Overcoming Discrimination

Sunday readings in brief 20 A

Isaiah 56:1,6-7; Psalm 66(67); Romans 11:13-15,29-32; Mathew 15:21-28

Dear friends, today is the 20th Sunday in ordinary time. The ordinary time is a liturgical period whereby for 34 weeks the readings are carefully arranged to teach specific lessons. This is different from other liturgical periods where we either prepare for or celebrate important moments in the history of salvation. The theme that strikes me the most in today’s liturgical readings is the question of discrimination. In our society today, we face discrimination in different ways. There is what we can call systematic discrimination – a kind that is established and purposely maintained to benefit some at the expense of others (political, economic, social), and cultural discrimination – that is hereditary and deeply entrenched in our thought processes (tribalism, ethnicity, racism, casts).

God chose the people of Israel to be the bearers of salvation that was meant for all peoples. God made this promise to Abraham, “And through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Genesis 22:18). However, with time, and seeing how God intervened to fight for them against other nations, they started feeling privileged and discriminated against others. They forgot that the privilege of being the chosen people was meant for the good of the whole world. We have these kinds of scenarios in our families, in our communities, at our workplaces, and so on. When God blesses us with opportunities and success in life, it is not to make us feel we are better than others but rather to serve others. There is always a reason why God chooses individuals and communities to carry his mission on earth. God is the creator of all and he does not harbor any discrimination against his own people. St. Peter learned this during the very first days of the mission of the apostles, then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).

Through the prophet Isaiah, God pronounces himself clearly that even foreigners who keep his covenant, he will bring them to his holy mountain – meaning he will save them. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For the Jewish people, foreigners were not allowed into the inner part of the temple let alone offering sacrifices. In many places, we experience a discriminatory attitude in the name of us versus them. Where you find people from one ethnic community or race dominating, there is often the attitude of us versus them. There is mutual discrimination between the foreigners and the locals. While the locals may feel invaded and their opportunities being taken by the foreigners, the foreigners may feel threatened or better than the locals hence the cause of discrimination.

St. Paul reminds the Gentiles of the purpose of his mission to them. He, being Jew by birth but also a Roman citizen by registration, he reminds them that salvation came first to the Jews, but they rejected it. His mission was meant to make the Jews jealous so that they may embrace faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes, God may use others to bring us back to our senses when we reject his prompting for us to carry out his mission.

In the Gospel passage today, Jesus uses the opportunity to bring out the hereditary discrimination between Jews and pagans. The Canaanite woman whose daughter was being tormented by the devil comes to Jesus and is probably the most courageous woman that Jesus had encountered so far in his ministry. She was not only a non-Jew but she was also a woman. During those days, many tribes were male-dominated and women had very little or no space to express themselves. Even today, we still have communities that discriminate their women. The Canaanite woman broke the barriers of ethnic and gender discrimination to save her daughter.

Jesus uses this opportunity to mock the hereditary discrimination between Jews and Gentiles and teach his disciples a lesson. The metaphor of children and dogs was an expression that normally children are fed first before dogs. The woman refuses to be discouraged by these discriminatory remarks and insists that even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table. Through the courage and persistence of the woman, Jesus was able to demonstrate to his disciples that faith in him can break all the barriers.

Dear friends, in our life we experience discrimination leveled against us in many circumstances. However, we too discriminate against others sometimes without even knowing it. There is a refrain in Swahili that paraphrased reads, “Blood is thicker than water”, – this means that people always feel close and comfortable with their own kinsmen than they do with foreigners. However, I have come to realize that ‘faith is thicker than blood’ and on many occasions, this is what keeps me moving on in my mission. Whereas blood only ends at the clans or the tribal layer, faith encompassed all clans, tribes, races, statuses, positions, etc.

As we admire and try to imitate the courageous Canaanite woman to face and overcome discrimination toward us, let us also introspect our own lives and see where we demonstrate signs of intolerance and discrimination towards others. God is the Father of us all and he dislikes children who discriminate against their brothers and sisters.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD