The Parable of the Murderous Tenants, Speculum humane salvationis Badische c.1350, Badische Landesbibliothek MS Karlsruhe 3378, fol. 69r, Karlsruhe, Germany.

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…when the tenants saw the (owner’s) son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

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We have another vineyard image in today’s gospel and this time I remembered a friend who grew up in Greece before his family came to the USA. Well his grandmother owned a vineyard, and he was marshaled into the workforce at a very tender age, and basically placed into the winepress and told to start treading (presumably with washed feet)! Yes folks, that type of ancient winemaking is still to be found, especially with children, as they are not heavy enough to crush the grape seeds which would make the wine bitter. They will simply crush the grapes, and the juice extracted is collected for the next step. I wonder if granny is still doing that…

Today’s first reading talks of the care that an owner took preparing for a new vineyard on fertile land – stones cleared away, watchtower for protection and alerts built, the winepress acquired, the best vines purchased, but all to no avail: sour grapes only. What more could  the owner have done, assuming the weather had also collaborated? The answer of course, is nothing. He had done all in his power to assure success. And today, it seems, the way to do that comes from the second reading today.

There, St. Paul provides the satisfying answer. Truth, honor, justice, purity, the beautiful, the full of grace, excellence, anything praiseworthy are all linked together as the perfect life in God, the God of peace. No matter the challenges, and there will be many, the enormity of the decent life is always a challenge. Paul taught the Philippians to trust in such a life, to live by it and to deal with the obstacles, the difficulties, the struggles, the hardships in the best way aligned with God’s directives. Because with the Lord, nothing is insuperable. And so, today’s chilling parable comes onto focus. There is a plot to murder the owner’s son (presumably the only heir) and with a bit of luck the workers will end up owning the land, assuming the owner is devastated by his loss. But – not so. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. The perpetrators will be punished and those taking over will live in the peace that comes from the right life.

How Do Grapes Grow? Bloom, Veraison, Ripening & Harvest, Coravin.  

Jesus clearly meant each element in his story to represent the history of Israel from its earliest days. Israel was given to the Hebrew people by God, which is to say, the vineyard itself and the workers are seen as its original occupants. He then sent his servants to check on progress and what profit the vineyard had achieved. But these were each treated with contempt and brutality – the prophets sent by God over the centuries to get the people back to the truth and the divine way. Then the owner – God the Father – figured if he sent his only Son, then they would listen and amend their ways. Not so… Hence the owner then decided to employ other tenants – us – in the hope that they (we) would do a better job and succeed in achieving what the owner had always wanted, happiness for all. And the strange thing is, that doing God’s will is the means through which we achieve happiness! Doing what God wants for us can hardly be thought of as anti-human which would make no sense at all. God wants each of us to be fully human, as Jesus himself was, the same as us in all things – but sin. That is the way towards happiness. The closer we are to the model that Jesus left for us, the closer to the heart of love we will be. And that is where happiness is to be found; indeed, the only way!

“The oldest wine bar in the world”, Al Brindisi, Tripadvisor, Ferrara, Italy.

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The Parable of the Two Sons, Richard Dobbs Acrylic on Canvas 2025, Christian Painters and Art Lovers.

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[Jesus asked], Which of the two did his father’s will?”    Matthew 21:31.

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Jesus points out today in stark clarity the difference between what we say and what we do. Sometimes, as in today’s parable, our actions can end up being the exact opposite of what we say. One son said “Yes” to his father’s request, the other “No”, and each did the exact opposite of what they had said. Here, clearly, actions speak infinitely louder than words. But look a little further into this story. Jesus compares the chief priests and elders of the people, the ruling class you might say, to those who could possibly claim to be the dregs of society, prostitutes whose lives were sinful and the hated and despised tax collectors who worked for the enemy – the Romans – and were therefore labelled unclean and unworthy of any place in society; and recall that Matthew, whose feastday was last Monday, was such an outcast until the Lord saw his inner reality. Now transpose the story up another level. The parable begins with a father asking  his sons to go work in the vineyard. One says yes and does nothing, the other no, but does, in fact, do as his father requested. The despised and rejected prostitutes and tax collectors had initially said no to a life of grace in the presence of God as evidenced by their life choices, then many of them heard the message as delivered by John the Baptist, and changed their whole lives into one of grace and therefore pleasing to God. Jesus then strongly implied that the highest people in Jewish society also saw John succeeding in changing his followers for the better, yet still condemned him. There is also no evidence that those people tried to intervene and save him from the ignominious death ordered by King Herod (beheading). Yet he had succeeded in his ministry and the leaders of their society did nothing to support, encourage and imitate him. They were the people who had said “yes” to God but had done nothing even after witnessing the good that John had achieved. In that sense, they had betrayed God!

And God is worthy of so much more. Today’s second reading from St Paul’s second letter to the Philippians is possibly the most beautiful Scripture passage of all. This is my favorite translation from the Greek differing slightly from today’s reading:

Though he was in the form of God,

Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

That is the way the chief priests and elders of the people should have reacted to John’s acknowledgement that Jesus was the Messiah and more especially Jesus’ actual presence in their midst! But they did not. And, as a consequence of the prayer above, it is why we genuflect at the presence of God in the tabernacle, why we kneel during the central prayer at Mass, to show our respect and belief in what the words say, and what happens to the humble bread and wine present on the altar. Today’s first reading in a way sums up everything: But if we turn from the wickedness we have committed, and do what is right and just, we shall preserve our life; since we have turned away from all the sins that we have committed, we shall surely live, we shall not die. And there it is, Sunday after Sunday, stretching each Sunday’s teaching into that week, as we try to be decent heralds of life, and live up to the clear expectations God has for us. And, with God’s unfailing help, we can do that, we can be Christ to the world, fulfilling our divine vocation day after day. Amen, Alleluia!

The Baptism of Christ, Perugino 1482, The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City State.

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“Felices nimium colitur qucis vinea Christi aequa laborantes praemia namque ferent.” 

“Too blessed are those who tend the vineyard of Christ; for they shall receive equal rewards for their labors.”

Ambrosius Francken I, Thesaurus Novi Testamenti, 1580-1585.

[The vineyard owner said] “What if I wish to give this last one [hired] the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?” Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”     Matthew 20:15-16.

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You can almost hear the objections of those workers who had toiled in the fields all day as they watched all the recently hired workers get identical pay (and also had to wait for them to get their wages even though they were the first workers hired!). Yes, the immediate reaction is to think that they should have received more for their extra toil – except, of cause, it wasn’t extra: it was the exact amount they had agreed to at the beginning of the day. Technically they had no reason at all to complain! And the first thought to emerge is that the whole parable is a description of our work as children of God through our lifetime, trusting that we too will be admitted into heaven. But of course you cannot get “more” or “less” heaven depending on how long you have tried to obey God’s will through life… Heaven is what it is, no more or less, and we simply do our best to behave, think and respond to situations as God wills us. But a parallel situation occurred to me thinking about this parable.

To be a Christian in the first 300 years of the church risked losing your life! If you did not accept the Roman emperor as divine (therefore, as a living god) and rejected the pantheon of gods and goddesses who protected the Empire, you risked torture and death. It was a form a treason, murder of the state: if you did not worship the gods and the emperor, who protected the state, you threatened the safety of the state, were guilty of treason and therefore had to be punished. Quite logical. It was due to the Emperor Constantine that Christian persecution ended once and for all in the Roman Empire in the year 313. In fact, his immediate predecessor Emperor Diocletian had inflicted the worst Christian persecution known up to that time. So the confusion among those early Christians must have been total – threatened with terrible death in many creative ways, and then only a few years later Christianity was declared legal! But here’s the thing: Constantine, after a legendary victory at the Milvian Bridge, which won him the throne, seems to have been convinced of the truth of Christianity. But – and it’s a big ‘but’ – he waited for baptism until literally on his deathbed. To this day the Church states that all sins are forgiven at baptism. And Constantine waited until the very end before being baptized. So couldn’t you say that Jesus’ parable today parallels that situation? I have been trying to do the right thing for the Lord for the past 81 years, and yet I know that has not been a sinless period! Purgatory was established for the likes of me – the cell in which I will be imprisoned awaits. And I might well see someone I may have condemned in life for being a reprobate and who had not been baptized, but who saw the light at the last moment, was baptized and flies past me into the heavens….. That’s what the first laborers in the parable felt! After all, I knew all that time what I should have done in all circumstances, yet so many times I did not act the way I should have. It is for those failures I must pay the price before gaining heaven. It’s called justice.

So what can we make of this whole complicated scenario? A super generous God of course! God can do things which, by any of our standards, are unthinkable! Yes indeed: the Lord can welcome some into his kingdom way ahead of any of us, greet each of them warmly while we wait (and  it might well be a long wait) before it’s our turn. So we have a choice: moan and groan about our miserable lot (Look at what I have done to help others! Look and see how much I have paid to charity! Look at the time I have devoted to others when I could have had a great time)…. and so on. God can see things and evaluate things of which we have no clue. What we should do is rejoice in a God so wonderfully generous who tends to the strays before he comes to us. So we should rejoice in their salvation and their realization that much of their lives had been a mess and the huge remorse that comes with that, but they saw that at long last, and did something about it. And us? Well, we can wait a little longer, happy in the fact that we belong to God’s chosen, knowing that a just God will, indeed, gather us up as well.

Life.Church’s Post, September 12, 2025.

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Pope John Paul II visits and forgives Mehmet Ali Ağca, who attempted to kill him in 1981.

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.      Matthew 18:21-22.

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It would be a reasonable guess that Peter was surprised, if not astounded, at Jesus’s response to his question, mentioned above. It is such a human reaction to get even with someone who has done us wrong. Hollywood would probably not exist if there was an eternal and universal desire to forgive and possibly forget (though probably to remember where the hatchet is buried). However, there is quite a lot of research and discovery about revenge, and how debilitating it can be – and how entertaining if it does not concern you! The classic British film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is totally based on revenge with no sign of remorse or guilt. It’s great entertainment, but not based on contemporary evidence which suggests that revenge does not satisfy as it retains the pain inflicted and the anger which resulted from the hurt. Here is some of the latest research on revenge which is remarkable, and also happens to fit right into Jesus’ forthright thinking. With that in mind, we can approach the demand that Jesus insisted upon: Forgive! And there is more. Jesus was quite prone to idiomatic expression; if you take his instruction literally, then you must forgive 77 times (in this translation from the original Greek, more often translated as “Seventy-seven times seven times” or 539 times). After that – what? The literalist would perhaps say it’s fine to take revenge then. No – not so. We have many expressions in English which are strictly idiomatic, not to be taken seriously. For example:

The origin of the expression “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs” (and Pitchforks apparently), published by George Cruikshank, “Very Unpleasant Weather” 1820.

…..or, as I well remember listening years ago to then Communist East Europe short-wave radio: “Tonight it’s raining dogs and cats here in Bucharest”. Idioms have a way of making a point strongly, albeit indirectly, on which the Lord capitalized. And revenge, “a dish best eaten cold” it is said, (though it is even better not served at all) might well have provided the strength for “Kind Hearts…”, the movie mentioned above. But the research says that revenge seems to have the potential to take over our whole thought process, even damaging and corrupting our whole mind, and with no acceptable outcome except for doing more wrong. “Forgive” says the Lord, always, everywhere, without question, bear no evil thoughts of revenge. In the famous movie “Jesus of Nazareth”, there is an imaginary scene set in the Temple in Jerusalem between Jesus and Barabbas. Fully expecting Jesus to call the people to arms and defeat the Romans, Barabbas reassures Jesus of their willingness to follow him to victory. But Jesus had a very different idea… Forgiveness may seem to be impossible in the heat of the moment, but when some perspective is possible, we must forgive – and from the heart. Consider the clear contrast with the determined revenge in “Kind Hearts…” with another stage character, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. You will recall that he was imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his family and then could not find work once released as he was still on parole. But he, rather than pursue a life of crime (and he was clever enough to do so) was transformed because of his experience with the saintly Bishop of Digne, who bought his soul for Christ in a key event, and went on to a life of selfless dignity and worth. And finally, there was that terrible slaughter of the innocents in West Nickel Mines in Pennsylvania in 2006. A man broke into a one-room Amish school and shot dead five children in cold blood. The response of the grief-stricken parents and the Amish community can be seen here, one of the most incredibly Christian responses in the face of evil unimaginable.

Today’s other two readings reinforce the Lord’s clear instruction, but with rather more severe language. Sirach says, “Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor….” And the second reading focuses on the essentials: “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord….” And revenge of any kind cannot survive a life lived that way. But it does indeed have the potential to lead us down the wrong pathway away from life hand in hand with the Lord, to a destiny of tears and hatred, just what the Devil ordered!

Holy Trinity Catholic Church (permanently closed), Romeo Celleghin 1946, Lorain, Ohio, USA. 

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Jesus embracing the Prodigal Son, unknown provenance.

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Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.    Matthew 18:15.

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At the heart of the Christian message is the challenge and reality of forgiveness. It can be desperately hard to forgive, but the Lord himself managed it, forgiving those who had crucified him. And with forgiveness comes freedom, because anger, retribution, hatred and revenge are all chains, limiting our freedom to be our true selves, children of God. A recent article in the APS magazine says “Behavioral scientists have observed that instead of quenching hostility, revenge can prolong the unpleasantness of the original offense and that merely bringing harm upon an offender is not enough to satisfy a person’s vengeful spirit.”  In other words, revenge doesn’t work, does not bring peace and seems to be able to make a bad situation even worse. It seems to be a sort of cancer of the mind, able eventually to dominate the individual who gives way to it. And the healthy opposite of all that is forgiveness. Jesus in today’s gospel offers a practical alternative to such destruction, with a culmination which seems to be a shunning of the individual who is unable to confess, to be treated a “a Gentile or a tax collector”, someone disliked by society (but still worthy of respect). But then we must remember that Matthew was a hated tax collector, but Jesus went to his (shunned) house for dinner – which won him over! So the message would seem to be, keep trying to forgive! Indeed, today’s first reading seems to mandate an effort for us all to attempt to “dissuade the wicked from his way” whether we like it or not! And today’s second reading appears to provide the strength to do all this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Love, which can be expressed in many ways is the antidote. Here are some real stories of forgiveness where it seemed it was impossible to do so. And then there was this terrible crime which was met with incredible love.

It is possible that each one of us has been damaged, insulted or ridiculed by another at some time in our lives. Perhaps it was a parent, or an apparent friend who truly wasn’t, or a colleague at work who turned out to be the opposite of what we had hoped for. So be it – but how did we deal with it? It can take a really long time for many of us to come to forgiveness. I often suggest to people who mention such blighted moments in their lives, that the person responsible who reacted unacceptably might well be acting in best way they can. It may well be far from the way each of us would act – but it might be their best way, and who are we to reject it? We can quietly pity them in their cold world of being always right and we always wrong. But it is their choice, and our challenge as children of God is to act in such a good, loving way that will sow seeds of love which might well take root in that other and change them. I think that is the source of today’s message. Not easy, but at least full of hope. After all, if we demonstrate the behavior we wish others would copy, then there is the best model for them. If we can do it, so can they! Take a look at this.

So today’s readings seem to challenge all of us, all in different situations, different milieux, different backgrounds and so on. But the challenges may well be very similar, and this Sunday the Lord is asking each of us to look around, assess those around us and see where is the greatest challenge (or challenges). Then decide on an appropriate course of positive action, and begin! And never forget; when we look inside ourselves, do we find what we hope for there? Is that perhaps the place we should begin? Look at today’s readings, and each of us could begin at comparing the ideals we find there to the ideals we find in our own hearts…..

Ave Christus Divinus.

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 Christ Rebuking Saint Peter, Flemish School, artist unknown, National Trust: Kingston Lacy, Dorset, UK.

Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as humans do.”     Matthew 16:21-23.

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This scene in the gospels is probably unique. Literally minutes after Jesus had entrusted the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to the leader of the apostles than he called him “Satan”! And, recalling last Sunday’s gospel, he had even changed Simon’s name to Peter, a name which means “Rock” suggesting that he was rock steady! Clearly something had been horribly mistaken for Jesus to employ such an extreme name to his most trusted disciple! What had Peter done to deserve such a rebuke? Well, look at what Jesus had just predicted: he said he was on the way to Jerusalem where, shockingly, he would suffer greatly at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the scribes (who controlled all of Jewish society) and be killed. Peter’s rejection of that prediction was what precipitated Jesus’ extreme response (though he clearly missed the crucial final words Jesus uttered: “…and on the third day be raised”). Not really surprising though, as those other predictions were so dire. Here was the man all his followers were convinced was the Messiah, the Promised of God – yet was saying he was doomed! I might well think any one of us would be tempted to do exactly what Peter did! It was unthinkable that the Messiah would suffer, he who was to restore the very Kingdom of David and expel all pagans, the Roman occupying force, and recreate God’s kingdom. Well, no: Jesus was to suffer and be killed!

Throughout the previous 500 or so years, the Hebrew people had lived under an almost unyielding pagan nations the messianic prophecies that it would all end: when kings would bow down before the Jewish Messiah and all would at last be right in the world. All the Jewish population was reared on such biblical prophecy but as there was no date on when this would occur, everyone was ready for the call at any time! And note well that there were indeed three uprisings against the Romans about then, in AD 66, then AD 115 and a third in AD 132. All were disastrous, and the third one resulted in all Jews being expelled from Jerusalem, which was even renamed Aelia Capitolina. But it certainly points to the conviction that almost all the Jewish population clung to the belief that an uprising would come to restore David’s kingdom. It didn’t. But it does explain Peter’s explosive rejection of Jesus’ prediction of disaster and death, especially when he and all his followers supported the popular expectation of an uprising against the pagan Romans, led by Jesus! And there is a thought for us today, an armor-clad Messiah charging into battle against a feeble Roman resistance resulting in – what?

And that might be an entrée into today’s first reading. The word “duped” is ugly, not poetic in the slightest degree and not worthy of a place in the Bible, but there it is. Jeremiah is complaining that God’s calling for him – a prophet – was not the cosy, life-affirming career he had hoped for. “Deceived” is the normal word for this passage in the other translations, and carries greater weight (in my opinion). But that actually tied in with Jesus’ predicament in today’s gospel, though he did not complain like Jeremiah. But he eventually did ask for that cup of suffering to be taken back in Gethsemane: “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39). And Paul, in today’s second reading, reassures us that obedience to God’s will, whatever it might be, is the road which is good and pleasing and perfect. In other words, whatever life may throw at us, sometimes pleasant, other times catastrophic, obedience to God’s will is what will keep us rooted in the good and pleasing and perfect. Jesus trod that route, in his case, to the bitter end. And it is to him that our eyes should be set at all times, for there is life eternal and the promise of everlasting happiness.

The Agony in the Garden, El Greco and workshop 1590s, The National Gallery, London, UK.

St. Peter Receives the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer MA, USA. 

Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.       Matthew 15:16-19.

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First. let me refer you to the reflection of August 9th, where the connection between Peter’s name and its meaning are explained in some detail. If you speak a Romance language it will be much easier for you to understand the explanation! This passage from Matthew is the foundation of the claim for the Pope to be the direct ordained descendant of Peter, and to hold the keys of Heaven as Christ said. Indeed, the very coat-of-arms of the Vatican City State display this claim to the fullest:

Here you see the papal crown (which has not been used to crown a pope since Pope Paul VI in 1963) and the keys of St. Peter. The Vatican City State is the smallest sovereign state in the world, at just under 50 square kilometers. For centuries the middle of Italy comprised the States of the Church until the reunification of Italy in 1861, with the result that popes were so-called “prisoners in the Vatican” until the creation of the Vatican State in 1929. This means that the Vatican now has ambassadors (called “nuncios”) throughout the world, representing the “Holy See”. But I doubt that Jesus had all that in mind when he addressed St. Peter in the way described in today’s gospel! But it certainly represented a significant recognition of Peter as the leader of the first Christian community. And the Catholic Church has taken that passage as demonstrative of the claim that the Pope is the leader of the Christian Church here on earth. However, all Orthodox Christians and all Protestants deny that claim; however for the first 1000 years or so, it certainly seemed that way, or at the very least, the Pope was “first among equals” (primus inter pares in Latin). Additionally, if you look back to Sunday 9 August 2026 (the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time), you will see my lengthy explanation of the meaning of Jesus’ new name for Simon bar Jonah, “Cephas”, or “Rock” in Aramaic, Jesus’ language. Also, note that today’s gospel ends with the commission making Peter the leader of the church. Nothing more. But if you read the very next verses, where Jesus announces that he will be arrested, condemned and killed, Peter vehemently objects and is then called Satan by Jesus! Because Peter, and the rest of the disciples, have no idea of what the true Messiah must undergo. Their idea of the Messiah was the same as everybody else’s, the conquering hero who will defeat the Romans and re-establish the Kingdom of David. Not so.

But today’s gospel only points to the leadership of the early church and who was to lead it. Note also the authority Jesus gives to the early church, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. It is similar to the authority Jesus gave to the apostles after this resurrection, where he gives them power to forgive sins, among other things, but here the basis of the sacrament of Reconciliation, accepted as such by the Catholic and Orthodox churches. So these verses are very important in the development of the early church, and date down to this present moment. Today’s other readings seem to be a reflection on the theme of leadership – or its mystery: “For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid?” – as the second reading says. In other words, remember who is really in charge! So today is perhaps a lesson in reality and humility – even the early church required a way to control itself, a way to bring order into potential chaos. And so it was. And for many years the papacy really did proclaim the pope as a semi-divine leader, using all the pomp derived from the Roman Empire itself. But now humility seems to have become the order of the day. Today the pope is a leader facing the same challenges and should demonstrate the same humility all leaders should show, and perhaps has become a model of appropriate use of authority, a Christian model, a humble model, replacing the older model:

 

Pope Pius XII, 1939-1958 in St. Peter’s Basilica: the Sedia Gestatoria.

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Jesus and the Canaanite woman, “Serbian Fresco” provenance unknown.

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[The Canaanite woman said] ….”Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Matthew 15:27.

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Here is Jesus taking a leaf out of his own book! You will recall his parable of the Good Samaritan, where a Jewish gentleman on his way to Antioch was waylaid by robbers, beaten, stripped and left to die in the desert sun. A priest and a Temple official passed by without stopping. A hated Samaritan (Jews at that time considered Samaritans to be condemned heretics) stopped, bandaged the man, took him to the nearest inn, told the innkeeper he would be back and would pay for any extra expenses. The Jews hearing that story for the first time would have been astounded! Jews and Samaritans did not get long well together! Now in today’s gospel we have a real-life parallel. Jesus was apparently traveling in old Canaan, near Tyre and Sidon, which was definitely not a Jewish land. Indeed for centuries the Canaanites were considered to be the traditional enemies of the Jews. But, for whatever reason, Jesus was in Canaan. Then it happened. A Canaanite woman, who somehow had heard of this Jewish master teacher and healer of all sorts of maladies was in the area. She must have done some research and found out where he was. She had a daughter who was being plagued by devils. Now that could have been any number of problems which we today would call by different names, but the result was the same: abject misery and desperation. So she begged the Lord for help. A Canaanite begging a Jew would in itself be extraordinary; she was clearly at her wits end. Then came the extraordinary conversation with this woman and Jesus. The Lord clearly considered himself called only to the Jewish people, the Chosen of God. That becomes crystal clear in the dialog which followed the Lord’s silence after the woman begged him for help:

But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

And it seems that Matthew’s version of this encounter, as there is a similar one in Mark, is more combative; for example, the term “Canaanite” was obsolete by then. Mark’s term is “Syro-Phoenician”, which was current at that time. Matthew saying “Canaanite” seems deliberately to conjure up the centuries of warfare and distrust between the two peoples. That, of course, makes Jesus’ volte-face even more striking! The woman’s clever retort to Jesus’ put down clearly counted for something: he restored her daughter to health (look at the right side of the icon above, showing the moment the evil demon was exorcised from the girl). But he had obliquely called the woman a dog! No question about that. What is going on? Here is one powerful explanation: “The narrative portrays Jesus being bested by a woman and changing his behavior on that account. This is the only instance in the extant tradition of Jesus being taught by someone, and that someone is a woman who should not properly be speaking to him at all.” (Harriot Reed Congdon). It is apparently a critical moment, when Jesus enlarged his own view of his mission, now open even to non-Jews, the Gentiles. And this done by a Gentile woman! Oy veh!

Like most of us, Jesus grew up in a society which had its heroes and its bêtes noirs as all do. For centuries the Jews and the Canaanites had been at each others’ throats, not least because of the Canaanite belief in the supreme god El, and all their other gods and goddesses. It was somewhat similar to the world in which I grew up, where we Catholics were assured at all Protestants were doomed! Thankfully all that has been quietly dropped, but Jesus was in the thick of a tradition which confronted him directly and strongly – and he changed! Not exactly in a gentle way, as his response was, at the least, abrupt: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Almost begrudging! But he helped her, and her daughter was returned to her. That was the point. Yes, Jesus was sent to everyone! He clearly had a bit of an internal struggle, but of course he came down on the right side, and almost certainly established a tradition among his followers that we are all God’s children, even those we don’t like! And in a way it culminated later in the gospel in the Roman centurion approaching Jesus on behalf of his servant who was dying. Firstly he was a Roman soldier, symbolic of Jewish oppression, was unclean as he ate food forbidden to Jews, and a pagan (Matthew 8:5-10). (And note that his humility is echoed by each of us every Mass when we respond to priest’s announcement: “Behold the Lamb of God….). But it seemed that Jesus had much less difficulty dealing with him than he had with the woman. But both the Canaanite woman and the Roman soldier seem to stand for most of us who were not brought up in a Jewish family but yet are fully incorporated into Jesus’ church. It took some adaptation on the part of the totally Jewish early Christians to accept non-Jews, but they eventually came round to the idea that we are all God’s children, all in need of the Lord and his saving power. And, typically, the Canaanite woman and her daughter were apparently fully incorporated into the church, both even given names in the Pseudo-Clementine literature. We should also not forget that the Devil is an equal-opportunity merchant, happily servicing pagan and non-pagan alike! The other two readings today seem to echo the theme of incorporation, stating “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord” in the first reading and Paul’s remark to the Romans: “Brothers and sisters: I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles…” So, along with the walls of Jericho, all the barriers between us and the first Jewish-Christians came a-tumblin down!  – and it has remained so ever since; after all, it was Pope Francis who urged us all to “build bridges, not walls”…

POLITICO, Nov. 11, 1989 file photo, East German border guards are seen through a gap in the Berlin wall after demonstrators pulled down a segment of the wall at the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.