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Twentieth Sunday – Year A – Ordinary Time
Readings: Isa 56:1, 6-7; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt 15:21-28.
1/ Reading I: RSV Isaiah 56:1 Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant — 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
2/ Reading II: RSV Romans 11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.
3/ Gospel: RSV Matthew 15:21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer to her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
I. THEME: Many people shall inherit God’s salvation.
Out of love, God designs the plan of salvation for all people. According to this plan, the salvation shall begin with a small number before it extends to all people. God chose the Israelites at the beginning to be His own people. From them, the salvation is extended to the Gentiles of all nations till the end of the earth.
Today readings give us an overview of God’s plan of salvation. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah foresaw the day that all foreigners “who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants… these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar.” In the second reading, St. Paul explained for everyone to know God’s plan of salvation. In the first stage, God chose the Israelites as His people to prepare for the Messiah’s coming. When the Messiah comes, he initiates the second stage to bring the salvation for all people; it is no longer limited in the Israelites’ cycle. Some of the Israelites refuse to believe the second stage of God’s plan of salvation. According to St. Paul, it is also in God’s providence so that the Gospel is extended to the Gentiles; but at the end, the Israelites shall also return, believe in Christ and inherit the salvation. In the Gospel, St. Matthew gave us a concrete example: A Canaanite woman who has a daughter being possessed by a demon came and asked God to heal her daughter. After tested her faith, God granted her wish.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Today passage belongs to the third part which some of biblical scholars called the Third Isaiah (chapters 56-66). They believed this part was written by his disciple or the one who belongs to the school of Isaiah after the exile. There are two important points in today passage:
1.1/ God’s salvation is coming soon: The author prophesized, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.’”
– On the historical plane, this prophecy was fulfilled when Cyrus, the Persian king issues the decree to permit the Israelites to return to their country after God helped him to conquer the Babylon Empire. Not only permitted, he also helped them to have all necessary means to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. Ezra recorded this event as follows: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel — he is the God who is in Jerusalem; and let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem” (Ezr 1:2-4).
– On the plane of salvation, this prophecy was fulfilled when Christ, the Messiah of God came to redeem people from sins and to bring salvation for people. This verse can be wrongly explained as because people live righteously, they are deserved to receive God’s salvation. St. Paul explained more concisely and clearly: Christ is God’s righteousness (Rom 3:22). People are saved not by their righteousness, but by their faith in Christ (Rom 3:28).
1.2/ God’s salvation is no longer limited in the Israelites, but extended to all people: The author stated this clearly, “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
God’s house of prayer is no longer limited to the Jerusalem Temple, as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (Jn 4:21).
2/ Reading II: “God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.”
St. Paul confirmed this, “Both the Jews and the Gentiles can receive the salvation according to God’s plan.” To understand this passage, we can divide God’s plan of salvation into three stages:
2.1/ From the beginning until Jesus’ coming: The Gentiles don’t believe and obey God. St. Paul rationalized:
(1) Though they weren’t heard about God, the Gentiles are still sinful because God’s glory is revealed everywhere through His creation and providence. They can use their intellect to recognize God’s power and believe in Him (Rom 1:19-21); but they didn’t do so.
(2) The Jews are proud because they have God of heaven and earth is their Lord, and He gave to them the Ten Commandments through Moses; but there is none of them who carefully keep all the commandments. Therefore, they should be condemned more because they didn’t keep the law.
2.2/ From Jesus till the Last Day: Since some of the Jews don’t believe in Jesus, so the Gospel is preached to the Gentiles.
God used St. Paul to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul himself confessed, “I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.”
When the Gentiles welcomed the Gospel and believed in Christ, some of them became proud and insulted the Jews. So, St. Paul must explain for them to know the reason why they shouldn’t be proud and disregard the Jews’ position in God’s plan of salvation, “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”
2.3/ The last stage: God shall help them to return and save them because, “The gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy.”
And Paul concluded, “For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.” We can’t fathom God’s wonderful plan of salvation; only God who creates people, knows how to use people to fulfill His plan of salvation.
3/ Gospel: “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”
The main point of this passage isn’t on the miracle itself, but on the mother’s faith in Jesus. She overcame three trials before her daughter is healed by Jesus.
(1) The first trial, prejudice: Tyre and Sidon were two prosperous cities of the ANE, the modern Lebanon. Jesus and his disciples are the Jews while the woman is a Canaanite, a Gentile. According to the historian Josephus, the Canaanites are the Jews’ enemies. Because of the love for her daughter, she overcame the fence of prejudice to approach Jesus. She knew only Jesus can heal her daughter. So she begged him, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.”
(2) The second trial, Jesus’ silence and the disciples’ insult: She courageously overcame the fence of prejudice; but still has to wait for Jesus and his disciples’ responses. Jesus didn’t respond a word until his disciples urged him, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This is the only time which the Synoptic Gospels reported Jesus went out the Israelites’ territory and met a foreigner. The woman wasn’t discouraged by Jesus’ refusal; she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
(3) The third trial, Jesus’ testing: Jesus seriously tested her faith when he said, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” Imagine what we shall react when someone likens us to a dog! Do we have courage to continue to beg for a favor? The woman didn’t give up; she insisted, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Jesus had to yield before her strong faith, then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– Out of His love, God wants everybody to inherit His salvation. We can’t discriminate anyone out of race or nationality because all of them are God’s children and deserved to receive God’s salvation.
– People in everywhere and all generations are thirsty to hear the Gospel and missionary is our mission. We must remember that our faith is the result of the foreign missionaries’ efforts and blood; therefore, in our turn, we must propagate this faith for others.
– The Church had just celebrated the Jubilee Year of St. Paul to encourage us to learn from him. We should imitate him to sacrifice all things out of our love for Christ to bring the Good News to all people.
– The Church is catholic which means for all people to join. We shouldn’t be hesitated to dialogue with people of other religions and to invite them to attend our liturgy; but we must respect the truth and can’t let them to receive the sacraments because they have not the same faith with us.