And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Si’don. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon. But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly (Matt 15:21-28).
Today’s reading is so rich, we can approach it from a myriad angles. This is a passage about how Jesus teaches us; about the perseverance of faith; about healing; about the Lord eventually spreading his Word to all peoples. In addition, because of some recent thoughts I bring to today’s reading, I am particularly focused on what this passage shows us about a mother’s love for and devotion to her child.
Today motherhood, indeed womanhood itself, is under attack. Childhood, for that matter, is prey to those who seek to destroy innocence as well. I cannot shake what I saw this week in the news. Health Secretary Rachel Levine praised an Alaska gender-affirming “care” clinic, seeking to replace the term “mother” with “egg producer,” “carrier,” “gestational parent,” or “birth parent,” and the word “men” with “XY individuals.” This facility also argues that the term “gender reveal party” be replaced with “embryogenesis parties” or “chromosome reveal parties” (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12413023/Bidens-trans-health-secretary-Dr-Rachel-Levine-praises-Alaska-gender-affirming-care-clinic-wants-word-mother-replaced-phrase-EGG-PRODUCER.html).
What does this insanity have to do with today’s Gospel? If we are to return to the reality of who we are in Christ, we must be able to clearly see the culture for what it is, filled with chaos and lies, and then reject it, pointing instead to what is good, true, virtuous. It is tempting to reject the culture as ridiculous and unworthy of attention given these absurd arguments. But we would be naive and irresponsible to do so. Among the many terrible consequences of such language, perhaps the worst is that it is designed to dehumanize that human person. “Egg producer,” “carrier,” etc. are not only terms meant to foster a gender neutral society devoid of male and female, they are also distinctly utilitarian terms. They reduce the human being, in this case the woman, to nothing more than a flesh factory useful for and defined by her parts. (Pretty ironic given that the proponents of this ideology seek to persecute those who praise women for their physical attributes.)
To return to the Gospel, what is scripture teaching us about such matters? Here is a woman–not a birthing person, not a carrier–who is risking everything to help her child. She has left the comfort of her home and her people. In her desperate attempt to attract Jesus, the apostles become irritated with her and desire to send her away. Jesus, too, shows uncharacteristic indifference to her, likening her to dogs–Gentiles not yet worthy of His conversion. But there is more at work here. Jesus shows us time and again that our first interpretation is probably not the whole or even correct one.
Indeed, Jesus is not willfully uncaring or apathetic here. He recognizes this woman’s need from the beginning. Rather than a sign of indifference, Jesus’s silence, nay His seeming rejection, is actually an expression of love–a means of teaching her and refining her faith. Knowing her devotion to her child, He is testing and provoking her, and she responds by persevering and meeting the Lord where he seeks to take her. The Canaanite woman represents the heart of a mother who is willing to be humbled before God for the sake of her child. This is only the second example of Jesus healing from a distance, and it is the mother’s faith and her relationship with God that inspires it. Jesus teaches us through her example.
This passage exhorts us to ask, What do we believe about the virtue of life and motherhood? Are we glib and relativistic about it? Are we lazy about today’s language, shrugging it off as simply nonsensical and unimportant? Or in our desire to develop our relationship with Jesus, are we willing to become humble, express our vulnerability to God, and risk everything in an attempt to open our hearts, grow in our faith, and petition for the needs of others?
In today’s Morning Offering, Father Kirby likens the Canaanite woman to us as we journey in our “discipleship.” He explains:
The Lord Jesus…wants to teach us, guide us, take us deeper and deeper into what it is to love. He wants to refine our faith to such an extent that we know that we just have to be with Him. If He listens to us and grants our requests, if He makes things easy or difficult, if He blesses us with health and wealth or poverty and illness, that we will be with Him. The call of Christian discipleship is to be with the Lord Jesus, to be in His presence, to be His friend. St. Teresa of Avila says it best: ‘We worship the God of consolations, not the consolations of God.’ The Lord Jesus seeks to refine our faith–to draw us deeper and deeper into what it means to believe in Him, to be with Him….(https://www.goodcatholic.com/podcasts/morning-offering-with-fr-kirby/).
May we continue to learn from scripture how to be in the world–a world full of struggle and pain and difficulty, but one that also inspires us to return to what is true. The Canaanite woman shows us what it is to humble ourselves before the God who knows our hearts and seeks to heal us in all things. Let us pray that we might have her courage and be examples of true womanhood and motherhood for the sake of our children and the salvation of our souls.
To Live Gladly 