His Mercies Are For All
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (20/08/2023)
(Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28)
Fr. Samuel Odeh
“For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32).
Today’s readings deal with God’s abundant mercy. His mercies are plentiful and available to all, to saints and sinners alike. God’s mercies are available to his special chosen ones as well as to persons who are distant from him, but, who turn to him in their time of need.
In our first reading from the prophet Isaiah God describes the type of Gentile or foreigner, not originally from among his people Israel, but who are welcome in his presence, in his house. God says, “.. for my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7). None of us should therefore fear rejection by God or exclusion from his house, from among his people, on account of our sins or our distance from him when we approach him. What God expects from the ‘outsider’ who knows him he also demands of all believers: join yourself to the Lord; minister to him; love the name of the Lord; be his servants; keep Sundays holy; do not use profanity or curse words or swear words; remember your baptismal promises and be faithful to them. In other words, anyone who knows the God of Israel is required to maintain their faith and keep their faith in him.
In our second reading from Romans, we see Saint Paul trying to make sense of an issue the early Christian community struggled with: why did Israel reject Jesus and why did the Gentiles accept him? According to Saint Paul, the Israelites’ rejection of Jesus became a blessing to the Gentiles, who received God’s mercy through coming to know Jesus Christ. The Gentiles in turn have themselves become God’s means of showing mercy to Israel. “Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy” (Romans 11:30-31). God makes his mercies available to all through Jesus Christ, to believers and nonbelievers alike.
In our gospel reading Jesus, while in the foreign district of Tyre and Sidon, is approached by a woman of that region, a non-Israelite, “a Canaanite woman”. Her words to Jesus could easily be the words of prayer on any one of our lips: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David…”. Some of us at first glance may disagree with Jesus’ initial refusal to answer her and grant her request. We may even find Jesus’ reference to herself and her people as “dogs” insulting and disturbing. The Gospel according to Matthew was written for a Christian community that was predominantly Jewish. The Canaanites were a people considered very distant from God by the Jews, the Israelites, on account of their beliefs and practices. They practiced witchcraft, idol worship, and human sacrifice. However, this Canaanite woman demonstrated great faith and trust in the mercy of the God of Israel. She was ignored and pushed back but she persisted in pleading with Jesus. Being a foreigner, she laid no claim to a right or entitlement from the God of Israel but firmly believed that God’s mercy was possible even for her kind and could deliver her daughter possessed by a demon. Jesus was impressed by her “great faith” and her request was granted instantly.
Today we pray that we may be people who keep faith with God, no matter our backgrounds or designations, or names we are called, and who know we are always welcome in God’s house. Even when we falter in obedience to God may we never despair of his mercy. Like the woman in today’s gospel may we persist in prayer even when it is difficult to do so; may our approach and attitude toward Jesus, like hers, be founded on the conviction that he will never refuse us his mercy. God’s desire to embrace us when we return to him is greater than his anger or our punishment. Being distant from God is punishment enough.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
