20th Sunday of Year A
My God is your God
+A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.
1. I will take today’s the second reading (Rom 11:13-15,29-32) as my point of departure. In the text Paul laments the non responsiveness of the Jews to the gospel of Christ. We know how after the death of Christ, the Jews persecuted the disciples of Christ making them to leave Jerusalem. The Apostles Peter and Paul eventually took the gospel to Rome the capital of the empire. That was how Rome and not Jerusalem is the headquarters of Christianity. After two millennium, the Jews are still to become Christians. Only about 3% of Jews are Christians today. This is strange because the natural thing is that the people through whom Jesus came into the world should be first in following his teaching. This very fact goes to prove a point, namely that the christian God, the only true God is not the God of the Jews alone. He is the God all humanity.
2. Today’s first reading and the gospel bear ample witness to this fact. In the first reading (Is56:1,6-7), the Prophet Isaiah makes it clear that all those who fear God and respect his commandments have their place in the house of God. The chosen people of Israel cannot privatize God. God picked them and charged them to make him known to the whole world. When they delayed, God continued his way using the gentiles who today are known as Christians. The mission of spreading the gospel is today on us gentiles.
3. In today’s gospel, Jesus deliberately pulled the legs of the Canaanite woman, whose daughter was tormented by the devil, refusing to pay attention to her. When his disciples pleaded with him to at do something or send the woman away he told them that he was sent only for the house of Israel. The woman persevered until Jesus granted her request. This response was based uniquely on her faith in spite of her not being a Jew. In doing this, Jesus killed the myth that God is the God of the Jews.
4. From this encounter, the message of today’s readings stand out clearly: there is only one God, all who do good and avoid evil are his people independently of their origin. It becomes shocking to hear someone who claims to be religious elite describing Christians in Nigeria as infidels. Do we have another God than his? As Christians we are encouraged to appreciate other people’s faith, accepting them as our brothers and sisters, children of the same God. If we must live in peace as brothers and sisters, we must learn not to talk down on other people’s beliefs. On the last day, there will only be one God, one heaven and one hell.
5. The Catholic Church encourages her faithful to recognize the presence of God in other religions. Pope St. John-Paul II in 1986 called together all the world’s religious leaders in Assisi. It was a significant action meant to bring humanity together. Today, the Church continues to encourage inter religious dialogue. When will the African man understand that God does support persecuting his children under the pretext of promoting his name in favour of any religion? In Burkina Faso, it is a crime to talk against other religions. They want a country where peace, respect and harmony should reign. In Nigeria, the government rewards those who talk down on christians and criticises those who call for peace and unity. Where are we heading to?
