20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A - August 16, 2020
20th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Cycle A
What a Story!
Well, what a story today’s gospel is!
Jesus’ first responses to that woman are really surprising. They are so inconsistent with everything else Jesus does.
So, what’s going on here? How are we to understand this?
The most likely explanation is that Jesus is the Son of God and is divine, but he is also fully human. And so, even Jesus has to work through the prejudices that can seep into all of us.
Prejudices/Barriers
And that’s exactly what happens here. Jesus breaks through the barriers of his day.
First, there is gender. He is talking with a woman when women are viewed as second-class and are not even to be recognized if they are unaccompanied by their husband.
Then, there is religion. This woman is a not a Jew, and that’s why Jesus calls her a “dog” – the demeaning expression of that day for all non-Jews.
Next, there is culture. This woman is of a different culture and probably dresses differently and has different social customs.
And finally, there is nationality. She is a Canaanite, and they are viewed as enemies.
Well, Jesus eventually breaks through all of these barriers or prejudices. He comes to see this woman as a person – a mother who loves her daughter and desperately wants her to get well.
He sees her as a person with needs and feelings and hopes like anyone else. And this is what leads Jesus to break through all the prejudices and barriers that we humans can put up between ourselves and others.
A Lesson for Today
I don’t think I have to say that this is a good lesson for us today. And we need to take this in and look at Jesus’ example.
We may have prejudices based on race, religion, ethnic group, country of origin, religion, and on it goes. The polarization in our country, at least to some extent, is caused by these prejudices.
We need to go beyond them and see others as persons like ourselves. If we do that, differences and diversity will not lead to such harmful, hurtful barriers.
A Recommendation for Us Catholics
From all of this, I am seeing one recommendation for us Catholics and for Catholicism in general.
My thought is that part of our uniqueness as a capital C Catholic Church must be that we are truly a small c catholic Church. Small c means that we are universal, inclusive, and respectful.
At this point in time and in today’s culture, this approach is especially needed. We need to express our faith with this approach in mind.
So, today we need to teach our faith positively, not negatively. We need to lift up the richness that we have in Scripture and sacraments and spirituality, and we need to express positively the way of Jesus in the gospels.
We need to invite others to freely consider faith and belonging to this faith community. But we also need to avoid manipulating others with guilt and fear by saying that they have to do it this way or else eternal damnation will follow.
And with that, we need to be respectful of differences in others and even in others within our Church. Yes, we need to positively lift up inclusion and stop resorting to exclusion from the Eucharist or exclusion from the Church itself as a way to bring people to Christ.
This, I think, is the way to be both Catholic with a capital C and catholic with a small c in this day and age. It will be a way of faith that does not play on prejudice and hatred and that does not erect barriers.
This is to be the uniqueness and witness of Catholicism at this moment in history. And, by the way, I believe that this is precisely the way that Pope Francis is trying to instill in us as individuals and as a Church.
