Homily Offered by Dcn. Michael Schlaack on the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman
How often do we feel that our prayers are not answered by God? Is it because God is uncaring and enjoys the suffering of His creation, or is there another reason that we do not receive the blessing that we believe we deserve? How great is our demonstrated faith in comparison to how great it should be?
I am opening this reflection on St. Matthew’s account of the healing of the Canaanite Woman’s Daughter (Matt. 15: 21-28) with questions to help us understand meaning of persistence in our life of faith. The writer of Epistle to the Hebrews likens our life as Christians to a race that requires endurance to finish, with Jesus as the inspiration that drives us to the finish line (Heb. 12:1, 2). But to win this spiritual race, two important disciplines are required: We must be persistent, and we must train continually to build up our “faith muscles” that are needed to help us overcome the urge to quit when we feel that we do not have the strength to continue.
One thing that is certainly obvious from our Gospel lesson today is the that the Canaanite woman was persistent. Look at what she had to endure to get the attention of Jesus: First there was the rejection of Jesus’ own disciples. That should be enough to discourage anyone. Think about how you would feel if you came to a church seeking spiritual assistance only to be turned away at the door? Would you continue to try to force your way in or would you walk away dejected, never to return? Such an experience could certainly discourage the non-persistent seeker.
We need to remember that it is not God who keeps us out of heaven but rather our own lack of diligence in seeking the Kingdom of God. As Jesus taught us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). Ask, seek, and knock. We should not be discouraged by the obstacles that are placed in front of us, often by the very people who should be helping to build God’s kingdom here on earth. We see this in today’s Gospel: “And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, for she cries out after us” (23).
The Canaanite woman was disrupting the process; her constant crying out to Jesus was seen by them more as an annoyance rather than as an opportunity to open the doors of Heaven for someone who was outside of their faith tradition. “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!” (22). How many times have we heard this same plea? How many times have we called out in desperation ourselves begging for mercy? After each petition of the litanies of the Devine Liturgy, we respond with, “Lord, have mercy,” or “Grant it, O Lord!” These pleas are no different from the call of the Canaanite woman--we are all desperate to be heard by God.
Maybe the reason the disciples wanted the woman to be sent away was because she was not of the Jewish faith. St. Mathew refers to her as a “Canaanite,” a person from the land of Canaan which was conquered and occupied by the Israelites in ancient times. So not only was she not a member of the covenant family, but she was also associated with the conquered people. For the Jews of the first century in Roman occupied Judea, the world and the people were divided into two distinct groups: Jews and Gentiles. This “them and us” mentality certainly was not restricted to the first century Jews; we, too, can get caught up in the same attitude when it comes with responding to the cries for help from those outside of our faith family. But it is when we can reach outside our familiar circle that we are truly exhibiting God’s love and becoming instruments of His divine mercy. Jesus calls us to extreme loving:
“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even thetax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:46-48).”
Being “perfect” means being able to see beyond the differences and seeing the humanity we all share, and then acting on it. How much greater is the love that is demonstrated when it is shown to someone who is also outside of our own faith tradition, someone others may deem unworthy of our love and mercy.
Our lives as Christians should be one of continuous prayer. We make our needs known to God by first making them known to ourselves. It may be asked, if God knows our every need already (Matt. 6:8), why must we pray? Is God so cruel that He wants us to suffer unnecessarily? Why should we even have to bother asking? We see in the case of the Canaanite woman that the persistence helped to build up her faith rather then tear it down. Even when challenged face-to-face with the Son of God she was able to boldly profess her belief in the “crumbs” of mercy that fall from the “Master’s table” (27). St. Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-1867) described the necessity of prayer:
“God does not need our prayers! He knows what we need even before we ask. He is the all-merciful, and He pours His abundant mercies even on those who do not ask Him. It is for us that prayer is indispensable; it appropriates man to God” (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, in Moore, “Some Aspects of Orthodox Prayer,” p. 21)
This “appropriation” helps us to never forget the source of our existence and blessings, helping us to develop our spiritual muscles so we can fight triumphantly against the enemies of this world.
The fortitude and bravery displayed by the Canaanite woman is something that we must all do our best to emulate in our lives. When others put up obstacles to us, we must always persevere in our effort to be close to Christ. Only through our persistent and heartfelt prayers will we be able to hear those words of Christ: “Great is your faith! Let it be as you desire” (28).