THE INSIDER VERSUS THE OUTSIDER

HOMILY FOR THE 20^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Isaiah 56:1.6-7        Romans 11:13-15, 29-32        Matthew 15:21-28

Inclusiveness is the watchword of the culture of faith. Faith is neither constricted nor confined by boundaries. The availability of salvation, mercy and the justice of the Lord is not reserved to the few, but is open to all. It is not reserved to a particular people, culture or race. In Isaiah’s time, foreigners living within Judah were granted limited rights and protection (cf. Ex 22:20; Deut 10:19). In the First Reading, Isaiah clarifies that God accepts foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord. The message of Isaiah was ground-breaking, since it extended full privileges not only to “foreigners” – guests and immigrants resident in Judah - but also to nocrées  (those in distant lands) and to nekàr (those of different races). In other words,  Isaiah’s message was-and-is a message of salvation to all of us ‘foreigners on earth’ (Heb 11:13, cf. 1 Chron 29:14ff), and that means universally, to all the peoples on the earth, to every one of us.

In the Gospel, this message is reinforced in a lively exchange between Jesus and a Canaanite woman of great faith. She was in pain because her daughter was tormented: the poor girl was possessed by a devil. Convinced that Jesus would be able to exorcize her daughter, she went to Him, knelt down and cried out on behalf of her daughter: take pity on me, son of David. The disciples got fed up with her behaviour and, unable to cope with her loud cries of desperation any longer, advised Jesus to give in and give her what she wanted.

At first sight, it seems that Jesus purposely kept her at arm’s length. Why would He do that? Of course He knew what was going to happen, because He is God, in which case we can deduce that He wanted to use the situation to teach us an important point of faith. At the time, the disciples probably surmised that He wasn’t jumping in to help her because His mission was primarily to the Jews, and she was a Canaanite. Canaan had a long history of hostility to the Jews, which went as far back as the conquest of Canaan by the forces of Joshua (cf. Num 13:1-33; Josh 10:28-12; 11:10-15), which had ensued over the acquisition and possession of land.  

The Canaanite woman, however, persisted in her quest and refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. She realized that sometimes a ‘NO’ can mean ‘Next Opportunity’! Her humility was further manifested when – far from claiming a right to His help - she pointed out the truism that pet dogs get to enjoy the scraps that happen to fall from their master’s table. The underlying message we can glean from her retort is that the good things God grants us because He loves us so much come to us as generous favours rather than as rights. It follows that while we can claim no right to be members of God’s family, our membership of the family is afforded to us as a generous gift, as an open-handed favour bestowed on us by God. Of course, this overwhelming and unmerited gift to us must be received in humility. We are to live out our time here as foreigners in reverent awe (1Pet 1:17).

Imagine how many of us would have our needs met by God if we were to intercede for one another as this woman did for her daughter. Jesus did not perceive her nationality - her non-Jewish status - as an obstacle to His favour. He put her faith to the test, and went on to grant her request because she demonstrated such great trust and faith in Him. God has no favourites (Rom 2:11). The mission of Christ is to break down boundaries and to destroy every wall of division and prejudice between peoples, between insiders and outsiders. Everyone has equal access to the Kingdom of God available to them. No-one is excluded from the offer.

Now, let’s consider the ascent of faith of this woman. Her faith in God ratcheted up during her encounter with Jesus. The episode opened with her calling Jesus ‘Son of David’, a Jewish royal and political title which accorded Him respect in terms of earthly glory and power. The episode ended with her acknowledging Jesus as Lord, a spiritual title which accorded Him respect in terms of His supra-natural (“above-natural”) and divine nature. In her ascent of faith, she was resolute, persistent and patient even in her troubled state. Along with the Centurion (Mt 8:10), this woman was one of the two Gentiles whose faith Jesus commended as “great”. This woman shows us that great faith can manifest as a desperate cry of need (Mt 15:22), a persistence that will not quit (Mt 15:23-24), a spirit that worships Jesus as Lord (Mt 15:25), a spirit of humility and surrender to the Lord (Mt 15:26-27); and it also shows us that such faith prompts a favourable outcome to its request (Mt 15:28).

How many times have we, either in word or deed, erected barriers intended to insulate ourselves from others? How many times have we branded others in adverse terms, so as to exclude them or to emphasise their current exclusion? St. Paul, in the Second Reading, makes the point that God has no favourites: the gifts of mercy and grace dependent upon obedience are fully capable of being transferable to benefit communities other than our own if we reject these gifts. Ouch! This confirms that even those who have made themselves outsiders to the Christian community by rejecting the truth that Jesus is God (for Paul, this was his own people, the Jews; for us, it is the people around us) still have the opportunity to come into the Church through obedience. The door remains open, and is never closed against anyone until after the end of this life. Heaven has no seat reservations. In God, there is no Captain’s Table. God does not discriminate against unrepentant evil-doers until after death, in the hope that they might repent; we, however, can be thoroughly confident that He welcomes in the immediate moment each and every one of those who accept Him, who genuinely believe in Him, who worship Him, who place their trust in Him and who beg for His mercy. In human society, acceptance tends to be based on how physically attractive or unattractive someone is, rather than how attractive or unattractive they are on the inside. People tend to make time for those they like, while cutting short or avoiding those they don’t like. The good news is that God accepts you and He accepts me: He has time for everybody because He is Love. Our task, if we will accept it, is to bask in God’s love for us and to mirror it joyfully to others so that they have the opportunity to accept Him too. Amen. God bless you.