Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Kings 11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)
Today’s gospel may be compared to the experience of a priest
asked to hear a confession on Easter Monday.
He is exhausted after Holy Week when he celebrated long liturgies and heard
hundreds of confessions. He just wants
to rest when someone bursts into his office begging him to hear her
confession. It is not only that it would
take time and effort, but also that there are posted times for confessions.
Jesus has arranged a retreat from his exhaustive schedule of
preaching and healing. He only wants a short
respite from work when the pagan woman interrupts his tranquility. She requests
that he expel the demon molesting her daughter.
Jesus tries to tell her that there will be a time for ministry to
Gentiles, but she insists. Jesus --
moved by the woman’s faith in him, love for her daughter, and humility -- grants
her petition.
We may wonder why Jesus hesitates to utter a word that would
drive out her daughter’s demon. It probably
takes more effort than we imagine. It may
create a ministry to the much more numerous non-Jews before he completes the mission
prescribed by his Father to the Jews. We
also would like to ask about Jesus’ remark that refers to non-Jews as “dogs.” This question may be answered by the Jewish use
of “dogs” for Gentiles as a popular way of speaking in Jesus’ time. It is no more insulting than for us to call
our children “kids,” which is the proper name for small goats. Rather than criticize Jesus’ behavior in this
gospel, we might consider the following: he takes time to converse with the
woman; he changes his position after hearing the woman’s argument; and he mercifully
grants her request. Jesus remains a
model for us in everything.
