Foreigners At The Table The agonised, heart-rending plea of a mother with an endangered child is impossible to ignore. Matthew tells us, in this Sunday’s Gospel (15:21-28), that Jesus chose to go the region of Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia (modern Lebanon). These famously pagan, commercial cities bordered Galilee. A Canaanite mother, with a sick daughter, appeals to Jesus. (In ancient times non-understood human ailments were often mistakenly thought of as ‘demonic’.)The pagan citizenry of Tyre and Sidon apparently travelled considerable distances to listen to Jesus. All manner of people with authentic spiritual hunger were attracted to Jesus and he to them, as the Gospels clearly show. Authentic spiritual hunger can be overlaid by politics, paganism, religiosity, injustice, addictive substances and much more, but it does not die. It survives because it is deeply embedded in who we are by the One who made us, loves us and keeps us in being. A challenging question would be, to what lengths does our hunger for Christ inspire us?It is worth noting that Jesus chose to teach his disciples in the midst of life’s rough and tumble; not for him the rarefied, walled-enclosures called seminaries all too easily removed from reality. Pope Francis has spoken about how priests should “have the smell of the sheep” they are called to lead. Clergy need to live within and be part of the communities they serve. With priests needing to serve multiple parishes, this closeness is not as easy as it once was.Our perception of what the Gospels tell us may differ from what they actually do say. Questioned about today’s Gospel, a majority of those who heard it believed that there was a dialogue between Jesus and the Canaanite mother. Not true! A careful reading of the text shows Jesus said nothing to her directly, initially. Instead, Jesus appears to give voice to what he read in his disciples’ hearts namely, that there should be preferential treatment for their own people. But knowing that any form of racism would be unacceptable to Jesus, they chose to say:
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”Jesus challenges their politicising by revealing their hidden thoughts:
‘It is not right to take the food for the children and throw it to the house dogs.” Our equivalent contemporary phrase is, ‘Family first’.
In a hardly noticed role reversal, it is the Canaanite mother who becomes the teacher: “Please, Lord, for even the house dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”
Only then did Jesus speak directly to the Canaanite mother in the hearing of his disciples: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
The disciples are silent for not only has their duplicity been laid bare but a ‘foreigner’ has taught them a vital lesson.
We, who are descended from the coastal tribes not only of these islands but from what is now mainland Europe, collectively exercised a ‘master’ role for generations through what is called the British Empire. Though altruism may well have played a part in the founding of the British Empire, it was also a great business venture driven by a desire for profiteering. Sadly, the class system inherent in the British was exported along with their educated know-how. When we heard today’s Gospel, did we subconsciously classify both Jew and Canaanite as ‘foreigners’, as not being our neighbours of choice? Did we even recognise that we had done so?
The Canaanite mother’s demonstration of her deep faith in God was accompanied by her equally strong belief in the basic goodness of humanity. She was not halted in her quest for help by the racism of her time. Her compelling altruism literally touched the heart of God-made-Man. What is there for God to see in our life that would touch the heart of Jesus?
In Deuteronomy 10:19 God had Moses remind his Chosen People (The Jews): “And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.” It’s so easy for ‘the English’ to lose sight of their own multi-ethnic history!
In ecclesiological terms we are all ‘Foreigners At The Lord’s Table’. We are there by invitation not birth-rite since that was ‘sold’ by our first parents. Our multi-ethnic strains are part of our diversity as the descendants of the first exiles on earth namely, our first parents, Adam and Eve.
Without the adoption brought to us by Jesus, we would still be exiles longing to belong.
