Today’s Gospel presents Jesus coming to the rescue of
the pagans and idolatrous of the area of Tyre. The Lamb without spot and sin
faces and is confronted with the impurity of those who, painfully, called the
dogs because they were slaves of their passions and their being prisoners of
sin. He announces to the children of Israel that their purity can become
impure, and to the pagans that their impurities can become pure. The Jews were
very proud of their status as God’s chosen people. As a result, they felt
superior and looked down on all other people most especially the Greeks who
were the great pork eaters of antiquity. Furthermore, Hellenic culture was much
detested by devout Jews like the Pharisees. Therefore, to the ancient members
of Mark’s church, the initial response of our Lord to the woman is quite
understandable. However, through the gospel story, with the final healing of
the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman, the evangelist wants his readers to realize
that our Lord Jesus came for everyone, by overcoming his cultural
prejudice.
Jesus wanted to teach his church to be inclusive, not
exclusive. The church must welcome anyone who may differ from us in race,
culture or social status. Using the gentle and humble response of the
woman to our Lord’s initial rejection of her request, the evangelist Mark wants
to teach his readers her great humility and her complete trust that our Lord
will favorably act on her request. This attitude is in great contrast to the
initial attitude of the Syrian general Naaman when the prophet Elisha
instructed him to wash in the river Jordan as a cure for his leprosy. In
our world today, do we still exclude certain people due to our prejudices or
difference in faith traditions, race, culture or social status? If we were in
the place of the Syrophoenician woman, how would we have reacted if we were
rejected with these same words of our Lord as narrated in today’s gospel? Would our faith and trust overcome our
pride?
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