Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle A

First Reading -  Isaiah 56:1, 6-7

Responsorial - Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

Second Reading - Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

Gospel -  Matthew 15:21-28

Words matter. Actions behind the words matter more. Jesus uses every opportunity to teach his Disciples his ways. He uses every opportunity to demonstrate sacrificial love to those whom he will leave in charge of his Church when he ascends back to heaven.

A Canaanite woman calls out to the Lord for mercy. She uses the title Son of David, recognizing that he was both Lord and the long-awaited messiah. But instead of seeing a woman in need of love, the Disciples saw a creature that was to be despised. She was not Jewish and therefore not worthy of their time. The miracles Jesus was performing was for them. They asked Jesus to dismiss her so that she would stop bothering them.

Jesus knew their hearts and it pained him the hate he felt they had for this woman. He had come to restore the Kingdom of David for the Jewish people first but what the Disciples did not know was God’s plan to extend that kingdom to all people, including this Canaanite woman.

He rebuked the woman saying, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” The Disciples smiled inwardly. Give it to her Lord. Send this creature away. Wait. What? What did the Lord just say?

The translation of this passage we read in scripture is not a good translation and this is where words matter. No, Jesus did not call this woman a dog. Dogs were generally despised by the Jewish people as filthy animals. It seemed fitting to translate what Jesus said as dog to emphasize how the Disciples felt about this woman, not how Jesus felt about her. The actual word used in scripture was puppy. A puppy is cute, cuddly, and harmless. I can envision Jesus saying this to the woman while casting a sideways glance to his Disciples as if to say, “You want me to send away this harmless woman?”

Jesus not only knew the Disciples’ hearts but he knew the woman’s heart as well. She wasn’t seeking something for herself. She only cared about her daughter. The rabbis despised the Canaanites and none would have even acknowledged her presence, let alone her plea for help. I am sure she had tried many times before to get help for her daughter. Pleas that fell on deaf ears.

“Please, Lord, for even the puppies eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.” She was not Jewish but still loved God and was willing to take whatever love she could get. Just because she did not live under the law that yoked Israel did it mean that she wasn’t deserving of love from her creator. God loves all of his creation, including the “puppies”.

Jesus took pity on this woman and healed her daughter because of the trust she had in him. He looked at his Disciples as if to say, “Why is it so hard to show love to someone seeking it? The love I bring is for the world to share. It is not to be hoarded by the children of Israel.”

And so it is to be for us. We are not to harbor hate for or despise anyone. We are to love all people in the way that God loves us. This world is filled with so much hate right now. Hate for anyone is an anchor that will keep you out of heaven. Learn to let it go and start seeing people the way God does.

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