We meet the Canaanite woman in the Gospel today. Even though most of us are familiar with her story, perhaps this still remains for us a confusing and complex Gospel to understand. When I think of Jesus and his proclamation of God’s kingdom, I think of how Jesus usually meets people in kindness and mercy, especially those who cry out to him in the midst of their reality, those who need healing or a miracle in their lives. Her daughter is possessed by a demon. The Canaanite woman asks Jesus to heal her beloved daughter. That sound like a very serious need, doesn’t it? But, Jesus first meets her requests for help with silence. Then, when the woman kneels down and pleads before him, his response seems very harsh and unsympathetic.
In order to begin to understand this story of the Canaanite woman, we might look at its place in the trajectory of the Gospels. The reading from Matthew’s Gospel last Sunday comes before what we hear today, when the disciples were caught in a storm and cried out to Jesus for help. Peter gets out of the boat and walks toward Jesus, but starts to sink when he sees the impossibility in what he is doing. Jesus scolds Peter and the other disciples for their little faith. The disciples have seen countless healings and miracles that Jesus has performed to proclaim the kingdom of God. Where is their faith in him? Don’t they have faith in his power to heal and to perform miracles? By contrast, we can see the Gospel story of the Canaanite woman not only as a miracle of healing, but also as a story of faith. Perhaps Jesus’ actions with the Canaanite woman were designed to test her faith. Perhaps that is why Jesus acted the way he did. The Canaanite woman never gave up. She persevered in her faith. Perhaps Jesus’ actions help her deepen her faith and stand firm in her faith. In fact, what is faith unless it is put to the test?
In all of our lives, we can all probably point to times when our faith is tested. We are aware of the struggles our Diocese has endured these past couple of years with federal government, with the federal investigation recently concluded in the last few weeks. I had been the interim director of temporal affairs for the diocese only about a month when the federal investigation started. Besides being pastor here at St Jude, I have been involved in the day-to-day operations of the Diocese on its most basic level, first as interim director of temporal affairs, and then this past year as vicar general. You can imagine that this has been a very harsh reality for me many of these days, a lot of work that requires patience, perseverance, and faith. You can imagine the weight I feel from this most days. We now have an agreement with the federal government and the investigation has ended, but the process of reconciliation, of healing, of building up trust still continues. A couple of days this past week, I had been on ZOOM at night attending to such work, and when the day is over, I am so exhausted I have to immediately go to bed to be ready for the next day. Overall, these days of of adversity and challenge during the pandemic call for great faith, for a faith that is patient, creative, tenacious, and persevering. I have told you parts of my story during these last couple of years. I know we all have our perspectives and our own stories and our own journeys. I know a lot of you knew Father Lenin very well. A lot of you had a friendship with him. I know that for a lot of you, this has caused a lot of you to feel a lot of things - anger and frustration and other strong feelings. Perhaps for some of you - this perhaps has impacted your faith. A lot of the work I have been doing at the Diocese has been working on policies, procedures, and internal controls so that we are stronger as a Diocese and as parishes. I have faith in the work I am doing as a priest. I have faith that we are doing the right thing. I trust in the Lord each day as a priest. And I walk by faith. We have a lot of good people in the Diocese working toward healing and reconciliation. We have a lot of good people trying to move us forward.
I recently read a story about a fountain in Dresden, German called the cholera fountain. Back in 1845, this fountain was constructed in this large German city to give thanksgiving and gratitude for having survived a cholera outbreak that killed a lot of people in the city. Go forward about 100 years to 1945. It was near the end of WWII. Dresden was an important city in the German transportation network. The Allied Troops had just suffered terrible losses in the Battle of Bulge. The atrocities of the Auschwitz concentration camp had just been discovered. The Allies knew that had to make a statement and strike a large blow to Germany, so over a three-day period in February 1945, more than 2,700 tons of explosives were dropped on Dresden. Many refugees and civilians were killed. Almost the entire city was destroyed. But the one thing that survived was the cholera fountain, which still stands today. The message of the cholera fountain is not that bad things will not happens, because challenges, struggles, and tragedies are a part of life here on earth. Sometimes, even the things we fear the most can happen. But, maybe the cholera fountain tells us something about faith. Like the water that still flows out of that fountain, the faith that is a God-given gift can still flow within us, no matter what struggles, challenges, and obstacles we face. Just as Jesus called forth the faith of the Canaanite woman, Jesus will call forth the faith in us.
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