Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today. We welcome guest reader Brenda Piazza. Brenda is a parishioner of St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Mendon, New York, where she joyfully serves in a variety of ministries.
Brenda also shares her gifts with us each liturgical season, narrating our little book's reflections.
And now, here is today's gospel and homily,
[00:00:46] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
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 Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
Jesus's 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 Jesus 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 the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.
The Gospel of the Lord.
I remember I used to squirm when this gospel came up in the cycle of readings.
But now, after learning more about it and praying about it, I find it to be a beautiful gospel.
First of all, I want to clear away the question of Jesus using the term dogs.
It sounds rather harsh to us, but in that culture it was the normal term used among Jews to refer to those who are not of the Jewish religion, and it did not have the insulting tone it would have for us in our culture.
A contemporary example might be when we say someone is dog tired without insulting them.
It's only a minor point, but I wanted to clear it out of the way.
To appreciate this gospel, you have to realize something about Jesus.
He did not come to throw away Judaism like a used container and establish a new institution.
Judaism was not like the stage of a rocket that is disposed of as the space vehicle moves onward.
Judaism was meant by God to be the instrument for the salvation of the whole world, and Jesus came as a Jew to work within that religion.
Jesus came to transform much of it. He wanted to work within the institution.
It had its own laws, its own ritual, its own priesthood.
He apparently did not intend to establish a whole new structure.
We know later on in his ministry, the Jewish authorities rejected Jesus and Christianity was born as a new institution.
But had he not been rejected, this would not have happened.
And so at this stage of his ministry, Jesus intends to follow the Father's plan and to work only with Israel.
You see this reflected in other sections of the Gospel.
For example, he did not send his disciples out to preach to the Gentiles.
He sent them to Jewish towns and he himself spent his life ministering within Palestine.
With that background, you can see how Jesus is struggling in this Gospel.
He has gone to the north country, probably for a rest.
The area of Tyre and Sidon was pagan territory, and this pagan woman came up to him and pleaded for help for her daughter.
He must have been torn by this request, and you will notice that he was unable to respond when she first presented herself to him.
Then his disciples came up and for the wrong motives, wanted to get rid of her because she was persistent.
And Jesus tells them, almost painfully, that his mission is to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then the woman comes back and Jesus reaches out to help her.
It is as though he is saying, my heart goes out to you and I am going to help you.
It says a great deal about Jesus.
We have a God of Compassion Sometimes we wonder why we should pray to God.
Well, when you read this gospel, you begin to understand.
We might not be able to explain all of that philosophically or theologically, but the God presented in this gospel is a God who listens, a God who is moved, a God who always places people over laws.
There is something here for us too. In our own lives.
Sometimes we tend to be correct without being compassionate.
It is never enough to be correct.
Things don't always fit together in this world, and we sometimes struggle with the tension between what ought to be and what is.
Above all else, we have to be compassionate, loving, forgiving.
Sometimes things don't fit together and we don't know what to do.
Well, the person should always get the nod.
It's how Jesus acted in this gospel episode.
It's how he deals with us.
We give thanks for that and we try to imitate him in the way we interact with others.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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SA.
