![\"Syrian](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Syrian_Refugee-218x300.png\")
That\u2019s the trouble the Canaanite woman has in today\u2019s gospel.\nShe\u2019s been put in a box labeled \u201cForeigner. Enemy of Israel. Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
This summer
\nBrenda and I did a lot of cleaning and reorganizing around the house.
\nOur two older boys have moved out,
\nwe\u2019ve done a shuffle of the girls\u2019 bedrooms,
\nand we\u2019re trying to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff
\nthat we\u2019ve accumulated over the years.<\/p>\n
One thing that helps us to organize
\nis to put things into boxes and label them.
\nIt makes it easier to remember where you\u2019ve put things.
\nWe\u2019ve got boxes with the boys\u2019 names on them,
\nwe\u2019ve got boxes labeled \u201cChristmas,\u201d
\nand we\u2019ve got boxes labeled \u201cwinter clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n
What works with stuff around the house, though,
\ndoesn\u2019t work with people.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the trouble the Canaanite woman has in today\u2019s gospel.
\nShe\u2019s been put in a box labeled \u201cForeigner. Enemy of Israel. Dog.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus has withdrawn to the borders of Israel,
\nhe\u2019s near the territory of Tyre and Sidon, Gentile country.
\nHe\u2019s kind of taking a break
\nafter having had a conflict with the Pharisees.<\/p>\n
And while he\u2019s resting,
\nthis woman keeps calling out after him and his disciples
\nto heal her daughter.<\/p>\n
In Mark\u2019s gospel she\u2019s simply called a Greek,
\na Syro-phoenecian, a non-Jew.
\nThat would make her outsider enough.<\/p>\n
But in Matthew\u2019s gospel she\u2019s called a Canaanite.
\nIt\u2019s a label his audience would have understood immediately,
\na box they were quite familiar with,
\nbut not because they used the word all the time.<\/p>\n
Nobody in Jesus\u2019 time used the word Canaanite anymore.
\nMatthew\u2019s using it to emphasize his point.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s writing to Jewish Christians
\nand some of those Jewish Christians weren\u2019t too happy
\nabout the Gentiles being accepted in the Church.<\/p>\n
Some of those Jewish Christians were thinking,
\n\u201cWe\u2019re the chosen people,
\nWe\u2019re the ones who have been waiting for centuries for the Messiah.
\nJesus came to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthew wants to help them understand
\nhow radically universal Jesus\u2019 embrace is.
\nso he uses the word \u201cCanaanite.\u201d
\nNot just a Gentile, but an enemy of Israel.<\/p>\n
This outsider, this enemy of Israel,
\ndares to come forward to Jesus and ask for her daughter to be healed.
\nJesus responds with silence.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d Matthew\u2019s audience thinks to themselves, \u201cthat\u2019s right.\u201d
\n\u201cIgnore her, she shouldn\u2019t be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next, the disciples ask Jesus to send her away.
\n\u201cRight,\u201d Matthew\u2019s readers think,
\nand they would be nodding their heads in approval,
\nespecially when Jesus says,
\n\u201cI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
And finally,
\nthey would have loved it when Jesus said,
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not right to take the food of the children and give it to the dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the Israelites called foreign enemies: dogs, or even swine.
\nThat was the label on the box. Dog.<\/p>\n
And after all, Israel is God\u2019s chosen people, his covenant children.
\nJesus has come to them first and foremost.<\/p>\n
But the Canaanite woman has a great comeback:
\n\u201cEven the dogs get to eat the scraps that fall from the table.\u201d<\/p>\n
She acknowledges that Jesus has come to Israel first.
\nYes, they are the ones who\u2019ve been waiting.
\nThey are the chosen people.
\nShe acknowledges them as the children of the covenant.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut surely there\u2019s enough for me, too,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cSurely there\u2019s enough
\njust in the table scraps
\nfor my daughter who\u2019s ill.
\nCan\u2019t you spare even a little crumb?
\nA crumb is all I need.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s where Jesus breaks open the box and rips off the label.<\/p>\n
This foreigner, with no knowledge of the Law or the Prophets,
\nknowing nothing of Temple worship or purity rituals,
\nunfamiliar with Abraham or Moses,
\nknows Jesus.<\/p>\n
She knows Jesus so well
\nthat she\u2019s not put off by the silent treatment,
\nor by the disciples trying to send her away,
\nor by insults.
\nShe simply wants Jesus.<\/p>\n
And he responds, \u201cGreat is your faith!\u201d
\nNo one else in Matthew\u2019s gospel gets this kind of compliment.<\/p>\n
The message to the early Christians and to us is clear:
\nAll are welcome.
\nAll belong.
\nThe Chosen People may have been the first to receive the Good News,
\nbut the Good News is for everyone.<\/p>\n
There are to be no more Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
\nThere is only Christ, and we are his Body.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s gospel is just as relevant today
\nas it was to those first Christians.
\nDo we see Christ in the Other,
\nespecially in those who are different from us?
\nThere are so many ways to be different today.
\nSo many people can seem foreign to us,
\nboth outside the Church and within it.<\/p>\n
The foreigners in Jesus\u2019 time were called dogs.
\nWe have our own names for people who are different.
\nWe create boxes to put people in,
\nlabels to tag them with, some of them very cruel.
\nWe hear them on TV shows and Internet videos,
\nwe post them on social media sites.
\nSometimes we put ourselves into boxes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s these boxes that lead to prejudice.
\nIt\u2019s these labels that lead to bullying.<\/p>\n
But Jesus reminds us today that God sees past boxes and labels.
\nThere are no foreigners in the promised land.
\nThere is only Christ and his Body.<\/p>\n
So the first message of the good news today
\nis that if we feel boxed in or labeled,
\nindividually or as a group,
\nGod sees our faith.
\nWe can draw strength from the example of the Canaanite woman
\nwho refused to give up,
\nwho was assertive.<\/p>\n
And the second message is that boxes and labels don\u2019t belong
\nin the People of God.<\/p>\n
When we put others into boxes,
\nthen what we get is what\u2019s happening in Iraq
\nand in other war-torn parts of the world.<\/p>\n
If, instead of welcoming the foreigner,
\nwe fear them, label them, or put them into boxes,
\nthen we can never trust or accept them,
\nand violence is the inevitable outcome.<\/p>\n
And as Pope Francis said when speaking of the situation in Iraq,
\n\u201cViolence generates more violence;
\ndialogue is the only path to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Sunday, the United States bishops have invited all of us<\/a> The Christians and other religious minorities Like her, they have been persistent in their faith, Or will we recognize their great faith?<\/p>\n
\n to pray in a special way for peace in Iraq.<\/a>
\nMaybe this would be a good time for a family rosary,
\nor a visit to the Blessed Sacrament,
\nor a special prayer over dinner.<\/p>\n
\nwho are suffering in Iraq, Syria, and other countries
\nknow first hand what the Canaanite woman felt.<\/p>\n
\ndespite encountering great resistance.
\nLike her, they have been calling and calling for help.
\nWill we meet them with silence?
\nWill we tell them to go away?<\/p>\nClick here to help families in the conflict-torn Middle East.<\/a><\/h3>\n