The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate some difficult paths that people have taken in their journey of building faith.
The difficult path
The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah celebrates the joyful return of the exiles.
* [31:2-3] Jeremiah describes the exiles of the Northern Kingdom on their way home from the nations where the Assyrians had resettled them (722/721 B.C.). The favor they discover in the wilderness is the appearance of the Lord (v. ) coming to guide them to Jerusalem. Implicit in these verses is the presentation of the people’s return from captivity as a second exodus, a unifying theme in Second Isaiah (chaps. –).1
Jeremiah 31 raises a hymn of praise to God.
‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.’1
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus praises the Canaanite Woman’s faith.
* [15:28] As in the case of the cure of the centurion’s servant (MT 8:10), Matthew ascribes Jesus’ granting the request to the woman’s great faith, a point not made equally explicit in the Marcan parallel (Mk 7:24-30).2
Reflections from this Blog from 2018 and from 2019 may show some faith development
Mike Cherney comments that Jeremiah presents a reassuring message as Israel returns following the fall of the empire, but it is the word “remnant” that strikes him at the end of this passage. These are people who have been put to the test and survived. The Gospel presents a Jesus that seems out of character. Mike’s mind drifts between two alternatives: Jesus was a man of his times or the Gospel writer was embellishing a story to make a point.
What I take away is that this woman was put to the test and she emerged successfully… My sense is perhaps God’s “test” is not so much an evaluation as it is a call to trust. My prayer today involves developing that trust.Dear Lord,
I am an individual subject to the judgments of others.
Assist me in developing a heart that is open to You.
Help me in my willingness to let that heart serve as the motivating force.
Strengthen me against criticism that might impede me in my call.
Recognizing the innate worth of all individuals, help me to avoid being critical and passing judgments.3
Don Schwager comments that Jesus tests this woman's faith to see if she is earnest in receiving holy things from the hand of a holy God. Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith - "even the dogs eat the crumbs". Don quotes “The Mother of the Gentiles,” by Epiphanius the Latin (late 5th century).
"After our Lord departed from the Jews, he came into the regions of Tyre and Sidon. He left the Jews behind and came to the Gentiles. Those whom he had left behind remained in ruin; those to whom he came obtained salvation in their alienation. And a woman came out of that territory and cried, saying to him, 'Have pity on me, O Lord, Son of David!' O great mystery! The Lord came out from the Jews, and the woman came out from her Gentile territory. He left the Jews behind, and the woman left behind idolatry and an impious lifestyle. What they had lost, she found. The one whom they had denied in the law, she professed through her faith. This woman is the mother of the Gentiles, and she knew Christ through faith. Thus on behalf of her daughter (the Gentile people) she entreated the Lord. The daughter had been led astray by idolatry and sin and was severely possessed by a demon." (excerpt from INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 58)4
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 15:21-28 comments that perhaps Jesus was acting in love—both for this woman and for his disciples. Maybe he was trying to highlight the way his disciples were looking at her. To them, she was an interruption to a much-needed rest. Worse, she was a foreigner, an unbeliever, a “dog.” So perhaps Jesus mirrored their attitudes to draw attention to them, even as he knew what he was going to do. Because he saw this woman in a completely different way. He saw her as a woman of great faith (Matthew 15:28). He was moved by how she humbled herself in order to seek healing for her daughter.
It’s only human to look at people through the lens of our own experience and biases. We get in trouble, though, when we judge people who are different from us—those who dress differently, who raise their children differently, who worship differently. Jesus invites us to take a second look and to see a person God loves very much, someone who has unlimited potential.Think of one person whose differences rub you the wrong way. Imagine Jesus sitting between the two of you, one arm around each of your shoulders. Ask him to give you a glimpse of why he loves and values that person so much. Let glimpses like these help you bridge the gap between “us” and “them.” Take on the heart of Jesus!
“Jesus, open the eyes of my heart and help me see people the way you see them.”5
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the image of the restoration of Israel as reestablishing virginity. Jesus, as a Jewish Messiah in Matthew, is using clever dialogue to draw attention to faith. Friar Jude reminds us that faith built in those who need it most is often greater than those not aware of their need.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that another of the Rhineland Mystics was Meister Eckhart. His writings were probably the height of Western nondualism. Carl McColman has written several accessible books on the Christian mystics that broaden and deepen our notion of mysticism.
The problem with [reading] Eckhart seems to be that his ideas were often expressed using language that could easily be misinterpreted. [I, Richard, believe he was misinterpreted because he was a nondual thinker, speaking to mostly dualistic thinkers—just as Jesus was doing.] He has been accused of pantheism (the belief that all things are God) or monism (the idea that there is ultimately no distinction between God and creation). [Richard again: I believe Eckhart was primarily teaching panentheism, which means God in all things.] He stressed God as a ground of being present throughout creation—including in the human soul—and that each Christian is invited to give birth to Christ within one’s soul. As a preacher, Eckhart saw his sermons as a means of inspiring his listeners to recognize the divine presence within, and in so doing to be “wonderfully united” to God.6
The growth of our faith may involve reconsideration of people and ideas that we had considered as outside our concern.
References
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