Conversation on the 17th week after Pentecost

The Gospel we are reading today provides us with an example of how we sinners should ask the Lord for help in sorrows and needs if we want to be heard. Let us explain the Gospel story about the Canaanite woman. “And Jesus departed from there and went to the countries of Tire and Sidon. And behold, the Canaanite woman came out from the border of those, and cried out to Him.” (Matthew 15, 21, 22). Who appears before the Lord Jesus? Canaanite woman, native of Tire and Sidon. The Canaanites are the people who distorted the very foundations of the laws of nature. These are pagans, but pagans are the worst, the most unclean. From this people there was a woman who appeared to Jesus while He was on the borders of Tire and Sidon. St. Luke, in reference to her origin, calls her a Syrian Phoenician or Canaanite, who lived in Syrian Phenicia or Canaanite, and in reference to the properties of her people, he calls her Hellenic, that is, a pagan. Where did the idea of ​​coming to Jesus Christ come from? Evangelists Mark (Mk 3:8) and Luke (Luke 6:17) testify that even before the incident with the Canaanite wife, rumors of the Savior’s miracles reached Tire and Sidon, and this rumor caused many of the inhabitants of that country to come to Jesus Christ: having heard, He did great things and came to Him; the same rumor brought the Canaanite wife to him. “When the wife heard about Him,” says St. Mark, “Whoever had an unclean spirit came to fall at His feet” (Mark 7:25). “Cry out to Him, saying: Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, for my daughter is angry with evil” (Matthew 15:22). A touching sight! The wife appears at the feet of Jesus Christ, the mother begs for her daughter, tormented by suffering, and does not ask, but cries out for compassion, and not for the daughter, but for herself, asks for mercy, since the daughter’s suffering tormented the poor mother, and was so terrible that the daughter did not feel it and, all the more, tormented the mother’s heart. “He didn’t answer her words.” What does it mean? The one whose lips exude so much love and compassion for everyone is silent for the unfortunate mother. The one who calls to himself the most ungrateful Jews, who inflicted so many insults on him with their unbelief, coldness and even outright hatred, does not deign to answer the one who herself came to Him with love, not knowing either the law or the prophets. The act is truly amazing! The disciples of Christ were also indignant. “And His disciples came near and prayed to Him, saying: Let her go, for she is crying out after us” (Matthew 15:23). The amazed disciples do not dare to ask directly for their wife, they ask as if for themselves: “as he cries after us.” And truly, it was hard to hear the cry of the unfortunate mother, and this mother is left without help, even without an answer. And the students ask the teacher to at least let his wife go. “And he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Wonderful wisdom of the Savior! He supports the confused disciples in their bewilderment. For what? In order to bring them, through the bitterness of the feelings they experience, to the conviction of the injustice of the popular opinion they share about the pagans, and at the same time to show to what extent this opinion is fair. The pleading wife is in no hurry to give help, thereby increasing her zeal. “I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” First of all, the will of the Heavenly Father. Christ is His messenger, and must fulfill the will of the one who sent. The will of the Heavenly Father for the salvation of people is such that the Savior must appear among the Jews and for the Jews. Whatever the Jews are, they are the people chosen by God, the great Prophet and Messiah was sent to them; for them he must perform the earthly feat of charity and teaching. That is why his silence is for the pagan! Did the prophets foretell the will of God about the salvation of the pagans? So. Everything depends on the will of God, and not on the merits of people: by her will, the salvation of the pagans should also be revealed; no matter how the Jews think: but we must wait for when and under what conditions this saving will will be revealed. “When she came, she worshiped Him, saying: Lord, help me!” (Mt 15:25) No matter how decisive, apparently, the Savior’s refusal to help is, the Canaanite wife does not stop asking Him for help. “Formerly she called Him the Son of David; Now he calls me Lord. Previously, she asked Him as the Messiah of the Jews, but now she hears and agrees that the one sent to the Jews should refuse to help the pagan, and she turns to the Lord for help. You are the Lord, she says, You are strong and powerful, Both the sea and the winds listen to You. Omnipotent! help me. This is how her faith grows when she encounters obstacles. Her grief, intensified by refusal, reveals in her more and more spiritual vision - and she sees in Jesus more than the enlightener of the Jews, she sees in Him the Lord of all, the Lord of heaven and earth, the ruler not only of the Jews, but also of the pagans. “And he answered and said: It is not good to take away the bread of a child and destroy it with a dog” (Matthew 15:26). The language of the Jews called the Gentiles dogs for their lives. And the Savior speaks in the language of the Jews, as much for the disciples who have not yet renounced the opinions of the Jews, as much for the Canaanite wife for her humility. If, He says, it is not good to take away the children’s bread and give it to dogs, is it proper for you to give the grace appointed for the Jews? “She said: Lord unto her” - She humbly realizes that the Savior’s judgment, no matter how humiliating for her, is fair. She realizes that she definitely belongs to the dogs, her soul is so unclean, and that she is not worth the grace that is assigned to the Jews. Nevertheless, she does not give up her plea. What is her hope for help? - “For even the dogs eat of the grains that fall from the table of their masters” (Matthew 15:27). In the very fact that her situation is very poor, she reveals the basis for her hopes for help. Whatever the dogs are, she says, when they are hungry, they stand under the table of their affectionate masters and receive their share of the crumbs falling from the table. So, Lord, I am an unclean pagan, no better than dogs: but exhausted by suffering, exhausted by the vanities of pagan life, I expect Your mercy - not that which the chosen people of the Jews enjoy and which I am completely unworthy of: I expect only that mercy, so as not to be deprived of Your mercy, I expect mercy only from Your great mercy towards sinners themselves. “Jesus said: O woman, great is your faith, let it be as you wish” (Matthew 15:28). Faith is promised the benefits of the kingdom of grace. What about the other children of Abraham according to the flesh? All promises belong not to the children of the flesh, but to the children of faith. Your faith is great: the will of the Heavenly Father for the salvation of the pagans is already being revealed in practice. May your wish come true. And it was fulfilled: “her daughters were healed” (Matthew 15:28). Here, brethren, is an example of a prayer heard by the Lord. Pray as the Canaanite woman prayed, and your prayer will be heard. Pray for needs that would be worthy of the attention of the Heavenly Father, as the Canaanite wife, the mother of her suffering daughter, prayed. Pray earnestly, without interrupting your prayer with vain thoughts. Pray, at least you see that the prayer is not immediately fulfilled. God's advice is not the same as human advice. Pray with submission to the advice of God, may the Lord’s will be fulfilled for you, when and how He knows to fulfill it. Pray with a deep consciousness of your sins. Until there is humility in the soul, until there is a deep consciousness of one’s weaknesses, grace will not descend on you, no matter how high your understanding of Christ the Lord and all the mysteries of faith. The Lord then called the faith of the Canaanite woman great and then called it capable of accepting His grace, when the Canaanite woman recognized her uncleanness, recognized it as no better than the uncleanness of a dog, and not when she called Him Lord. Do not interrupt your prayers with a feeling of unworthiness. On the contrary, the more you find yourself sinful, the more constantly you pray, as those who need God’s mercy more than others. By the measure of your sins measure only your humility, limit your pride, but do not use it to measure God’s mercy, which is limitless. Are you too sinful? Call upon the Lord: according to Your boundless mercy, have mercy on us. So the Canaanite woman prayed and was heard. Yes, you too will be heard. Amen. You might be interested in: