Wednesday in the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 5, 2020

The Feast of the Dedication of St. Mary Major

Matthew 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

The city of Tyre lies thirty-nine miles from the Sea of Galilee, and Sidon several miles north of Tyre, a fairly formidable distance on foot, with rugged country to navigate.  St. Matthew does not say that Jesus traveled as far as Tyre, but only to the region, so perhaps this journey did not go so far.  His destination in the region remains a mystery, unless he meant to visit a synagogue in a town of that country.  Matthew does say that Jesus “withdrew”, which is one of the two main ways to translate the Greek verb here.  Another way would be to say that the Lord “retired” there.  As Matthew tells it, Jesus and his Apostles went directly from Jerusalem to the region of Tyre and Sidon, “withdrawing” or “retiring” there.  It is intriguing that he did not simply “withdraw” back to Galilee.  Perhaps Jesus wanted to spend some time in a place where he would not be thronged by crowds of people.  His Apostles would have benefitted from the respite, and he would have the opportunity to teach them privately.  Matthew does not tell us how long he spent there.

Mostly, the inhabitants of that place worshipped a mix of the old Phoenician gods and the imported Greek gods.  Matthew does not call them “Gentiles” but “Canaanites”, an anachronistic term.  The equivalent would be to call the Jews of the Lord’s time “Hebrews”.  Matthew does this in order to point up the ancient enmity that existed between these descendants of the original inhabitants of the Promised Land and the Hebrews who entered it under Joshua.  This has implications for what follows.

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  The reputation of Jesus has penetrated to this pagan land from Galilee, or perhaps Jesus had performed some miracles among the few Jews who lived in the area.  Whatever the case, this “Canaanite” woman is very certain that the Lord can help her.  She may not know his name, for she does not use it.  But she does call him “Lord”.  It is significant that she acknowledges this Jew as her Lord, for it shows the desperation of her situation.  The Phoenicians were a proud people with a long and storied history.  They regarded the Israelites as below them.  She shouts out for all to hear that her daughter is “tormented by a demon”.  This may mean that her daughter was suffering from a curse, an evil spell, or from demonic possession.  This latter was not confined merely to the Jews.  Matthew does not say that the girl was present with her mother and so we might surmise that she was confined st home.  

“But he did not say a word in answer to her.”  This lack of response from Jesus would not have surprised the Jews of the time, who mixed as little with the Gentiles as they could.  Even speaking with them was done only out of necessity.  “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”  The Apostles are annoyed with the shouting, or that it is a Gentile woman who is doing it.  We can see here two competing prayers made to the Lord.  Both are reasonable requests.  The woman earnestly desires her daughter’s deliverance, and the Apostles want to be free of an annoyance that could possibly draw an angry crowd against them.  “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Presumably Jesus answers her in Greek, which would most likely have her language.  In referring to the “house of Israel” Jesus uses a term found in the law and the prophets, but which had no real meaning at the time in which he was speaking: there was Judah and Galilee, but no Israel.  Again, this points out the conflict between the two peoples.  “But the woman came and did him homage, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ ”  First, she publicly calls this Jewish man “Lord”, and now she renders him homage, perhaps bowing low to the ground and even lying prostrate.  Her prayer becomes more direct: “Lord, help me.”

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  To us this seems a very harsh way to speak, but it reflects the attitude of a Jew of the time towards a Gentile.  We note here too that Jesus speaks to her as a haughty lord would speak to his slave.  He has accepted her naming him “Lord”, but he acts as though he were merely the Lord of the Jews.  “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  The woman shows herself a quick-thinker with her clever rejoinder, but she has also humbled herself to the lowest point possible.  First, she calls him Lord; second, she renders him homage; third, she accepts his calling her a “dog”.  She is not even the slave of this Lord, but beneath even that.  With this admission, Jesus astonishes all by answering, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”  He credits her with faith, for only belief in him as Lord could result in such humility, and he delivers her daughter from the demon.  He does this without causing scandal for her by entering her home (she could not have let him in without her husband present, and if she had been married, her husband would have gone to Jesus instead of her), and without incurring uncleanness through his doing so, in the same way as was done with the Gentile centurion’s servant.  And in performing this miracle the Lord heals the rift between the Jews and this people, the descendants of Noah’s son Canaan, signifies by the final words of this reading: “And her daughter was healed from that hour.”  Jesus shows himself as much their Lord and Savior as that of the Jews, from whom, at this time, he had “withdrawn”.  

We see in this reading how Jesus answers prayer.  He desires our heartfelt acknowledgment of him as Lord, homage, and complete submission to his will while confessing our unworthiness.  Jesus answers the prayer of his Apostles too, although in a way they had not expected: by casting out the demon from afar, he sends the woman away, back to her home.

Today we celebrate the dedication, in the year 434, of the largest church in Rome named for the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In this time of anti-Catholic violence, we ask for her intercession for the divine protection of all church buildings consecrated to the worship of God and for the faithful who come to them,