Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Convicted in Christ, He becomes our way, truth, and life. He frees us from Satan’s condemnation. Satan, a powerful, dark force, attacks us internally but more importantly assaults us externally. He tempts us with sin making it look attractive, but after sinning, he condemns mocking us, making us feel ugly. Overwhelmed with sadness at our sin, Lucifer ensures us of our condemnation. He pierces our conscience, condemning us with lies. We become desolate, knowing God has forsaken us for being rash reckless, deceived and doped by his seductive powers.
Nothing more frightening exists when these Powers and Principalities, fallen angels, invade and inject their darkness into our hearts. These dark forces plague our world as they did the Canaanite Woman. We do not “contend against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers,” dark forces that foster wickedness within our hearts (Eph 6:2).
Struggling against demonic forces, another power exists freeing us from these straps roping us into discouragement and despair. He is Jesus, the Son of David, the One Who is to come into our world breaking us free from the dungeon into which we easily fall. To protect us from the darkness that clouds our minds, St. Paul tells us to put on the armor of God so we can stand against the “wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11).
True Love sets us free from condemnation. No longer enslaved in the snares of condemnation, which Satan weaves into our conscience causing us to believe his lies, Jesus reveals his truth. “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:47).
Jesus does not condemn but convicts us. He touches us with his love convincing He has the power to save. In his dialogue with Nicodemus, Jesus tells all, I have not come to condemn the world, but to save the world (John 3:16). Jesus convinces the world He is the true light shining in the darkness opening our minds to the truth. The truth is, God loves and his love, as Pope Benedict explains “is the light—and in the end, the only light—that can always illuminate a world grown dim” (Pope Benedict XVI Deus Caritas Est, # 39).
St. Paul, encouraging St. Timothy, expresses the depth of God’s love Who “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim 2:4). All who believe in God’s love abide in God and God in them. He who abides in love, St. John tells us, “may have confidence for the day of judgement” (I John 4:17). Confidence in Christ, then, convicts us of our salvation condemning the condemnation Satan proposes.
The ancient world knew of these dark powers trying to condemn us; yet the people also knew of a man who interceded and exorcised these spirits. His name was Solomon, the Son of David. Solomon, a man after God’s own heart, learned the secrets of Wisdom. Wisdom the “fashioner of all things, taught me (him)” (Wis 7:22), telling him, “Nothing defiled gains entrance into her” (Wis 7:25) into God’s presence. Wisdom illuminates making us holy, intelligent, unique, manifold, subtle, “Penetrating through all spirits that are intelligent and pure and most subtle” (Wis 7:23). Wisdom taught Solomon to read the hearts and minds of his people. He discerned their thoughts and penetrated their intentions, having the power to discern spirits, both good and bad.
Yet, Jesus comes and declares Himself greater than Solomon (Mt 12:42). He too is he Son of David. He too is the New King, having been given dominion “Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Eph 1:21). His wisdom greater than Solomon’s enlightens driving out the darkness, exposing the intentions of those Powers and Principalities wanting to condemn us in our sin.
The Canaanite Woman heard of this Jesus, a new Solomon Who casts out demons. She, a Gentile, who lived outside the Ways of God, knew in her heart the prophecy of Isaiah. “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants (Is 56:6) will be saved. Isaiah told the whole world that those who “keep justice and do righteousness” will be delivered (Is 56:1). She, although externally unrighteous, was internally righteous for she sought God, even to the point of being isolated and rejected by those who say they love God.
Throwing herself at the feet of Jesus, an act of worship: you only bow down to what you adore, she pleaded with Jesus. “Son of David, Have Mercy Upon Me!” (Matt 15:22). Her cry is our cry at Mass: Kyrie Eleison! Three times we cry out: Lord have mercy on us. We struggle with evil too. We too have Powers and Principalities trying to trip us up ensnaring us in the darkness of condemnation.
Despite her plea, Jesus remains silent. He reserves Himself. In doing so, the Apostles complain: “Send her away, for she is crying after us” (Matt 15:23). Appearing reserved, Jesus actually welcomes her, even embraces her intimately.
As this Canaanite Woman fell the feet of Jesus, instances of other women fall at the feet of Jesus too. Mary the sister to Martha, falls at the feet of Jesus and anoints his feet and wipes them with her hair (John 12:3). So also, at the home of a Pharisee, another woman comes and anoints his feet, crying, and drying his them with her hair (Luke 7:38). The disciples and Pharisee condemned these women! Why? They saw them as sinners!
Now a Canaanite Woman, in the disciples eyes a sinner, wicked and debased, comes falling at the feet of Jesus. Instead of reacting immediately, Jesus lets the disciples react as He did with the Pharisee. The disciples see but forgot the lesson of the Pharisee. They immediately condemn her despite the fact she seeks freedom, not condemnation.
No one longs for sin. No one craves to be enslaved. People want freedom, not condemnation. The love of Jesus pierces every heart, exposing our woundedness. His love convicts us of our need to be freed: to have the daggers causing our death removed. The Canaanite Woman understood Jesus’ message. She too could be free.
Jesus listens to her as she pours out her heart. He empathizes, knowing the pain throbbing in her heart. Her daughter is possessed, enslaved in the darkness. He does not condemn her, just as He did not condemn the other women. He allows them to express their remorse, the deep wounds that need cleansing, healing, and restoration.
The disciples also witness the pain and agony she endures. Jesus wants them to see and experience her tormented heart. Instead of condemning such a broken heart, Jesus reserves Himself allowing the disciples to be touched, pierced by such agony. He wants his disciples to experience a tormented, suffering heart. He wants them to develop a compassionate heart, a heart that suffers with another, not a cold, desolate, irreverent, irreligious heart that hypocrites have.
Commenting on disciple’s request to send her away, Jesus states, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt 15:24). Trying to teach the disciples the meaning of his mission, the woman cries out again “Lord, Help Me!” (Matt 15:25). Jesus does not ignore her but focuses on the hardness of his disciples’ hearts. They reject her. They want Jesus to condemn her. Jesus does not condemn her. He wants to prove that even those who seem far from God, who are sinful, even wicked, need of a Savior. In fact, Jesus’ actions reveal “God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all” (Rom 11:32). Jesus comes to save all sinners, even the lost tribes of Israel who have disappeared. The Canaanite Woman is one of the Lost Tribes.
All the tribes: the Jews, the two southern tribes as well as the Israelites, the ten northern tribes, have fallen. Exiled, the Israelites were dispersed throughout the world. They intermarried and were lost. So when Jesus remarks, I was sent to the Lost Sheep of Israel, He is telling his disciples that He came to save this Canaanite Woman. She is your lost sister.
As this woman came to repentance, she experienced disobedience. Her daughter was possessed. Suffering the consequences of disobedience, sinners cry out for mercy. In fact, sinners, while sinning, acting vile, are crying out for mercy. They want healing. They want freedom. They want hope. They know the dark powers enslave them creating despair and desolation. In their anguish, they beg for help. Sadly, many reject the help offered. The Canaanite Woman accepted help. In our sinfulness, disobedience which leads to darkness, we learn from the Canaanite Woman. Repent, Cry out. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The Canaanite Woman reveals the conviction of her faith needed, despite the condemnation of the disciples. She begs, “Lord even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matt 15:27). She confronts the disciples piercing their hearts with her tears. Though they condemn her, Jesus saves her. He, the new Solomon, casts out the demons in her daughter because of her conviction. His heart connects with hers. Jesus wants to heal her but wants even more his disciples to witness the yearning of a sinner’s heart.