Homily for February 9th, 2017: Mark 7:24-30.
Why did Jesus
initially refuse the request of a Gentile woman that he heal her daughter? It
cannot be because Jesus lacked compassion. The gospels show that he was a man
of total compassion. Did Jesus want to test the depth of this mother’s love for
her sick child? If so, she passed the test with flying colors. Throwing herself
at Jesus’ feet, she showed that she was out to win. Her daughter means
everything to her. She refuses to take no for an answer.
Jesus’ words about the children being
fed first seem to be a reference to his mission of feeding his own people
first. When Jesus says it is not right to take the children’s food and throw it
to the dogs, he is using traditional Jewish terminology. Jews in his day often
referred to Gentiles as dogs. Jesus softens the word, however. The word he uses
means not dogs but puppies.
Even this does
not discourage the woman. Without missing a beat she comes right back with the
remark: “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” To
understand what she is saying, we must know the eating habits of the day. Food was
eaten with the fingers, which were wiped afterwards with pieces of flat bread
that were then cast aside to be eaten by the household dogs.
Or was Jesus
testing the woman’s faith? If so, she passed that test too. For Jesus responds:
“For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” Illness
of all kinds was thought in Jesus’ day to be caused by demons.
The beautiful
conclusion of this moving story follows at once. “When the woman went home, she
found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.”
This desperate
and nameless woman is a model of love and faith. We pray in this Mass for the
Lord to make us like her.
No comments:
Post a Comment