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Deuteronomy 9:13-24
Isaiah 26:1-19
Philippians 4:4-9 (4:4-23)
Mathew 15:21-28 (15:21-38)
In the Sixth Sunday of the Season of Elijah Cross
Moses church tells us that “Be faithful to the Lord your God, as He is faithful
to us.” Today church through her four readings shows us how God and men were
faithful to each other. In the first reading and the second reading we see the fidelity God
to Israelites. In the third reading we see the fidelity of Christians to God.
And in the Gospel we see the Canaanite women’s fidelity to Jesus.
In Deuteronomy 9:13-34 we see Moses, the leader of
the people of Israel, is on the mountain. He is there for forty days and forty
nights to receive the ten Decalogue from God. Lord gave him the two tablets,
which is written with the figure of the lord. This tablets which contains the
Ten Commandments is the expression of God’s faithfulness to the people of Israel.
But at the same time people of Israel is making a Golden Calf and worship the
golden Calf. So God is showing His anger towards the people of Israel and Moses
is pleading for the people. God shows mercy to the people. Here we see a God
who is standing firm in His covenants and the people who always disobeys or
disrespect the covenant. The people of Israel is called to faithfulness but
they go away from God because of their infidelity.
Isaiah 26: 1-9 is a prophetic song, which
anticipates the fall of the world powers and the beginning of the time of
salvation. This song is sung because Jerusalem has remained untouched by the
war that ravaged the land and other cities. According to this song there will
be a great day when the people of Israel will sing a song thanking the Lord for
victory over their enemies. Yahweh will
save His people and if He is with the people they cannot be destroyed by any
power in the world. Because he is great.
In this pericope also we find that people are convinced that Yahweh is
great and powerful. He is an everlasting rock. And he will not let the Israel
be destroyed because of the fidelity to His covenant.
In Philippians 4:1-9, Paul proceeds to make his
final appeal to the people of Philippians. Then he finds that two prominent
women in the Philippian community are having a disagreement. This presents yet
another challenge to the unity of the church and faithfulness to the teachings
of Jesus Christ. So the apostle urges the believers to “stand firm.” To stand
firm in what? In their faith itself. And he wanted his believers to “rejoice
always.” To rejoice in what? In Christ our Lord, that is the answer given by
him. It means that whatever may be the situation or circumstances they have to
be happy always. There can be so many treats and disagreement in the church.
But he tells Philippians to stand firm in their faith. According to Paul
Christian joy is always static and eternal. That is the faith in Jesus Christ.
So show fidelity to Christ and his teaching and don’t quarrel among yourself
for silly reasons. So this pericope also
tells us to be faithful to God.
When we come to Gospel we see the story of a poor
Canaanite woman. This little story is essentially built around the conversation
between the woman and Jesus. We begin with the note that Jesus withdrew far up
the coast to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were traditionally
pagan territories. In the conversation we get the idea that Jesus was not
willing to answer her because she was a Canaanite. Because Jewish people
considered the Canaanite people as dogs. They considered Canaanite people as
low cast people and Jewish people as superior people. So in this context to
give something or do some favors to the Canaanite are very difficult for a
traditional Jew. That is why Jesus tries to avoid the woman and at first he
even ignores her. But at last Jesus acknowledges her faith as great and cures
her daughter.
What was the reason that Jesus to acknowledge her
faith as “great faith”? We can find out the reasons from this pericope. Her
opening words itself shows that she had great faith in Christ. “Have mercy on
me, Lord, Son of David”. Son of David is the Jewish title for Messiah. This is the faith proclamation of that woman.
She also believed in the Messiah of the Jewish people. That is why she calls
him Son of David. But Jesus tries to ignore her by telling that he is sent only
to the lost sheep of Israel. Here we can find the remarkable exchange that
follows, is the Jewish view of salvation. Jesus also assumes the historical
primacy of Israel. He was the Son of David, the Messiah. That fact did not
admit this Canaanite woman to the benefits of the covenant made with the
Jews. The remarkable quality of her
faith is that she is not discouraged by the implicit rejection of Jesus.
Again we see that Jesus tells her that it is not
fare to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs. This was a
controversial sentence that how Jesus can could use such a harsh word to a
women. But Jesus wanted to test her faith, whether she has come to him out of
conviction. Here woman’s answer is marvelous: even the dogs eat the crumbs that
the children drop. Here she accepts the position, but never loses her
faith. And at the end Jesus honors her
faith and heals her daughter.
The contrast is truly striking: in Israel Jesus was
trying to convince people He was the Messiah, and was being challenged to prove
it with a sign. But here in Gentile territory he met a woman who was convinced
He was the Messiah and He could not discourage her efforts. His apparent
attempt to put her off was therefore a test, and her great faith must have been
gratifying to the Savior.
There may be situation in our life also that we are
forced to think that God is not answering to our prayers in our difficulties. We
may doubt the existence God. But like this women we have to be still in our
faith and continue to plead to Him. This poor women had strong faith in Jesus,
but the Israelites who are called to become faithful did not believe in God and
they were not faithful to his covenants. So let us examine ourselves where are
we now? We have in our situation given more importance to worldly things. We
are also like the Israelites idol worshippers in our own context, for some
persons it may be their possessions, computers, mobile that they use. For some
others it may be persons, lovers, film artists, wife or husband. For some
others it may be positions, their office work, political power etc.
Let us be faithful to our Lord. But in our life we
have to give priority to God. Otherwise we are also will become infidel people
like Israel. In our difficulties tensions always think about a God who is
always faithful to his covenants. And don’t think that we are all Christians,
because of that we are already saved. But be still in our faith and rejoice
always. Let us pray for this grace in this Holy mass. May god bless us. Amen
By Boby Kaiyalakakathu MST
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