Homily for August 18, 2002
Year A - Cycle II
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Were you troubled by that gospel? Raise your hand, seriously, if something’s wrong here. Yeah, me too. Jesus words to this Canaanite woman are very harsh. As a matter of fact, they’re degrading and insulting. He called her a dog, in effect. And by the way, I don’t think any Semitic people like dogs. Arabs can’t stand dogs. They consider them filthy things. In Jesus’ time, dogs were scavengers and mongrels, and they were diseased and they were hated. Obviously they never met a black lab. If they had just met my Buddy, then every thing would have been OK. Yeah, this is Jesus sounding very un-Christian, un-Christ-like.

There are some explanations. One scripture scholar I read this morning said, "Well, when she asked to be healed, he wasn’t supposed to be talking to a Canaanite woman anyway, wasn’t supposed to be talking to a woman period, and so when she asked to be healed he answered with a proverb. ‘It’s not right to throw the food from the family to the dogs.’ And she responded with a proverb, ‘Well, even the dogs get the droppings … whatever,.. from the table.’ " I don’t buy that. Another scripture scholar, Barklay, who is very good, usually, says "Well, the word used in Greek meant pet dog." No, Barklay, I don’t like that. Barklay also suggested that Jesus was "tongue in cheek." You know, like sometimes you say, "You rascal, you." "You villain."

I don’t buy that. I believe Jesus expressed bluntly the reality of the relationship between the Jews and the Canaanites, who were the Phoenicians. They hated each other. And he spoke as a Jew, when he referred to them as dogs. I think he did that to make a point. And the point is that there is a boundary between us and you. And then he broke the boundary down, by curing her daughter. He didn’t pussyfoot around it – he broke it down. A historian by the name of Josephus, who wrote shortly after the time of Jesus, a Jewish historian who wrote for the Romans, recorded that there was no greater hatred than between Jews and Phoenicians, or Canaanites. Except perhaps for Samaritans. So Jesus admitted this boundary, and then he knocked it down by answering her prayer. He did that in other places, too. Remember, he healed the Centurion’s servant. The Centurion was a commander of 100 soldiers who occupied Israel. No friend, this, of the Jews. And then the Good Samaritan, that parable, that blew peoples socks off. Because the Samaritans were hated. They used to be Jewish, or they used to be part of the Hebrew people, but they went into captivity by the Assyrians in the 8^th Century before Christ, and when they came back the Jews thought their religion was polluted and they hated them.

Don’t misunderstand this. Jesus was an orthodox Jew. Orthodox. That word means "right or correct worship." You go to the orthodontist to get your teeth corrected. You go to an orthopedic surgeon to have your feet corrected. "Correct" -- "Ortho." "Orthodoxy" means correct worship of God. Jesus was known as rabbi, so orthodox was he. Jesus was not a radical progressive. He said it in one scripture, that "the law will not pass away until every jot and tiddle is fulfilled of the law." Sometimes that is translated as every letter is fulfilled of the law, but a jot and tiddle were less than a letter. They were little marks that go above and below the Hebrew letters. He said the law is the law. The Jews were the chosen people, and only the Jews. But, Jesus in this case tonight, extends God’s love and salvation to all people. It had been hinted about in the scriptures, Isaiah talks about the nations. We hear the psalmist tonight talk about God being a God of all the nations. But Jesus boldly goes where no Jew had ever gone before. (Sounds like Star Trek or something.) By knocking down that barrier.

Do you see the connection between orthodoxy and orthopractice? Orthopractice means right practice. Right worship should lead to right practice. And what is right practice for a Christian but love? Orthodoxy will never be worth anything if it doesn’t lead to love. Are you going to be judged on the Judgment Day for what you believe? Or how you’ve acted? The answer is B. You know, we Catholics are blessed. You know, I love this church. And I know you do too. One bishop I knew described the church as an old broken down school bus. It’s been around forever. And it goes through all the neighborhoods, and makes all the stops. Everybody of every color gets on. And sometimes the kids in the back are rambunctious. Sometimes the driver, who is the bishop, is driving under the influence. But it’s been around a long time. And our church stands not only on sacred scripture, but on sacred tradition, and on the magisterium, the teaching authority of the Pope and the bishops. I believe that we are blessed with the fullness of Christian revelation. But so what? If we don’t love each other… if we don’t love all men and women everywhere, then so what? We may dine on the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the son of God, but if that doesn’t lead to loving people, then this is a sin, and an abomination in God’s eyes. 1 Corinthians 13. If you’ve been to confession lately, then you’ve got this as a penance. I’m on a 1Corinthians 13 kick.

We are lucky, I think, and blessed, to be Catholic. But God doesn’t love us any more than anybody else. Even non-Christians. Even atheists, or agnostics. And others are not excluded from salvation who do not believe as we believe. Let me read to you from Vatican II’s documents. This is probably about 1963.

Well, that was the early ‘60’s, but here’s what our Holy Father said last November. And again, this is a quote.

We’re blessed, but that blessing must lead to loving others. Again, on the Judgment Day, there will be no theological test. There will be no questions about what you know. You will only be asked how much you loved.

Please bow your heads if you would and let’s let St. Francis of Assisi pray for us and with us. St. Francis is our patron saint of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.