Father Donald Senior, CP

Aug. 20: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Is 56:1, 6-7; Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Rom 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt 15:21-28

Perhaps the greatest challenge the early church faced was bringing the Gospel message across cultural boundaries.

Many of Jesus’ earliest followers believed that one had to be Jewish or a Jewish convert in order be an authentic Christian. That meant, even as a Christian, one should observe the kosher laws for one’s meals, a male should accept circumcision, and one should be faithful to the demands of the Mosaic Law concerning observance Sabbath, and not mingling with those who were religiously “unclean.” Others were convinced that was not what the Spirit of Jesus required of this new community. Jesus reached across boundaries welcoming those on the margins: the sick, the poor, the stranger. So, Paul the Apostle, who championed the mission to the Gentiles, proclaimed that to be a Christian was to be “neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female — but all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:21).

This struggle of the early church is apparent in each of the readings assigned for this Sunday. In the first reading from Isaiah we learn that the question of how to deal with the Gentiles, the non-Jews, was not a new one for the Bible. Thoughtful Jewish sages had also wondered about their relationship with the world beyond the boundaries of Israel.

In this passage, the prophet foresees “foreigners” who reverence the Lord being drawn to Jerusalem and its temple, able to take part in its liturgy. The sacred Jerusalem temple would be called “a house of prayer for all peoples.”

These visions of a future in which the Gentiles have a place among God’s people were an important inspiration for the early Christians themselves.
So was the example of Jesus, as played out in Matthew’s story of Jesus’ amazing encounter with a “Canaanite woman” who comes to him seeking healing for her daughter.

Matthew portrays Jesus in stronger Jewish tones than any of the other evangelists. That is evident in this account where Jesus, devout Jew that he was, balks at dealing with a Gentile woman. His mission is only to God’s people Israel.

But she will not be denied — this mother pleading for her sick child — and continues to press Jesus. Her determined faith breaks down the religious boundary Jesus alludes to. “O woman, great is your faith!” Here, remarkably, we see in play between the Jewish Jesus and this Gentile woman the struggle that would engulf the early church. 

As the early Christian mission progressed, things shifted as more and more Gentiles accepted the Gospel. At the same time many of the Jews were opposed or indifferent to the Gospel. This is Paul’s anguished dilemma in chapters 9-11 of his Letter to the Romans. 

Paul loved his own Jewish people and longed that they would share his love for Christ. He was perplexed and anguished that Israel did not fully accepted Jesus as the Christ. Yet he never gave up his hope — or his love — for Israel.

He believed that God continued to favor his beloved people because, as Paul beautifully states, “For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” Paul did not know how it would all be worked out, but he trusted it would be and somehow, someday, Jew and Gentile would be forged into one people.

It is important for us today to remember this struggle of the early church. The God proclaimed by Jesus was an all-embracing God. Crossing boundaries and embracing others is intrinsic to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This was affirmed strongly in one of the most important decrees of the Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate, which stated that all human beings are sacred, coming from God and destined for God. In the words of the council: “We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than a caring fashion, for all are created in God’s image.” 

Reflecting on the readings for this Sunday, we understand why Pope Francis has said more than once, “Christians do not erect walls but build bridges.”

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