HOMILY WEEK 18 03 – Year I
Strong Faith and Persistent Prayer:
Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
(Num 13:1-33, 14:1-35; Ps 106; Mt 15:21-28)
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Today’s readings focus our attention on the titles of Jesus as Lord and Son of David. We are invited to place our faith in Jesus precisely as Lord and Son of David, and turn to him in prayer as earnestly as did the Canaanite woman in the gospel.
There is an interesting progression in the way the dynamics of her encounter with Jesus unfolds. To grasp the fuller meaning of this encounter, we have to back up a little. In the preceding chapters, the people of Jesus’ hometown took offense at him, because they knew him too well. In the next chapter, King Herod had John the Baptist beheaded to please Herodias and his step-daughter. Then the scribes and the Pharisees accuse Jesus of allowing his disciples to break the traditions of the elders. After all these disappointing encounters, Jesus takes a break, leaves his familiar territory and goes to the pagan district of Tyre and Sidon.
We are told the “Just then, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David’, and pleading with Jesus to deliver her daughter from a demon. What follows is very interesting, revealing and significant.
The first response of Jesus is to not do anything – to not respond at all. His second response is to his disciples who ask him to send her away, because she was upsetting them by shouting at them as well. Jesus reminds them that as the Son of David, he was sent first to the lost children of Israel, which is very true.
Then, the woman knelt before Jesus, and this time addressed him as “Lord” as she pleaded again for him to help her. This time, Jesus did respond to her, but in a seemingly harsh manner: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” The Cree language can help us understand what I think is happening here. The word for dog in Cree is “atim.” A horse is “mistatim” or a big dog. A little puppy is a much softer word, “acimisis.” I believe Jesus used an Aramaic version of that word in addressing the woman – that it was not fair to throw food to the little puppies.
Her response to that comment is also very telling. Note the she keeps addressing him only as “Lord” now and not as “Son of David,” as she reminds him that even the little puppies eat the crumbs from the master’s table. And Jesus seems to change his mind, marvels at her faith, and heals her daughter. What happened here?
What happened, essentially, is that this pagan Canaanite woman had a clearer picture of who Jesus was, and more faith in him, than the scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders who, with their expertise in the Old Testament scriptures, should have been the first recognize Jesus, welcome him with open arms, and follow him.
Instead, it is this pagan woman who first of all acknowledged him as the Messiah by addressing him as Son of David, as the Messiah was to come from the line of David, and be born in Bethlehem, the City of David. Jesus actually respected that title coming from her, with his response that he was sent first to the children of Israel. That is true, as the Son of David, so his reply could be seen as a respectful attitude towards her astute greeting.
Then she upped the ante, by addressing him as Lord. Again, Jesus would agree with that, as he would be the Kyrios, the Risen Lord over all creation and over all peoples. And by her comment that even the children eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table, she was reminding Jesus that, despite being sent first to the Israelites, he was also her Lord too, and given her daughter’s extreme mental health situation, could he not make an exception and extend his mercy and healing to her now, instead of after he historically becomes the Kyrios or risen Lord? And so, Jesus, marveling at her intelligent faith in him as Lord and Son of David, changes his mind and heals her daughter, with the cryptic comment, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter, we are told by Matthew, was healed instantly.
What an astonishing event, when one pushes it to the limit. It is like a pagan woman, a Canaanite, by her faith in Jesus, actually converts him, changes his mind, and becomes perhaps our first model of a cross-cultural encounter and inter-religious dialogue!
What a contrast between the faith of this Canaanite woman, and the lack of faith of the Israelites who had been liberated from Egypt, given the commandments and covenant, the law, kings and prophets, and had Moses to lead them. The Canaanite woman proves that she is a “foreigner who attaches herself to the Lord” by her faith in Jesus. Her prayer and posture echoes that of Peter (“Lord, save me”, and kneeling on the sand, “Depart from me, Lord, I am a sinful man.”) Hers is humble, persevering faith – she doesn’t give up.
The disciples once again demonstrate selfishness, lack of faith and understanding, by praying that Jesus would give her what she asks to get rid of her. How often do we do this in our own way? Jesus, on the other hand, though sent only to the Jewish people, reaches out to anyone who has faith in him.
The Church honours today someone who certainly lived this gospel – St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Born Edith Stein in Breslau, Germany (present-day Poland) on October 12, 1891, the youngest child in a large Jewish family, she ultimately gave her life away out of faith in Jesus. Always seeking the truth, she studied philosophy with Edmund Husserl and received her doctorate at age 25. After reading St. Teresa of Avila’s Autobiography, she famously said, “That is the truth.” Drawn to Catholicism, Edith was baptized in 1922 and spent the next 12 years teaching at Catholic institutions.
In 1934 she joined the Carmelites in Cologne, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. By 1938 anti-Semitism was widespread, and her prioress helped Edith flee the Nazis, escaping to the Netherlands. True to her nature, she refused to go into hiding, since the Dutch were themselves often heroic in resisting Nazism. She continued her writing and studies until August 2, 1942, when she and her sister were arrested by the Gestapo. On August 7, 987 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, and on August 9, Edith Stein, her sister and others died in the gas chambers.
Although a convert to Catholicism, Edith always acknowledged her Jewish heritage. Pope John Paul II declared at her canonization: “A young woman in search of the truth has become a saint and martyr through the silent workings of divine grace. Edith Stein’s youthful work in the field of philosophy is breathtaking. She writes, interestingly, of “empathy,” for example, something that, she points out, we find only in human beings but had almost never been noticed in philosophy. She also launched some serious early critiques of Heidegger’s highly influential Being and Time, remarking that, for all its brilliant analysis, it operates as if we are beings without bodies. She is was a living witness to faith and reason who stayed true to the very end, and warrants being remembered today. Canonized on October 11, 1998, she is co-patron of Europe with Saints Benedict, Cyril and Methodius, Bridget of Sweden, and Catherine of Sienna.
May our celebration today deepen our faith in Jesus as Lord Saviour, Messiah, Son of David, and Son of God, and may it empower us to enter into both intercessory and contemplative prayer with the perseverance of the Canaanite woman.
