My friends, if you were looking for a place in Scripture where our brother, Jesus presented himself in less than his best way, this gospel passage would be it!  I think we all cringed a bit, especially we women, at the unkindness and down-right rudeness with which Jesus spoke to the Canaanite woman.  The apostles are no better telling Jesus “to get rid of her!”

Jesus of course, along with the apostles, is showing his true humanity here—his imperfect nature and this woman, in the best of her humanity challenges him to basically, “Stand up and fly right!” Probably a strong reason for our Church to share leadership and ministerial roles with women—providing a “check and balance” for each other. 

That having been said, we need to consider all that is back of Jesus words, to make sense of what he is saying and why.  The Canaanite people were looked down on by the Israelites because they wanted to keep their land holy and being that the Canaanites didn’t believe in the Jewish God, they thought they should have nothing to do with them. Reminds me of pre-Vatican II times when we Catholics were to have nothing to do with Protestants. (:

In addition, there were gender issues to deal with—a male didn’t speak to a woman in public.  Both of these issues were ones that Jesus would have grown up believing, as a “good” Jew.  Still, it doesn’t excuse his purely, less than perfect, human behavior.  Now, this might be disconcerting to some who have an image of Jesus always being perfect—showing us the way, as it were. 

Scripture scholar, Diane Bergant has this to say: “If we don’t accept Jesus’ at times, shortcomings—than that minimizes the extraordinariness of those of his actions that break through the limitations of his culture, his humanity.  Being completely human, Jesus became a man of his own limited time and culture—but at the same time, he was open enough to break out of that limitation.”

For my part, it gives me a great deal of hope to know that as I strive to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, I have someone who struggled with the same limitations as I do, but almost always rose above them to be his best self.  It is worth noting that each of us is also filled with the same divine nature as Jesus was, and it is all about “choosing” that, “better,” while often, “harder” part, to do in our Christian lives. 

So, let’s turn to the other Scriptures to get a unified sense of the full message for today.  In looking over all three, I see a “justice coupled with mercy” theme.  It’s evident in the already discussed passage from Matthew that a merciful heart will do justice in our world as portrayed through Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman.  Isaiah the prophet, in the 1^st reading is basically telling those in his time, before Jesus, “to do what is right—[to] work for justice.”  Jesus of course, being a good Jew, would have most likely been aware of, and “written these words on his heart,” so to speak. 

Isaiah speaks about “foreigners” coming into the fold, about keeping the “God-given” covenant.  I would suspect that this command to be “inclusive” rose to the forefront for Jesus when the Canaanite woman challenged him to the same.

And finally, Paul’s letter to the Romans, berating the Jews for not following Jesus’ message of love, which includes seeing a bigger picture than the black and white rules that they were accustomed to following, to show mercy to those seeking a better way, not condemnation. 

So, my friends, in the end, following Jesus calls for more than small-minded responses.  As noted above, the apostles’ response to Jesus, “Get rid of her,” simply will not do!  All the “life” issues, birth to death, “the seamless garment” as spoken of 50 years ago by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin in Chicago, must be considered.

• Advocating alone for life-in-the-womb, simply will not do! 
•  Caring for babies once here through good housing, food, and education—support for families, social programs that assist and support parents to be good parents. 
• When life doesn’t go as individuals would hope and incarceration may be needed, assisting our sisters and brothers, so confined, to become their best selves through appropriate programming.  With Winona’s new jail planned to open in October, just this type of programming as opposed to the “warehousing” of people is being considered. 
• And for those considered, “the worst among us” 27 states within our country still use the death penalty. For me, it seems that no one is helped in this regard, besides the fact that many more people of color are on death-row with many, over the years, proven to be innocent. 

It would seem that for those of us serious about following Jesus, the less than good measures, simply will not do.  So, my friends, as today we celebrate 15 years as a parish, trying to respond to our world as our best selves, remembering those dear ones who have gone before us who have shown us the way, there are no easy answers to the multi-layered, complex questions that I have laid out here today, but we, like Jesus, have it in us, to be our best.  Amen? Amen!