Fr Antonio Pineda
Why did Jesus not respond kindly to the Canaanite woman in this Sunday’s Gospel straight away? Why did he seemingly ignore her initially? To know the answer, we must must consider who the Canaanites were. At the time of our Jesus’ public ministry, Jews and Canaanites had great antipathy toward one another and they tried to avoid one another as much as possible. Thus, one possible explanation for Christ’s initial reaction to the woman’s request was that he was following the cultural norm of the Jewish people.
This would explain both His initial silence and His use of the word “dogs” during their second encounter. Jews in ancient Israel would have used this word routinely to describe Gentiles, since they worshiped idols. The Lord also invoked a common Jewish religious assumption in saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24). The people of Israel presumed that when the Messiah would arrive, His ministry would be confined to them. Jesus, of course, would transcend these limitations. Before doing so, however, He wished to acknowledge the special status of the Jewish people, the recipient of God’s promises for thousands of years.
Another common interpretation of Christ’s actions and words in today’s Gospel is that He wished to demonstrate the importance of perseverance in prayer. The Canaanite woman desperately wished for her daughter to be free from demonic possession. She had faith that Jesus was Lord and the Son of David, the Messiah. She expressed that faith and asked for His assistance. When He did not help her, she tried to get the disciples to assist her. When that failed, she approached Christ a second time with her request. When He used the word “dogs” in reference to her people, she did not become insulted. Rather she said: “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” (Mt 15:27) It was this humble reply that led Christ to grant her request and heal her daughter. It implicitly acknowledged the special status of the Jewish people, the deficient status of her own people, and Christ’s tremendous power.
Sometimes it can seem, as it must have seemed at first to the Canaanite woman, that the Lord is ignoring our prayers, especially when we are praying for a special intention. Maybe we have been praying for a sick family member who just seems to be getting worse. Maybe we have been praying for a job opportunity that never seems to come. Maybe we have been praying for peace in the world and violence seems to grow worse and worse by the day. There can be a great temptation to give up praying when it seems like we are not getting what we want. Incidents like that of today’s Gospel teach us that sometimes the Lord delays answering our prayers to bring about a greater good. The Canaanite woman was given the opportunity to deepen her prayer and to express her faith in Christ in a more profound way. When it seems that the Lord is not answering our prayers, we must also reaffirm our trust in God’s providence and continue to lift up our minds and hearts to Him.
This Sunday’s Gospel ultimately shows us how much the Lord wants to bless Jews and Gentiles alike. The prophets of the Old Testament foresaw the universality of the new People of God, the Church. In our First Reading, the Lord says to Isaiah: “Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants – all who observe the sabbath, not profaning it, and cling to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer” (Is 56:6–7). This prophecy was fulfilled in the life of the Canaanite woman. It is fulfilled today in the lives of all members of the Church, from every race, nation, and tongue.