{"id":2240,"date":"2017-08-20T12:13:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T16:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2240"},"modified":"2017-08-20T12:13:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T16:13:43","slug":"20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

20th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>\"\"<\/a>
\nIsaiah 56:1, 6-7
\nPsalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
\nRomans 11:13-15, 29-32
\nMatthew 15:21-28<\/p>\n

Jesus moved on to the region of Tyre and Sidon.\u00a0 This might have seemed surprising to the Jews.\u00a0 Tyre and Sidon was considered pagan territory and thus unclean by the Jews.\u00a0 It is there that Jesus encountered a Canaanite woman.<\/p>\n

At first Jesus \u201cdid not say a word<\/em>\u201d when the woman first called out to him.\u00a0 While it might seem surprising to us that Jesus ignored her, the Jews would have expected this.\u00a0 No good Jew would talk to a Canaanite or a woman who was alone.<\/p>\n

She persisted in calling out to him so his disciples asked him to \u201csend her away.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Jesus replied, \u201cI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The Jews were a chosen people.\u00a0 They saw themselves as an exclusive people.\u00a0 As they saw it, salvation was meant only for them.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 reply would seem to affirm this.<\/p>\n

However, the woman remained persistent.\u00a0 She \u201cdid Jesus homage<\/em>,\u201d called him Lord, and asked for help.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 response would seem to refer to her as a dog, a very derogatory term.<\/p>\n

Still she persisted.\u00a0 Now Jesus responds, \u201cO woman, great is your faith! <\/em>. . . And the woman\u2019s daughter was healed from that hour.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jews were indeed a chosen people.\u00a0 However, salvation was not meant just for the Jews but for all who believe in the one true God.\u00a0 The woman showed a great faith and Jesus did a miracle.\u00a0 Jesus offered the gospel first to the Jews as a chosen people but once they refuse, the risen Jesus sent out the disciples out to baptize all <\/em><\/strong>nations.<\/p>\n

Up to now, I have referred to \u201cJews\u201d as a collective group who all believed exactly what I said about being a chosen and exclusive people.\u00a0 However, probably not all the Jews thought that way.<\/p>\n

You see, the idea that salvation was not just for the Jews but for all<\/em><\/strong> was not a new idea from Jesus.\u00a0 Yes, it took on new life with Jesus but it was not a new idea.<\/p>\n

Just look at what we hear from Isaiah today.\u00a0 He refers to \u201cThe foreigners who join themselves to the Lord. . . all who keep the Sabbath free<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 He ended with \u201cmy house shall be called a house of prayer for all<\/strong> peoples.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Likewise our psalm refers to \u201call\u201d several times.<\/p>\n

Salvation is clearly meant for all<\/em><\/strong> people.\u00a0 We think we should all get this today but we don\u2019t. \u00a0We still have white nationalists protesting.\u00a0 People are still being treated differently based on race, ethnicity, faith, and disabilities.<\/p>\n

Jesus offers salvation to every single person.\u00a0 Every human being is a child of God<\/em>.\u00a0 <\/strong>We see in our church here people are Hispanic, largely from Puerto Rico and Honduras but other Latin American countries as well.\u00a0 We have Black (colored\/Afro-American) people.\u00a0 We have people from the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The last parish I was in was Ithaca, an even more diverse congregation.\u00a0 The parish literally had people as members had been born on six of the seven continents.\u00a0 I would say it was only six because I don\u2019t think anyone has ever been born in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

Salvation is offered to all <\/em><\/strong>people.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean everyone gets into Heaven.\u00a0 To get into Heaven, each person must accept the truth of our faith.\u00a0 To help them do so, we need to<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Show them love.\u00a0 This means we must treat all<\/em> <\/strong>with dignity and respect.<\/li>\n
  2. Offer them the truth. This means telling them what we know about our faith and how Jesus calls us to live.\u00a0 We may not know everything our faith teaches but we can tell them what we do know, that Jesus loves them.<\/li>\n
  3. When we see people treated badly, we can speak against what is going on. Silence is often interrupted as agreement.\u00a0 When we see racist rallies, are we willing to say we disagree?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Salvation is offered to all.\u00a0 May we have the courage to live what we believe.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus moved on to the region of Tyre and Sidon.\u00a0 This might have seemed surprising to the Jews.\u00a0 Tyre and Sidon was considered pagan territory and thus unclean by the Jews.\u00a0 It is there that …<\/p>\n

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