20230209 LABELLING
09 February 2023 Thursday, 5th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Genesis 2:18-25 © |
Man and wife become one body
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.’ So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him. So the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:
‘This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man.’
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.
Now both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame in front of each other.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 127(128):1-5 © |
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways!
By the labour of your hands you shall eat.
You will be happy and prosper.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the heart of your house;
your children like shoots of the olive,
around your table.
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Indeed thus shall be blessed
the man who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless you from Zion
all the days of your life!
O blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps144:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jm1:21 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept and submit to the word
which has been planted in you
and can save your souls.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 7:24-30 © |
The astuteness of the Syro-Phoenician woman
Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.
LABELLING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [GEN 2:18-25; PS 128:1-5; MARK 7:24-30]
In the first reading, we read of the story of creation. The Lord gave man the authority to name the creatures of the earth. “So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts.” The power to name something means that we have authority or power over the person or the thing.
Names are important because it determines the way we relate to someone or to something. That is why in the Eastern world, the name we assign to someone is of great importance. Much thought is given to how we want to name a person, or a thing, or a place, because it affects the way we will relate to them and how they will relate to us. Names do affect our personality to some extent.
But one can also go to the extreme of being overly superstitious over our names. When that happens, it can lead to fatalism. There are some who condemn themselves because they do not have a nice name or did not come from a famous town. There are those who believe that their life and future are destined by the stars. The danger of such stereotyping is that it leads to pre-determinism.
Indeed, naming someone or something can also hinder us from being open to the full reality of the person or the thing. Our perception of new relationships is very much conditioned by our past relationships, positive or negative. If we have fond memories of someone whom we know by a particular name, when we meet someone new with a similar name or coming from a similar place, we tend to have a good impression.
On the other hand, if our first experience of a person or a place is negative, we tend to project our unpleasant experiences to future encounters as well. Hence, if we hear and read that Muslims are terrorists; Catholic priests are paedophile, Catholics are superstitious and idol worshippers; and Protestants are fundamentalists and engage in aggressive proselytism, the tendency is for us to form prejudices and assume that everyone belonging to the group is such. This is a great injustice to the individuals who are all different and unique, even if we share the same race, religion or nationality. In the gospel, Nathaniel was sceptical about Jesus when he heard that He came from Nazareth. When Philip said, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn 1:45f)
Indeed, labelling someone or a place can be dangerous. It can be divisive and lead to aversion, distancing, alienation and marginalization. In some cases, it can lead to persecution and oppression as well. We see this in the history of humanity. People from other religions, especially those from minority religions, are often discriminated and even persecuted. We have read of ethnic wars and genocide in many countries. Even in our modern world, there is a lot of suspicion between peoples of different races, language, religion and nationality. Hence we tend to identify ourselves and label ourselves so as to appear different from others. We want to think that we are better than others who are different from us because of their different background and origin.
This was the case of the Syro-Phoenician woman in today’s gospel. The Jews considered themselves to be a superior race because they are People of the Covenant. Jews were not allowed to mix with them for fear that they could be contaminated by them. That was why non-Jews were forbidden to enter the house of Jews. The physical barrier was created so that relationships with non-Jews would be impossible. They believed that the lesser the communication, the safer it was for the Jews lest they be influenced by pagan values, cultures and beliefs. Hence this question of ritual purity and isolation from non-Jews was more to protect their race from importing alien values to their faith and community.
But Jesus used this incident to teach His disciples about the need to encounter those who are different from them. She might be a pagan by birth, a Syro-Phoenician living in Tyre outside of Palestine. She might be considered a dog by the Jews. But what was more important for Jesus was that she, like all other human beings, also needed what others need, such as, food, friends, accommodation, work, money and health. Most of all, like any mother, she was concerned about her daughter who was inflicted by a demon. She felt for her daughter living in that tormented stage. So great was her love for her daughter that she would do anything within her power to have her healed. She therefore did not mind stooping so low as to ask Jesus, a Jew, for help and even risk the possibility of being rejected because of her background.
In the final analysis, every human person is fundamentally the same. We are all created in His image and likeness. Just because she was of a different race, it did not mean that she was deprived of God’s grace and mercy. God too wanted to bless her. God too wanted to give her dignity. Jesus, by speaking to her in a non-threatening, witty manner, showed her His friendship and warmth. She was able to reply with wit as well. “She spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps’. And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter’. So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.” Indeed, it is through dialogue and relationship that trust is built, barriers are removed, and friendship is made possible.
So instead of fear and isolation, if we are to build a loving marriage, a caring community, whether in our church or place of work; and a united nation, we must be ready and courageous to move out. As Philip told Nathaniel, “Come and see.” (Jn 1:46) Indeed, we are different, and it is good to know that we are different. No helpmate was found for the man until the woman was created. This person who would be the true helpmate of the man could not be exactly the same as man but must complement him. Hence, “the man exclaimed: ‘This at last is bone from my bones, and flesh from my flesh! This is to be called woman, for this was taken from man.’ This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.” Indeed, we do not need to go to the extreme and suggest that society must be transgender so that we can be united. Or that there should not be different races or cultures or religions. We cannot erase our culture, our sexual identity, and even our religious beliefs from our lives. But we can increase and expand the common space among peoples of all races, language, religions and nationalities through sharing, caring, loving and entering into each other’s lives.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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