20th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A - Hearts Burning Within

The Lectionary and Scripture Interpretation for Ordinary Time

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7

Isaiah I: shape up or else; exile is coming 1-39
Isaiah II – Book of Consolation, Comfort. People in captivity, discouraged and tempted to drift 40-55
Isaiah III: going home 56-66 Trito Isaiah; struggle for a new temple and new leadership

We don’t hear much from this third part of Isaiah during Ordinary Time; it’s more of an Advent and Christmas season section.

When we were all going through the pandemic, many of us longed for a “return to normal.” But once we actually got there we realized it was a “new normal” rather than the old familiarity for which we had longed. This is how the Jewish people felt as they returned to Palestine after the exile in Babylon. Chapters 56-66 were written in the Jewish homeland after the return from exile but these chapters often display a sense of disappointment and frustration with the realities of the restoration.

The Jews in exile in Babylon wanted a “return to normal”: let’s get home, back to the Temple, back to the way things were. Except that the exile had changed them in the same way the pandemic changed us. There really is no going back to “normal.” But guess what?! The vision of what they went back to, as laid out in third Isaiah was something way better than the old normal. It was a vision of an inclusive faith that embraced the whole world. They were challenged to open up their thinking, expand their horizons, and let God transform them.

In 56:1-8 the prophet is addressing the role that observance of the commandments plays in forming Jewish identity. It brings happiness for the Jews (v2) but it also allows foreigners to become members of the community (vv6-7). That has never been an easy message for the Jewish people to accept, just as in our church today it is not easy for people to accept that “others” might be just as welcome at the table.

Verse 1 has the feel of the Advent season. Justice and righteousness were a common word pair that summed up Israel’s ethical responsibility. Salvation and righteousness were another common word pair that summed up God’s promises. Both of these indicate covenant relationship. This is a reminder that the people are in a covenant relationship with God and each side has a part to play in that relationship.

The first responsibility listed is keeping the sabbath. During the exile, when there was no Temple, keeping the Sabbath gradually replaced Temple worship as being of prime important. Sacred time replaces sacred space. This represented an important development in their faith practices.

Keeping one’s hand from doing evil could be a way to summarize the ten commandments.

In this period there was no formal conversion of Gentiles to Judiasm. Someone who wanted to become a Jew simply began to observe the Torah (including circumcision) and this made them a member of the community. In earlier times, the Gentiles weren’t even allowed to be part of the Jews. If you weren’t born into it, you just couldn’t be Jewish. The idea that a Gentile could become a Jew was a very gradual development. But by this time it’s an accepted part of their faith.

Verse 3 reminds them that anyone who has made this commitment should never feel like an outsider to the faith.

The rest of v3 through v5 (not in the lectionary) talk in particular about eunuchs who want to become Jews. The idea that a Jewish man would not have children was beyond comprehension. There’s a lot of provisions in the Torah to deal with a man who does not have descendants; it was seen as a huge problem that required a lot of workarounds. Someone who wanted to come into the faith and you knew ahead of time they would not produce descendants – it just didn’t make sense!

But God says about these eunuchs: I am going to give them something better than descendants. This was not something that Jews of the time would have been able to wrap their heads around. They couldn’t conceive of anything more important than children. But God makes a way for the unlikeliest of followers to be able to follow.

Verses 6-7 come back to the idea of foreigners who have embraced Judiasim by following the covenant requirements. In the midst of a time when people are struggling to return to what they’ve known in the past, God presents something far more expansive than they can even imagine. It envisions a house of prayer for all people, not a national shrine – a Temple – reserved for the elect few. There is an expansiveness of the faith – a pushing at the boundaries.

Where in your life might God be inviting you to join in something wholly new, beyond that bounds of comfort and familiarity?

Matthew 15:21-28

During Ordinary Time, I’ll cover the Old Testament and then the Gospel readings as a pair so that we can better see the connections.

This is the third of five weeks in this section of chapters 14-17 which talk about the slow recognition and acknowledgment of Jesus for who he is. It parallels chapters 11-12 which talked about the rejection of Jesus.

The material that is skipped between last Sunday and this includes a healing of many at Gennesaret (end of chapter 14) and an altercation with the Pharisees – Jesus corrects their teachings (beginning of chapter 15).

Today’s story is about a woman who asks Jesus to heal her daughter. Mark’s gospel has this story but for Mark, the story functions to show Jesus as a mighty miracle worker. Matthew shifts its focus to the woman’s faith.

In Matthew 10:5-6, Jesus sent the twelve out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. “ Jesus is going to reiterate that in today’s story.

In verse 21 Jesus leaves the area of Gennesaret which is on the sea of Galilee. The region of Tyre and Sidon are north of there; they are the leading cities of Phoenicia – traditional enemies of the Jews. It’s not clear from the text whether Jesus actually entered Gentile territory or just went in that direction.

Jesus is approached by a Canaanite woman. The Canaanites were the original inhabitants of the land occupied by the Israelites. The Canaanites continued to live there and intermarried with the Jews which caused a whole slew of problems over their history.

This woman asks Jesus for “pity.” The Greek words she uses are still used in our liturgy today: kyrie eleison. She blames her daughter’s woes on a demon. In that culture, this is code for an external force that helps explain the unexplainable.

There are so many things wrong with this picture! A foreigner did not approach and address an esteemed teacher in public. An unaccompanied woman did not talk to a man in public. And Gentiles would not talk to Jews in public.

In verse 23 it says Jesus just ignores her. How rude!!!! But we have to understand the culture: the honor code of the culture put Jesus in the superior position. A request was asked by a foreign woman and both of those things put her on a social status far below Jesus. He had absolutely no obligation to answer her and, in fact, he would lower his own status by doing so. Some things in the gospels I think we have to be willing to sit with and let them shock us a little bit. Jesus was acting according to his culture and that culture is so different from ours. I think we have to be careful not to explain it away but rather sit with it and see what it has to teach us.

The disciples want to just get rid of the problem. It’s not clear if they want him to grant her request or just tell her to go away. But based on his reply to them, it seems probable that the disciples want him to grant the request! Jesus replies by repeating his injunction from chapter 10: don’t deal with the Gentiles, go only to the Jews. That’s how he understands his mission at this point.

But the woman is persistent. Recall a few chapters ago when the disciples witnessed 5000 being fed and Jesus walking on water. It took all that for them to do him homage. This woman has seen nothing and Jesus won’t even acknowledge her and yet she does him homage.

Finally he does speak to her in verse 26. Wow – you thought ignoring her was rude! Even in our culture today I think we can understand the insult implied here – he was calling her a dog and it wasn’t nice. In that culture it was even worse – it was a huge insult!

But she doesn’t let that stop her and, in fact, she comes back with a pretty good rebuttal. She debases herself – accepting being called a dog – in order to be heard out of concern for her child. What she is saying is – Yes, the Jews may get salvation first but everyone eventually gets fed. This highlights the place of the Jews in salvation history – salvation is through the Jews. This may be hard for us to swallow – this idea of a chosen people. We want to think we’re all chosen, and we are. But that choosing comes through the Jews. And this Gentile woman points all this out to Jesus.

In last week’s reading, chides Peter saying “O you of little faith.” Now he says to this Gentile woman “Great is your faith!” This is the only place in Matthew where someone is said to have great faith. In that culture, faith is defined in terms of loyalty and commitment (not an intellectual assent or feeling). The woman demonstrates by her actions (loyalty and commitment) that she has faith in Jesus.

And then he says let it be done for you as you wish. He grants her request. This might suggest to us that Jesus developed in his own understanding of his mission. I think this is one of those times where we really see the interplay of Jesus as human and Jesus as divine. Did he know exactly how everything was going to play out from the start? Or did he develop in understanding along the way? I think this is a big question that all four gospel writers grappled with and sought to answer in different ways.

Pray with this passage using imaginative prayer. Come before Jesus and ask him for what is on your heart today. How does he respond?

How do you feel about the idea that Jesus developed in understanding his own mission?

Old Testament / Gospel Connection

How are the Old Testament and Gospel readings connected? Each week I will offer my views on this but I encourage you to first read the passages and look for your own connections!

From Isaiah we got an idea of the expansiveness of the faith – a pushing at the boundaries. Paul will remind us there’s room for everyone! And the Gospel story reinforces that yet again – the boundaries that Israel once drew around themselves are being enlarged in ways they never could have foreseen.

Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

See detailed background on Romans here.

In chapters 9-11 Paul is going to draw heavily on the Old Testament to explain how God’s resolve to include Gentiles in the chosen community seems to have ironically excluded the very people who were initially chosen to form this community – the Jewish people.

Last week in chapter 9 Paul expressed his anguish over the fact that his fellow Jews did not, by and large, accept the gospel. The main point he will make in chapter 11 is that Israel’s disbelief is only partial and only temporary.

In verses 11-16 the key issue is – is Israel’s rejection final? Did they stumble so as to ultimately fall from God’s favor? Paul says no, of course not! He says basically that Israel’s failure to accept the gospel message serves the purpose of allowing the Gentiles into the covenant, which, in turn, makes the Jews jealous to see what the Gentiles now have. Remember – he’s speaking to a culture very different from our own! This was considered a cogent argument and acceptable strategy in that culture, the idea of provoking someone to jealousy in order to affect their actions.

Verses 13-14 are a short parenthesis on how Paul uses this jealousy response in his own apostolic ministry although Paul doesn’t really make it clear how this jealousy response principle is making any significant difference! It feels more like he’s just hopeful this is going to work out!

In verses 16-24 Paul is going to dig into this metaphor and imagery of grafting branches onto an olive tree. Here’s the idea he’s developing with this image: in the beginning, the Jewish Christians had a prejudice against the Gentile Christians. Now the Gentile Christians are starting to rise to prominence, both in numbers and probably also in church leadership. Paul is warning the Gentile Christians not to reverse this prejudice now that they are the majority. This was a warning the Catholic church ultimately did not heed until the Second Vatican Council. The Gentiles have no right to be presumptuous or haughty because they have accepted the Jewish Messiah.

Verses 25-27 are a basic exposition of the mystery concerning the ultimate salvation of Israel with Old Testament support. Paul acknowledges that a “hardening” has come upon Israel in order that the Gentiles might have time to fully embrace the message. A mystery here is not something that can’t be explained necessarily but rather the idea that it’s something to be revealed when the time is right.

Verse 28 says the Jews may have rejected the gospel (making them enemies to the Christians) but that does not change their status as chosen people and beloved of God. This is a beautiful picture of God’s mercy. God makes a covenant with an entire people, not individuals. And he keeps that covenant despite the actions of individuals within the group.

We generally read verse 29 in terms of our own spiritual gifts and call. But the context is about the Jews. God’s gifts to the Jews – Paul detailed these in 9:4-5- those gifts can never be taken away. No matter how hardened the heart of the Jews and how stubbornly they refuse the gospel, Paul says they are still God’s chosen people.

Verses 30-32 provide a summary of this whole section.

In 1965, the Catholic church issued an historic document which changed the attitude of Roman Catholics towards Jews (and also Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists). The Vatican 2 document Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions changed the tone of dialog.

The Catholic church has come a long way in its treatment of the Jewish people. We might feel a bit superior about that itself. But perhaps the Jewish group has been replaced by some other group. If Paul wrote this letter today, what groups might he talk about and what might he say?

Questions to ponder

What do these readings say about how to live day in and day out as Christians?