TWENTIETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR A 23

TWENTIETH SUNDAY, 20 AUGUST 2023, ISAIAH 56. 1, 6-7; ROMANS 11. 13-15, 29-32; MATTHEW 15. 21-28 Punch line: Faith alone matters! Guideline: Faith is the essential ingredient and requirement to obtain any help from God. Nothing else can be a substitute for it 1. The Canaanite woman in the gospel is praised and rewarded by Jesus for her faith. 2. Perhaps, Jesus also avails this occasion to point to and poke implicitly the stubborn and unbelieving Jews about the inadequacy and shallowness of their own faith, in contrast to the praiseworthy faith of a pagan woman. 3. Certainly, the same pointer and poker can also be valid for everyone, who claims and proclaims that they are God’s children, followers of Christ, possessors of the Holy Spirit, supporters of the Church and the legitimate heirs of God’s grace and kingdom. 4. Today, we need to realise that there are no guarantees, no legacies, no inheritance with regard to God’s grace and favours. 5. Just because one is baptized, belongs to the church, fulfils some formal religious duties, and participates in some church activities, there is no guarantee that we merit God’s grace. 6. Ultimately, all that matters is Faith. It is only faith that makes one disposed and worthy to receive God’s grace. 7. What is this faith? What kind of faith? Look at the Canaanite woman whom Jesus places before us as a sample of true faith. We can pick out some main ingredients of true faith. 8. True faith realizes the personal situation of lack and need and the consequent situation of struggle and affliction. 9. The woman knows what she lacks, what she needs, what she struggles and suffers from. She knows the demon-possession of her daughter and she also knows that she needs to be healed. 10. Do we know what we lack, what we need? Do we know what torments and afflicts us? Do we know that we need to be healed? 11. Faith knows where to turn to, where to get the needed healing. Turn to God with a sincere desire to be healed.  Faith trusts in God’s mercy and power. God is so merciful as to alleviate our pain, to fulfil our needs. He is so powerful as well to do that. 12. Faith is humble, which is twofold: grace is not by right, and is not by merit. Jesus appreciates the Canaanite woman because of her humility. She is quite aware that she has neither the right nor the merit to demand for Jesus’ mercy. 13. She knows that she is not a Jew, not one of the chosen fold. She also knows that there is nothing of her, no religious observance, no fidelity to any law, no personal devotion that makes her merit and deserve Jesus’ favour. 14. She realizes that the grace she is requesting for, is totally gratuitous, unmerited and undeserving. 15. What about our faith? Is it humble enough? Or do we place demands on God as if it is our right or merit? Do we realise that God grants us what we ask, not because it is our right or merit, but only because we need it and because He loves us? 16. We receive not because God is bound to give us, but only because He binds Himself to give us because of love. 17. True faith is humble because there are no ego-deflations or ego hurts. The woman is humble and that is why, she takes no offence at the apparently degrading remark of Jesus, equating her with a dog. 18. But a little note can be given on this unpleasant comment. First of all, one need not read too much into it, as if Jesus is offending her so disrespectfully comparing her to a dog. 19. Such a reading will be an overboard zeal. It is enough to understand that Jesus wants her to know that his primary mission is the Jews. It can also indicate the wrong despising attitude of the Jews toward the non-Jews as dogs. 20. One can also think of a spiritual purpose of Jesus: to test how firm is her faith, and also to present before the self-righteous and the so-called ‘faith’ people what is true faith and show how shallow is their faith. 21. True faith is persevering, come what may. The seemingly indifferent, offensive, unconcerned approach of Jesus does not discourage her or annoy her. 22. She persists to the extent of pestering, running after Jesus. She persists in spite of the derogation. Thereby, she turns an occasion of hurt into an advantage for favour. 23. Today, the Canaanite woman stands before us as a glowing example of true faith. Let us do a simple sincere self-check of our own faith. Lifeline: True faith is not so much what and how many big favours we are able to obtain from God, as if it is our merit. Faith does not consist in what we get but in how we trust and abandon ourselves to God, whether we get or not