthew 15:26-27).
Our Lord was the only one who knew this woman better than she knew herself. All the bystanders, the apostles, perhaps even the woman herself, thought that our Lord's trading in the back and forths with her seemed cruel, but in reality He was merely bringing out, extracting from that wellspring of generosity and goodness within her, something that he alone could see. and allowing her to manifest her love for her daughter and for God.
And he rewards her, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish” (Matthew 15:28).
My brothers and sisters, remember that the Lord sees something within us that we cannot see. There is a goodness within us that is just waiting to come out. There is a goodness that we wish we could share with the world. Even in those difficult moments, those difficult times where we share with our friends and neighbors and our fellow parishioners everything that we go through. But we do so with faith, knowing that nothing is beyond our Lord's power and love and mercy.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Go in peace.
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