INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Wooof! Wooof! Woooof!”
I’m going to divide my homily into two parts.
PART ONE: THE POSSIBLE “WHY” OF TODAY’S GOSPEL
In today’s gospel we have an intriguing scene where a strange woman confronts Jesus. She gets Jesus to change his plans. She gets him to think outside his territory - and heal her daughter - who is tormented by some kind of a demon.
At first glance, this is an, “Uh oh, oh no, Gospel!”
Jesus tells the lady, “I’m not here to help you. I’m only here for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
This sounds so foreign to Jesus. Isn’t he here to save - to heal - to help - everyone?
Next, Jesus uses the dog word. He says, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”
Uh oh! Oh no!
This doesn’t sound like Jesus - implying that someone is a dog.
Speaking of sheep and dogs, this woman outfoxes Jesus. She says, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”
The gospel doesn’t describe what Jesus’ face looks like at this great comeback. Matthew’s text only has Jesus saying, “O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” Then our gospel for this Sunday ends, “And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.”
Question: why in the world did Matthew include this story in his text - when it seems to make Jesus look so un-Jesus-like?
Scholars have various takes on why this text is included in the gospel. One comment could be, “It makes the gospel more real because many would delete this text from the Gospel. The fact that it’s here in Matthew and that it makes Jesus seem like sandpaper - rubbing someone the wrong way tells us this is real stuff.” This is put here to bark out a strong message.
Scholars also like to say that a gospel text tells us what’s going on in the community that the text comes out of. Translation: some scholars have the thesis that Matthew comes from a Jewish Christian community - some time between 75-90 AD - somewhere in southern Syria - maybe even Tyre and Sidon - or from Antioch - which is not that far from Tyre and Sidon - the locale of today’s gospel. [1] Was the text designed to challenge the Jewish Christian community in that place to welcome foreigners, strangers, people of Canaanite origin - and women - into the Christian community there? Is the text telling us about a struggle going on in one early Christian community - that didn’t want strangers - especially strange outsider women acting up in the local community?
This theme of welcoming outsiders is given even more weight, because of the choice of today’s other two readings. The second reading from Romans continues with Paul’s struggle between Jews and Gentiles. Today’s first reading - a text from Isaiah 56 - is dated around 515 BC - after the temple is rebuilt. It specifically stresses welcoming foreigners into the Jewish community. [2] The first reading ends, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” [Isaiah 56:7]
Isn’t that the dream we all have? Isn’t that our song: “all are welcome, all are welcome, in this place?” Don’t we feel pride - or a sense that I’m in the right place - when we see at Sunday Mass - a great collection of different looking people? Look around this church right now! Aren’t we an interesting kennel of people? Wooof. Wooof. Wooof! If we all barked at the same time, wouldn’t we sound like a great orchestra of different barks in the dark night? Won’t the kids from this parish who are at World Youth Day or Week that starts tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday in Madrid, Spain, come back with a wider and deeper sense of what the word, “catholic” means. It’s “kata holos” in Greek. We are the whole catalogue of different looking people on this planet - well over a billion of us.
PART 2: DON’T JUST SIT THERE - BARK!
Part 2 is to look at the “why?” we all come to this place - to this church - each Sunday.
This woman in today’s gospel tells us that one reason we come here is because we want God to heal our children - to heal our demons - so we can walk out of this experience better than when we walked in here.
We come here to pray.
To be cute, I’ll add: “We come here to bark at God.”
Woof. Woof. Woof.
The barking dog gets the biscuit.
The hanging around dog spots the piece of meat or bread that falls to the floor.
I was wondering as I read today’s gospel if any priest around the world will spot the question that comes up from time to time in our church - about blocking communion for some people. A man sort of growled at me going out of Mass here at St. Mary’s one Sunday morning when I preached about the great gift of Eucharist. He was moving fast as people were saying, “Good-bye,” “Have a great weekend” I thought he used the word “hypocrite” concerning the issue that not all could go to communion. I didn’t really get a chance to see his face or who he was or what have you. I wanted to say something like, “It kills me at times as well.” Or, “Do you want to talk some time?” I didn’t know if he was Catholic or if he belonged to another communion or what have you.
I know the Catholic Church’s teaching and position and “Guidelines for the Reception of Communion”. It’s on the inside cover of our missalettes. It’s clear and it’s the present teaching. It tells all of us that receiving communion is a very sacred and serious reality for all of us. I know a few years ago we proposed that people who can’t go to communion come up for a blessing - and I think I read somewhere that is a “no no” in some places - so I’ll have to do my homework on that. But I still see people come up for communion and I’ve blessed lots of people - and lots of children who haven’t received their first communion yet - at that moment of communion.
I want to say that, but that’s not the heart of Part Two of this homily.
Part Two would be this: I would hope all of us would come to church with great faith - the faith that this woman in today’s gospel had - and that we come here to bark, bark, wooof, wooof, and ask Jesus to heal us of our demons.
We don’t have to go it alone in this life. We have our demons - our sins - our fatal flaws - our weaknesses - and it’s important to name them - and then scream out to Jesus here at Church - for help.
And if you know God, you know that He seems to be deaf and to ignore us. I say that because I’ve heard in the past 46 years of being a priest, lots of people saying that they have been praying for patience or purity or for humility or for an end to comparisons or jealousy or envy or for their kids and everything seems to remain the same. Nothing happens.
Bark louder - scream for some scraps of help from God’s banquet table.
Receive communion today and say, “Thank You, Lord, and now that I have you by the teeth, I need help.”
And in communion tell Jesus - tell Jesus the Son of God just what you want.
Be like this lady in today’s gospel. Be bold. Be tough. Get Jesus into your grasp and be clever enough to not let him go till he gives you a healing. Amen.
CONCLUSION
As a way of remembering this homily, that is, if you want to remember it - could you all bark, bark, or go, “Woof. Woof. Woof” right now.
NOTES
[1] “The Gospel According to Matthew,” by Benedict T. Viviano, O.P., page 631, in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990.
[2] “Deutero-Isaiah and Trito-Isaiah, by Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. page 344 in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990.
