Encountering the "other"

Homily Proper 20 Yr. A 2011

Have you ever been so weary all you want is a place to rest where no-one will disturb you, and relax?

Call it a retreat, a vacation, a respite….it fulfills a basic human need to refresh or regroup.

Throughout scripture there are references to Jesus seeking some solitude to pray, to gain strength for what must have been an exhausting life as an itinerant preacher, healer and teacher.

But there were always demands wherever he travelled, even on the outskirts of Israel, north of Palestine in the region of Tyre and Sidon.

And since we believe Jesus was a human being, he must have sometimes lost his patience. And this appears to be what has happened in this story.

The Canaanite woman comes and begs for Jesus help because her daughter is tormented by a demon.
First Jesus doesn’t answer her at all—a snub which might have been expected between a Jewish man and a Canaanite woman, because Canaanites were treated as second class citizens, reviled and hated by Jews.

The disciples urge Jesus to send the woman away.

But instead Jesus tries to explain: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

In other words, the mission of Jesus, at least for now, is for the Jews alone.

But she kneels before him: Lord help me. How often in the Gospels do we see this response of faith followed with a healing.

But in this case Jesus responds with what can be seen as an insult, a put down: Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and feed it to the dogs.”

Dogs were not held in the high esteem at that time that they are now. After all, it’s clear to Coline and I that Wally runs the rectory.

But then dogs were seen as unclean.

This passage has proved difficult for Biblical commentators and preachers over the years.

After all we preach a doctrine that says Jesus without sin.

But even in the Gospel narratives we have Jesus showing anger, frustration, despair at different times. Could he not have shared in some of the prejudices of his own time.

Isn’t there a possibility he was weary and just wanted to end this brief encounter.

Also puzzling is the end of this brief encounter, where it appears this unnamed woman gets the best of Jesus, which is rare in any Gospel encounters.

“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

This bold, but respectful retort is amazing.

Jesus is used to tripping up the leading Jewish authorities, scribes, and Pharisees. Yet he is matched by one of society’s lowliest members, a Gentile woman, of a hated minority.

And in response, Jesus displays his willingness to change in response to the woman’s faith and courage, Jesus heals her daughter.

What does this story mean for us?

If Jesus can learn to deal with prejudices of his day, surely we can learn to treat better those who like the Canaanite woman would be “the other” in our society.

In Canada that means we have to look at how we treat Native people, and other visible minorities. How do we treat people with other religious backgrounds.

We are all children of God, and it is in how we treat our neighbours that we demonstrate our love of God.

We must be prepared to have our eyes opened to the needs and gifts of others, as Jesus was in this story.

The worst thing is to try and separate ourselves as Christians into a “holy” club, feeling we are better than others.

Jesus met the world, albeit sometimes reluctantly, when he was weary and needed a rest. His followers came from the outcasts of society---poor, women, Gentiles.

The people most hostile to his message were the leaders of Israel, the religious authorities, the wealthy.

Part of our challenge in the church is that the church has become part of the establishment in many countries. It has lost its edge. It doesn’t reach out sufficiently to “the other.”

Let us pray that following the example of Jesus we can learn from our encounters with people who are "the other" and recognize in them our common humanity.