Walking with Jesus: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, August 20, 2023

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

The readings today bring out some of the realities that many try to avoid in today’s world: the in-group vs. the out-group; the accepted vs. the alienated. When you compare groups you risk showing lopsided favoritism to the group in which you belong: because I know them … we're friends … we share similar likes, dislikes, cultures, nationalities, beliefs, religions, politics, etc. My dad had a saying: “Comparisons are odious.” My dictionary defines odious as “causing or deserving hatred or repugnance.” It is very easy to put people into classifications. As a result I have a strong tendency to favor those who are similar to me. It could be sports — favorite teams, individual stars — but other such classifications are not. I can substitute so many other organizations — teams — groups — and the results are the same: I have favorites. It is so necessary for people to be accepted … liked … respected ... to belong.  It is damaging to be an outsider, left out and alone, where no one cares or will listen.  

I spent the first 23 years of my priesthood in teaching and administration at Catholic high schools. Many students, teachers and parents have come to me with belonging issues. I’ve spent 22 years as a pastor and have helped out at parishes in New York and Virginia for the last 11 of them. The common refrain I’ve heard in each parish is: We are a welcoming parish. To be honest, I’ve experienced parishes that were welcoming to their own but non-accepting to those who were different. I wonder how many parishes reflect on their mission, comparing how open they claim to be with how they appear to an outsider?

The first reading from Isaiah is very interesting; we hear the first verse: “Thus says the Lord: Observe what is right, do what is just; for my salvation is about to come, my justice about to be revealed.” [Isaiah 56:1]

Verses 2-5 are skipped and our reading resumes with verse 6. I find it very interesting to read missing verses when they appear in Scripture. I wonder why part of the original passage was skipped. Wasn’t it important what the sacred author was writing? Today I find it very relevant. Isaiah prophesies that the “house of prayer for all peoples” is to be a joyful place for God’s chosen community. It includes two specifically named groups whose presence has not been welcomed in the past: the foreigners and those who are referenced in the missing verses as eunuchs, forcefully castrated males. Isaiah says all are to be welcomed, making the “house of prayer for all peoples” a reality. How welcoming am I? Do I exclude? What are my reasons? Does this convict me of some extreme prejudice I should be working on? Isaiah tells of a future time when all the nations will approach Jerusalem to learn the ways of the Lord, when all are welcome to offer sacrifices and prayers in God’s house.  

Paul struggles to understand and explain the meaning of what God has done for us in Christ. He knows God has reconciled the world to Himself through the death and resurrection of His Son. He urges his readers to accept the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation offered through Jesus. We are saved through God’s grace rather than anything we have done. God has not rejected His people even though they have rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Their anti-semitism has scarred our history. Christianity and Judaism are part of the same mysterious plan of God.

In the gospel, Jesus is being confronted by the Canaanite woman. At face value it seems that Jesus appears as a non-caring Jew, focused on His own narrow mission to Israel. The plot happens in the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon. Interestingly, the woman uses a title expressing the Jewish faith — Lord, Son of David — in pleading with Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus makes no response. The apostles want Jesus to get rid of her. Jesus says He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. I think He uses this to prod her faith, because at the end of the gospel Jesus sends his disciples to all nations. Jesus recognizes this foreign woman’s great faith. He also encourages persistence in a divine non-response to one’s prayers … to keep praying even when we feel God isn’t responding. Do I feel that God withholds His mercy from people, even those I want Him to withhold it from?

So I reflect on:

• “All are welcome.” Am I welcoming to those who come to worship or live in my neighborhood? Sometimes these feel like non-lived or non-believed words and attitudes.
• Am I happy to pray with all people? Or am I happier in a small contingent of the like-minded?

Sacred Space 2023 states:

“Like the woman in the gospel, I come before Jesus bringing others in my prayer. As I pray for those I love, I glow in appreciation of their goodness and ask for blessings for them. I think again of how they are blessings for me and I give thanks.”