Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
Reflecting on Matthew 15: 21-28
I don’t think I’d have had the humility to do what that heroic Canaanite woman did. She was finally in the presence of the great Rabbi, the Jesus the provinces were so excited about. “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!” she cried out. Right away we see her great humility, in addressing Jesus by his Jewish title. She was a Canaanite and knew nothing of David or Moses. But she’d done her homework, and knew that this Jew, this Jesus, was often called the Son of David.
She approached him and begged him to heal her dear daughter, who was in the clutches of a demon. The disciples with Jesus did what they so often did. They tried to shush her and get her to move on. What would the Master want with a miserable Canaanite woman?
It’s so disheartening to see the people closest to Jesus, who had traveled hundreds of miles with him, so often miss the mark when it came to compassion for non-Jews.
But this time, Jesus misses the mark too, and tells her he has only come for the Jews. Our hearts break a little every three years when this reading comes up in the lectionary, when we hear Jesus say this to her. But wait! She’s “doing theology,” that is, talking about God, with him! And he is overjoyed that this Canaanite woman, who never had the great privilege of hearing the Word of God, has more faith than most of the Jews he’d come to save.
He cures her daughter, of course. I like to imagine Jesus and this faith-filled woman exchanging a great laugh and a long, grateful hug.
When has humility brought you closer to someone than pride?
Kathy McGovern ©2026