A Cycle – 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 26

W] Mt. 15:21-28

Why would Jesus ignore this woman? What she seeks is healing for her daughter.  A mother’s plea to free her daughter from evil is attacking her.  It is not the first time Jesus ignores a plea for a miracle cure for someone who has lost all hope.  We know Jesus delayed three days before He began a journey to Bethany.  Of course, we know the scriptures tell us He delayed so that we would see the glory of God.  But there was a caveat, the stone had to be rolled back. He had been dead four days. Can you imagine the trust it took to believe and roll back the stone.  Who we believe is worthy and who is not worthy was then and is now a huge stone in experiencing the glory of God.  We know every action of Jesus; every word of Jesus was done to reveal the Father’s mercy and love.  The scriptures reveal Jesus healed all who approached him. Including those who did not expect to be healed. Jesus healed Jews, gentiles, sinners, unbelievers, the outcast, and those who have lost all hope. 

Why would Jesus’ signore the plea of this woman. He not only ignored her, His entire demeaner said she was not good enough to receive anything from God.  We know that is not true because we know God, through the prophets continually invited all to come and receive His Jesus on that day was teaching us something about our own mindset about who is worthy and who is not.  The prophesy of Isaiah which we heard in our first reading tells us God offers His mercy to all “foreigners.” Those who were not the descendants of Abraham.  The only thing needed to receive God’s mercy was to embrace the salvation offered to them.   We know the religious leaders rejected Jesus as the Messiah. Yet this Cainite woman cries out to Jesus believing He is who the people claim Him to be.   His ignoring the Cainite woman was deliberate to teach us, thousands of years later about judging anyone’s worthiness to be embraced by Jesus. 

The scriptures tell us how Jesus challenged the Pharisees spiritual pride and their arrogant belief in their judgment of others worthiness.  Jesus called them a whitewashed tomb.  Beautiful from the outside but inside they are full of dead bones and the stench of the unclean.  We are guilty of manifesting that same spiritual pride. We are quick to judge people’s worth by our own beliefs in what is acceptable to God.  We are guilty of underestimating the mercy of God and are quick to condemn those whom we believe do not worship as we do.  We fail to learn the lesson Jesus was teaching us by going to the woman in Samaria.  Jesus shows us where we worship compared to where others worship does not matter.  Because it keeps us from opening ourselves to receive the living water Jesus offers us.  The parable of the prodigal should have taught us a lesson about judging ourselves by our worthiness by how we serve the Father as the prodigal’s older brother did. 

How long will it take us to understand our holiness is not a result of what we do but what Jesus did.  God will not judge us on our faithfulness to laws and rituals but on our response to the gift of Jesus.  God was clear about what He desires, and it has always been our hearts not our sacrifices.  He desires that we believe so strongly we are willing to step out of the boat and walk on water, He desires us to follow Him never knowing the next step or the next challenge to our faith.

Do we ask God what His will for us is and how we are to respond to people who worship in a manner that is foreign to us. Neither should others judge us because we believe and worship in a different manner than they do.  We should pay attention to Paul when he tells us his work among the gentiles was to challenge his fellow Jews. Spiritual pride easily blinds us from experiencing the blessings God and makes us dependent on laws and actions to define our holiness.  I am sure those who witnessed Jesus healing her daughter were shocked at Jesus praising her faith.    

This Cainite woman knew she did not worship as the Jews worshiped. But she also knew and believed the blessings of God depends on us something greater than where we worship.  It is a belief that resides deep within us and instead of attending mass we are worshipping and giving thanks for the gift of Jesus Christ.  We are acknowledging Jesus and seeking the wholeness He desire us to experience.  I invite you to take the rest of what is left of this summer and simply cry out to Jesus.  Cry out a heartfelt desire for an experience the glory of God. Roll back the stone, cry out to be freed from religious pride, and acknowledge in Jesus and by the work of the Holy Spirit will we become a people of faith wo depend on the Spirit to guide us to holiness.