A Dog’s Life (Is 56:1,6-7;Rom 11:13-15;29-32; Mt 15:21-28)
My Brothers and Sisters, I am speaking
to you Gentiles.
How about that? I can call all of you
brothers and sisters; even though we are Gentiles, who don’t look alike.
Our skin is different. Our hair is different. Our eyes are different. We
speak differently. I am Native American, German, Welch, French, Irish, Spanish,
and those are the ones I am aware. Some of us may be more pure in our ethnic
composition than others.
This is what we see in the Gospel.
This Gospel is written for a Jewish audience and it is full of
their prejudice. The Canaanite woman comes to Jesus and he calls her a
dog. Harsh isn't it.
The disciples didn't want her around. She was a Gentile. To the
Jewish people those not of pure Jewish blood were dogs, impure and not worthy
to be considered, period, no further discussion.
Jesus says in reply, "It is not
right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."
This one phrase is the whole purpose of
the readings today. God's love is for everyone.
In Isaiah, the prophet praises the foreigners who are faithful to God.
Paul preaches to the Gentiles hoping that their faith will make the Jews
jealous and thus save some of them.
I don’t know if any of us are from pure
Jewish roots. We are all probably gentiles. We are like this Canaanite
woman. If we had been calling out to Jesus, the disciples would have told
Jesus to send us away. If any one of us had been there instead of her, we would
have been the one called a dog, not worthy of what is offered on the master’s
table.
Ready to take the scraps that fell from
the table, the Canaanite woman never gave up. She argues for Jesus’ mercy.
Her faith stands out. Jesus sees her great faith. Her daughter is healed.
Its harsh to be called a dog or is it?
Let’s look at the life of a dog. One thing about a dog is they are persistent.
You could say that dogs never give up. That’s probably how dogs became our
companions.
Dogs followed early people. They
survived off scavenging the scraps from the hunts and what people left behind.
Pretty soon, the first dog got brave enough to come close and beg for scraps.
It probably didn’t get the scraps at first; yet, it kept coming back. The dog
never gave up and was probably chased off more than once. Eventually, the human
gave in. and dogs and humans have been inseparable ever
since.
According to one source I read, the
Greek word for dog in this passage is not a mangy old stray street dog, but a
loved puppy or pet. If a dog is loved, it has a pretty good life. They still
beg for scraps but we feed them nutritious food. When they are dirty, we give
them a bath, and they sleep in
comfort knowing they are loved and protected.
I think Jesus knew this woman’s faith
even before she spoke. He was not denying her, but showing her faith to all
those with him. The disciples wanted to send her away maybe because they
were full of bigotry and prejudice for anyone who was not Jewish. Then Jesus
acted like them; Jesus responded like them, and I think he laid a giant guilt
trip on them. The food is for my Children the lost sheep, why should I give it
to you. The answer: because she has faith.
God doesn't see us as dogs.
We are his children, the ones who the food is for. The bible says that those
led by the spirit of God are children of God; and, that we are God’s
adopted children through Jesus Christ. Look around us. We who are so different but
can still be called brothers and sisters. He has always loved us, Gentile or
Jew.
I’d like to end with a ta-dah moment. Think about this – Would being
the dog in God’s family be that bad? If we were this dog, we would be
loved. We would be bathed and made clean in the waters of baptism. We would eat
scraps that fall from his table; the food of eternal life, the Eucharist. And,
we would sleep in comfort safe in Jesus’ love.
If we were dogs we would always be
loyal, obedient, and loving to God.
Living a dog’s life in God’s house
would really not be so bad; but, we are his children and that’s even better.
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