20 Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the Gospel encounter with the Canaanite woman, Jesus' words can initially sound harsh and even shocking. By looking at the wider context, we discover a passage about God's salvation opening to the Gentiles and a woman whose remarkable faith refuses to give up when obstacles are placed before her. Her perseverance becomes a model for us when prayer seems unanswered, personal growth feels slow, or God's plans unfold according to a timetable very different from our own.
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Today's Gospel is a challenging one because, if you're like me, after hearing it you might think to yourself, “Jesus didn't really call that woman a dog, did he?” But when we look carefully at the passage, it seems that he did. This woman, who is a Canaanite, comes to Jesus because her daughter needs healing. She asks him for this grace, this assistance, this help, and Jesus responds by saying, “It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” At first glance, it really does seem as though Jesus is calling this woman a dog. So what exactly is going on here?
There are a few possibilities we might consider. One possibility, at least hypothetically, is that Jesus is simply being rude to this woman or sharing in the prejudices of his time. Some Jewish people, though certainly not all, looked down on Gentiles, people who were not Jewish. Unfortunately, as happens in every time and place, people can fall into the temptation of looking down on those who are different from them or who do not belong to their community. One of the insulting terms sometimes used for Gentiles was “dogs.” This Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon is certainly not Jewish, so the language Jesus uses has a cultural background. Still, it would be very difficult to conclude that Jesus is simply sharing in this prejudice, especially when we look carefully at the wider context of the passage.
Another possibility is that Jesus is learning something new about his mission from this woman. Certainly, this Canaanite woman is praised for her faith, and she is presented as a model of faith and perseverance for all of us. Yet the context suggests that Jesus already knows what he is doing. His encounter with her does not happen accidentally. Jesus has deliberately travelled into Gentile territory, and this interaction forms part of a larger movement in his ministry.
To understand this, we need to look at what happens immediately before this passage in the Gospel of Matthew. Just before Jesus meets the Canaanite woman, he has a debate with the Jewish religious leaders about clean and unclean foods. According to Jewish religious practice, certain foods were considered unclean, and eating them could make a person ritually unclean. Jesus teaches something quite radical. He says that what enters a person from outside does not make that person unclean. Rather, what truly makes us unclean is what comes from within, from the human heart: our evil actions, our malice, our anger, our jealousy, and the other sins that separate us from God and from one another.
Immediately after this teaching, Jesus makes the decision to travel into the region of Tyre and Sidon, which is Gentile territory. That movement is very important. Jesus has just challenged the idea that certain foods can make a person unclean, and now he goes into a place inhabited by people whom some Jewish people might also have considered unclean. In a sense, after declaring that foods should not simply be divided into clean and unclean, Jesus now shows that people cannot simply be divided into clean and unclean either. There are no people who stand outside the love and embrace of God.
Jesus is showing that he is not simply the Messiah for the people of Israel. God's salvation is intended for the Gentiles as well. In doing this, Jesus is fulfilling the hope expressed by the prophet Isaiah, who looked forward to a time when people from all the nations would come to worship the God of Israel and would become part of God's family. The encounter with this Canaanite woman becomes one concrete sign that this promise is beginning to be fulfilled.
But even after recognizing all of this, we still have to deal with the difficult question: why does Jesus speak to this woman about dogs? One thing that is important to remember whenever we read Scripture is that we cannot hear Jesus' tone of voice. We have the words, but we do not have the tone, the facial expression, or the gestures that accompanied them. There is a great difference between saying harshly, “It is not right to take the children's food and give it to the dogs,” and saying the same words in a way that invites a response, almost as though Jesus were saying, “It is not right to take the children's food and give it to the dogs, is it?”
It seems that Jesus is doing with this woman something he does elsewhere in the Gospels. At times, when someone comes to Jesus seeking healing or some other grace, Jesus does not immediately give the person what they ask for. He puts an obstacle in front of them. He allows the encounter to become difficult so that something deeper can be drawn out of the person. Their faith, their trust, or their perseverance is given an opportunity to become visible, perhaps even to themselves.
There is an old story that illustrates this idea. A young man once wanted to join a monastery and become a monk. He travelled out into the wilderness where the monastery was located and knocked on the great front doors. A monk opened the door, and the young man explained that he wanted to join the community. The monk replied, “I'm sorry, you don't have what it takes. Please go away,” and then he shut the doors. The young man, however, did not leave. He remained outside the monastery all day. As evening began to fall, he knocked again. The monk opened the door and said, “What are you still doing here? I already told you that this life isn't for you. You should go home.” Once again, the doors were closed.
Still the young man persevered. He stayed outside the monastery throughout the night, and in the morning he knocked on the doors once again. This time, when the monk opened the door and heard once more that the young man wanted to become a monk, he embraced him and said, “Welcome, brother,” and brought him inside. Perhaps the monk's behaviour seems a little harsh, but the point of the story is that he wanted the young man to discover how deeply he truly desired this life. Was this just a passing idea? Was he perhaps running away from something else? Or did he really want to give his life to God in this particular way?
Something similar seems to be happening between Jesus and the Canaanite woman. Jesus places obstacles in front of her, but she continues forward. She does not allow herself to be discouraged, and her response to Jesus is remarkably clever. When Jesus says that it is not right to take the children's food and give it to the dogs, she replies that even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master's table.
The woman takes Jesus' image and reframes it. The insulting image of Gentiles as dogs would normally suggest wild dogs outside the household, but she speaks instead about household dogs, animals that live within the home and receive food from the table. In effect, she is saying, “Perhaps I am not one of the children of Israel, but surely there is still something at God's table for me.” Jesus recognizes the depth of her faith and praises her for it. She has trusted that God's mercy is large enough to include her, and she refuses to give up.
This encounter therefore becomes an important moment in Jesus' ministry. God's grace and salvation are not restricted to Israel. They are being offered to the nations as well, and this Canaanite woman becomes a sign of that widening mission. At the same time, she becomes a powerful example for all of us of the importance of perseverance. She continues to trust even when the path becomes difficult and even when, at first, it seems as though Jesus is not going to give her what she asks for.
We need that same perseverance in many areas of our lives. Sometimes we pray for something and nothing seems to happen. We pray for healing, for help in our family, for a change in some difficult situation, and the answer does not seem to come. Sometimes we are trying to overcome a bad habit or build a good one, but progress is painfully slow. Sometimes we are trying to repair a relationship that has been damaged, and despite our best efforts, we do not seem to be getting anywhere. In those moments, it is very easy to become discouraged and simply give up.
The Canaanite woman reminds us that perseverance itself can become a place in which God is working. When we persevere in prayer, God may be preparing our hearts to receive something greater than what we originally asked for, or perhaps to receive the answer in a different way than we expected. When we persevere in trying to overcome a weakness, God may be teaching us more deeply about his mercy and giving us greater compassion for other people who struggle. When we persevere in trying to repair a relationship, even if we cannot control the response of the other person, God can still use that perseverance to change us and make us more patient, humble, and loving.
God's work does not always happen according to our timeline. The Canaanite woman reminds us that Christ desires to give his healing, grace, and salvation to all, but the way in which that grace comes into our lives may require patience and perseverance. Sometimes the obstacle itself becomes part of the way God helps our faith to grow.
Let us ask, then, for the grace to persevere like this remarkable woman. When prayer seems unanswered, when growth seems slow, or when the path ahead becomes difficult, let us continue to trust that Christ is still present and still at work. Even when we cannot yet see what God is doing, we can trust that he is preparing our hearts and leading us toward something good.
