August 20, 2017 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

"The Last to Be Chosen" 

Audio Clip

I'd like to take us back to a time years ago, when we were in grade school, gathered on the playground, getting ready to choose teams for a favorite game.  We were lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, while two of our friends, the team captains, selected kids one-by-one --- some of our classmates were faster than others, some were stronger than others and some could catch a ball better than others.  As the line of kids waiting to be chosen became smaller and the teams became larger, there eventually was a crowd of the chosen looking back on only a few kids, and then one. I can still remember the relief which some of us expressed when our name was called and how anxious and uncomfortable some of us became with each passing pick.  The process was pretty harmless stuff unless you were one of the last to be chosen.  

Who among us can fail to sympathize with those whom the world prefers not to choose.  In today's scripture passages, Isaiah labels them as "foreigners", Paul refers to them as "gentiles" and Matthew categorizes one in this group as a "Canaanite", most likely, a pagan.

All three passages are written in a surprising, thought-provoking way.  The authors do not ask us to challenge the classification of these people as less admirable or less deserving.  We are asked to presume that the classifications are accurate. If we listen closely, the message being whispered in today's passages is that we are all imperfect creatures through our submission to sin.  It is sin which turns us from God and each other. Sin affects the way we see the world; the way we claim credit for our successes and cast blame for our hardships. Sin motivates us to regard our value and our happiness as of greater importance than someone else's.  Simply put, sin is not an individual experience --- it is a collective experience. Yet, this is when the redemptive power of Jesus Christ comes to our aid.

In shifting our attention away from the inadequacies of who we are and how we act, we begin to look at ourselves the way that Jesus looks at us.  Jesus lived in the world as we live in the world, and He knows how difficult it is to avoid surrender to selfishness, to greed, to envy and other sins.  So, His love and sympathy for us compels Jesus to look beyond our frailties --- to use the school yard analogy, He is drawn to us because of how slow we are, how weak we are and how difficult it is for us to catch the ball.   Jesus sees our potential!  

Hidden within our suffering, is the compassion of Jesus Christ.  None of us will ever experience the level of suffering in spirit, mind and body which our Savior experienced during His Passion and Death.  Sometimes, we feel so low that we can't believe that this is true --- but it is! Yet even Jesus had companions who suffered with Him, who stood at the foot of His cross, in Our Blessed Mother and His disciple John.  They did what they could, to be there for Jesus. Their suffering was united with His suffering. And today, in a mysterious way, Jesus does the same for us. Jesus unites Himself to all who suffer because He knows how much it means through His own experience.  And, just as Jesus' suffering brought salvation to sinners, our own suffering, united with His, also has redemptive value. In a few minutes, we will celebrate precisely this --- Jesus' ultimate act of love and mercy through the offering of His precious Body and Blood --- and our suffering and our intentions will be united with His on that altar for the healing of the world. 

Key to the submission of our suffering as an offering for redemption, is the virtue of humility.  Today's Gospel highlighted this --- despite her weaknesses and the apparent disinterest of Jesus and His disciples, the Canaanite woman responded with remarkable strength and conviction as she sought the healing of her daughter ---  a life which she considered more valuable than her own. During their encounter, she did not consider herself insulted when dismissed by these holy men, recognizing that up to that point in her life, she had not been a follower of the Lord.  She calls out with the words, "Have pity on me, Lord!" Three times she agonized while being rejected by them, terrified that Jesus would not come to her aid and that her daughter would die. And three times, she persevered and displayed even greater humility than the time before --- even to the point of calling herself a "dog".  The Canaanite woman effectively challenged Jesus to be as merciful and as compassionate and she was humble. We can hear the joy in Jesus' heart as He replied to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." For the Canaanite woman and for us, humility is an expression of faith. It is a demonstration of the belief that I need someone greater than myself for true happiness.  In our conversations with Jesus, are we able to match her level of humility?   

In our Old Testament reading, Isaiah tells us that "foreigners" who join themselves to the Lord, loving him and becoming his servants will be brought to God's holy mountain and made joyful in God's house of prayer.  In our New Testament reading, Paul declares that it is his responsibility to speak to the "Gentiles" (that's us!) --- those that the Lord did not originally consider His chosen ones. And, despite what Paul describes as people who had lived in disobedience to God, the Lord showed His mercy by adopting them (us) through the sacrifice of Jesus.  And, finally, in the Gospel, the Canaanite woman, a pagan and a stranger to Jesus, who was distressed with a family illness, was granted a miracle while she came begging to Our Lord.

The messages of these holy patriarchs are great news!  They encourage us to trust in the Lord's mercy for the mistakes of our past and to commit ourselves to a life of conversion.  And they put us at peace with the assurance that Jesus does not ask us to be perfect --- He asks us to be persistent!

As we leave our church this afternoon/morning, let us ask our Lord Jesus for the determination of the Canaanite woman in our prayer life and our life of service.  And, may we be given the spiritual strength to avoid sin and be prepared to carry the cross of suffering with Jesus for the redemption of the world. We ask this through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.  Amen.