20220803 BEING FOCUSED AND YET FLEXIBLE
03 August, 2022, Wednesday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Jeremiah 31:1-7 © |
You shall be rebuilt, virgin of Israel
I will be the God of all the clans of Israel – it is the Lord who speaks – they shall be my people.
The Lord says this:
They have found pardon in the wilderness,
those who have survived the sword.
Israel is marching to his rest.
The Lord has appeared to him from afar:
I have loved you with an everlasting love,
so I am constant in my affection for you.
I build you once more; you shall be rebuilt,
virgin of Israel.
Adorned once more, and with your tambourines,
you will go out dancing gaily.
You will plant vineyards once more
on the mountains of Samaria
the planters have done their planting:
they will gather the fruit.
Yes, a day will come when the watchmen shout
on the mountains of Ephraim,
‘Up! Let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God!’
For the Lord says this:
Shout with joy for Jacob!
Hail the chief of nations!
Proclaim! Praise! Shout:
‘The Lord has saved his people,
the remnant of Israel!’
Responsorial Psalm |
Jeremiah 31:10-12,13 © |
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
O nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,
they will stream to the blessings of the Lord.
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the young girls will rejoice and will dance,
the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console them, give them gladness for grief.
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Gospel Acclamation | James1:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
By his own choice the Father made us his children
by the message of the truth,
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits
of all that he created.
Alleluia!
Or: | Lk7:16 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has appeared among us;
God has visited his people.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 15:21-28 © |
The Canaanite woman debates with Jesus and saves her daughter
Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.
BEING FOCUSED AND YET FLEXIBLE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JER 31:1-7; JER 31:10-12,13; MT 15:21-28]
As a leader, one must be focused to get things done. A leader who has his hands on everything and is distracted by all kinds of demands on him will not succeed in what he has set out to do. When a leader lacks a centre and the ability to focus on what is important and what his priorities are, he will be driven by others instead. Trying to please everyone will only result in him diluting his energy and losing sight of his vision and mission for the organization. Indeed, some leaders are all over the place, more pleasers than leaders.
In the gospel, we see that Jesus was very focused. Already at the very beginning of His ministry, He was very popular because many saw Him as a healer and a leader. They even wanted to make Him king. His disciples told the Lord, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” (Mk 1:37f) He refused to be constrained by popularity or be domesticated in one place, even if they were to make Him king. In John’s gospel, after the multiplication of loaves, the evangelist noted, “when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (Jn 6:15)
In today’s gospel, it appeared that He was unbending with respect to His mission towards the Gentiles. When the Syrophoenician woman came to Him “and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word.” She was a Canaanite and therefore the enemy of the Jews. They were the ones that contaminated the faith of Israel, leading the people and the kings into idolatry. She was unclean. Therefore, the Jews did not want to have anything to do with them. But Jesus’ attitude towards the Gentiles had always been different. He healed the Centurion’s servant and the Samaritan leper. In fact, just before this incident, Jesus was teaching the disciples what was clean and what was unclean. He made it clear to them that “what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” (Mt 15:18-20) So if Jesus did not want to attend to the woman, it could not be because she was considered unclean.
Secondly, as a woman she was considered insignificant in society at that time. By not answering the woman, it could be taken as a sign of indifference to her request. But it could also be Jesus’ way of soliciting faith in her. We will see later how Jesus drew her to faith in Him, to recognize Him as the Lord and the special position of the Jews. When the woman came up and knelt at His feet, she said, “‘Lord, help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah, yes, sir, but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.” Jesus appeared to be indifferent towards her but in fact He was helping her to see how Israel was chosen to lead humanity to salvation through Him.
It is also important to distinguish the different reasons for sending the woman away. For Jesus, it was because He wanted to focus on His mission, which was to the House of Israel. That was what He told the disciples. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Jesus was clear that He was sent to save His people first and form the disciples after Him. It was not because He was disinterested in reaching out to the Gentiles. This was always at the back of His mind because the gospel is given to all. He came for the sinners, the poor, the sick, and even the Gentiles. But for the present, He had to direct His attention to His fellow Jews.
His vision statement is clear. Citing from the Prophet Isaiah, He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18f) However, His focus was directed at the chosen people of God, Israel. The message was directly addressed to them so that they would be the messengers of the Good News. In fact, Isaiah had envisioned that “a day would come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.” (Isa 2:2) The Lord said to Israel, “I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations.” (Isa 42:6)
But the disciples were not focused. They were reactive. The reason why his disciples went and pleaded with him to give her what she wanted was that she was shouting after them. It was not a focused strategy or even wanting to help the poor woman. She was becoming a nuisance and so they wanted the Lord to get rid of her so that they could find some rest and peace, for that was the reason why Jesus “left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” At least Jesus had a good reason for declining to attend to the woman earlier on.
Here we see the flexibility of our Lord. Although He was clear of His mission and priority, Jesus was flexible enough to give in when it was appropriate. He was a man of compassion and was willing to bend for the greater good. But He remained singular-minded in His mission. Since the woman had shown humble faith and deep love for her daughter, Jesus was willing to forgo His principles and accommodate her request. This is what leadership is all about. Leaders must be compassionate and ready to be flexible in the application of the laws and rules governing the organization. Some leaders, instead of using the laws to make the organization more effective, are ruled by the laws. They forget what the Lord taught us, that “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” (Mk 2:27f)
We must be ready to adapt. St Paul gives us a good example of what it takes to be accommodating to the weaknesses and the peculiar situations of others. He wrote, “in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Cor 9:18-23)
In the first reading, we saw how God worked as well. Although Israel was unfaithful to Him, God was merciful to them. God allowed them to be punished by the consequences of their own sins. “They have found pardon in the wilderness, those who have survived the sword. Israel is marching to his rest. The Lord has appeared to him from afar: I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my affection for you. I build you once more; you shall be rebuilt, virgin of Israel.” God’s love for Israel was faithful. He was focused in His love and devotion to Israel. But He would find ways to bring Israel back to Him, even abandoning Israel for a while to her enemies so that they could learn their lessons and repent. God is forever faithful and constant in His love. He never gave up on Israel regardless of their infidelity after infidelity. But He is not reactive either. He does not punish Israel and condemns them to rot and ruin forever. He is patient, kind, forgiving, always keeping the goal in mind, which is to bring Israel back to Him. This was the same love that Jesus had for His people and His disciples who also betrayed Him. He never gave up on them. So too Paul, who until the end of his life, would always preach to the Jews before others.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment