AUGUST 16, 2020. 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Mt 15, 21-28
This Sunday the gospel tells us that Jesus and his apostles withdrew to a place outside of Israel, to rest and be able to instruct the twelve in peace. The people of the area do not belong to the Jewish people, they are not of the chosen people. But the fame of Jesus has crossed the border, and a woman from the region of Tyre asks him to heal her daughter. At first it seems that Jesus does not pay attention to her, but at her insistence the apostles ask him to attend to her (surely to leave them alone). Jesus talks to her and points out some problems, but in the face of her faith, he grants her request and heals her daughter.
Jesus praises the faith of this foreign woman, just as he had done with the Roman centurion who asked him for the health of his servant. What a great contrast with the faith of the Jews and of the apostles themselves! Man of little faith! Why did you doubt? he said last Sunday.
It’s possible that he also gave us a warning, because we didn’t just trust, believe in him. We think we are “the good ones”, the “already saved” and we look down on others whom we consider “pagans and foreigners”. We do not know what is in their heart and we think we are better. We judge and condemn. And we are wrong. It is possible that these outcasts gave us a lesson in faith.
The salvation that Jesus brings is universal, and he only looks at the inside of the heart. It is faith in Jesus that saves all who trust in him. Let us ask him today: Lord, increase our faith!
Juan Ramon Gomez Pascual, cmf
