14/08/2026
“Son of David, take pity on me.”
16th August 2026 (Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time; Year A)
Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Psalm 66(67):2-3,5-6,8; Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Matthew 15:21-28.
Before we start reflecting on today’s gospel reading, we need to admit that this narrative sounds very strange to our twenty-first century sensitivities. Our contemporary western culture is very sensitive to political correctness and discrimination. I am not criticising our culture, but this statement is important for us to place ourselves into the cultural milieu of the gospel.
The gospel according to Matthew was written by a Rabbi who has converted into Christianity for a community of Jewish Christians. In the contemporary milieu of the first century after Christ’s birth, it was common for the Jewish community to separate themselves from the non-Jewish, gentile unbelievers. While the Jewish community was the chosen people, the gentiles were often referred to as dogs. Jesus, his disciples and the Canaanite woman were aware of this and did not seem to be offended by this. In order not to be offended by today’s gospel narrative, we too need to accept this reality.
Matthew places today’s narrative in the gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, and informs us that the woman was a Canaanite, therefore a non-believer. It is very interesting to note that this Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and addresses him as ‘Son of David,’ a Messianic title used by the Jews, calls him ‘Lord,’ and kneels before him. This woman might not belong to the Jewish religion but clearly believes that Jesus can perform the miracle she is asking for her daughter.
Last Sunday we were invited to reflect on the lack of faith of Peter, the leader of the Apostles and the first pope, who starts to sink because he cannot afford to fix his gaze squarely on Jesus. Today we are invited to contrast this story with that of a gentile woman who has enough faith to approach Jesus despite him seemingly ignoring her. Jesus called Peter, a ‘man of little faith,’ today he tells the woman ‘you have great faith!’ Perhaps it might be worth asking ourselves where we fit into this picture. Are we like Peter, people of little faith, or are we like the Canaanite woman, having great faith?
In his gospel Matthew often pushes his Jewish Christian listeners to look beyond their community and consider sharing the bread of the Good News with non-Jews. Some among his community thought that one had to be a Jew to become a Christian. This was one of the first great debates in the early Church and is recorded in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul was the great defender of reaching out to the gentiles while Peter and James sided with the Jewish community.
With today’s narrative Matthew teaches his community that although Jesus’ first mission was among the ‘lost sheep of the House of Israel,’ there was still space for those who did not belong to the Jewish religion. The Jews were the people of the first covenant, and therefore they were the first to be fed by the Word of God. In the Old Testament God had communicated with his chosen people through the prophets and various other messengers, but the role of the Jews was to share their knowledge of God with all peoples. Those who were not Jews still had the right to eat of the scraps that fell from the master’s table. Indeed, as history has shown us, from the very beginning, Christianity has grown and taken root among the non-Jews.
The story of the Canaanite woman has great relevance to us in our Church today. Like the Jewish Christians of the first century, we are often tempted to think that we are the children of the second covenant and that no one else has the right to share with us in the benefits brought to us through the life death and resurrection of Jesus. We often think that only Christians (or, in some cases, Catholics) will enjoy the fullness of the Kingdom of God in Heaven while all other non-Christians will be left out because they have not accepted the Good News. Today’s gospel narrative teaches us that while this Canaanite woman was not a Jew, she still believed and had faith in God and asked for her daughter to by healed through the power of God.
Through our faith in Jesus, the Word of God, we have received the fullness of God’s message, but this does not deny those of other faiths from also sharing in the scraps that fall from our heavenly banquet. We can never limit God’s power. Because God has revealed to us the fullness of his glory, through his Son Jesus, does not stop God from also revealing himself to peoples of other faiths and to those who declare that they have no faith. God reveals himself to us through nature, through the Old Testament prophets and through Christ so that all may come to know him and share in his love.
Mario mssp
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