Today, I have invited the Permanent Deacon, Gary Bockweg, at our parish, St. Joseph's on Capitol Hill, to share the homily he will be preaching at all our Masses this weekend, the Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary time. Just so there is no confusion: NO! This is not Gary in the picture! Deacon Gary has agreed to offer his homily each month when he preaches, usually the third weekend of the month. Thank you, Gary.
Imagine what would happen if John McCain or Barak Obama
Referred to some group of people as dogs. It would make headlines.
The Internet and talk shows would be abuzz.
Retractions and apologies would be demanded.
So, we might be taken aback by the analogy Jesus uses today.
When the Canaanite woman asks for his help
Not only does he say he won't help her.
That shocking enough.
He goes on to compare her people, the Gentiles -- us -- to dogs.
"It is not right to take the food of the children
And throw it to the dogs."
Does Jesus need some sensitivity training?
No analogy is perfect.
But, despite perhaps stretching the bounds of the politically correct,
Jesus came up with a pretty good one.
The image he evoked clearly and cleverly conveyed his message to the woman.
His first priority was to minister to the Jews -- the children.
Not to the other nations -- the dogs.
She immediately understood and embraced the image he'd created --
And came right back at him.
She had a quick and clever retort of her own.
"Even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."
She may be the only person in the Gospels to top Jesus in a verbal exchange.
Despite the very serious topics --
The plea for healing,
And recognition of the Jews as God first chosen people --
There a touch of lightheartedness to their exchange.
And a sense of respect rather than offense.
The woman calls him Lord.
In the end, he praises her great faith, and grants her request.
This was one of the few reported times that Jesus directly ministered to a Gentile.
But those few instances opened the door for the whole world.
As Paul points out in his letter to the Romans,
God's plan moved forward to the next stage.
He lavished His gifts and His mercy not only upon the Jews.
But upon all of us.
When you stop to think about it, what's so bad about being compared to a dog?
And the word Jesus used can be interpreted as puppy as well as dog.
That's an even friendlier analogy.
On Capitol Hill we love and pamper our dogs.
You see people walking their dogs at all hours of the day and night.
I used to walk my German Shepherd late at night.
Sometimes very late.
People who would probably never stop to talk to me,
Would stop to talk to her.
They probably didn't remember my name (if they ever even knew it.)
But they all seemed to remember Rosebud.
We're funny about our dogs.
Many of us treat them as if they were our children.
And in return they give us their complete and unconditional love and loyalty.
They see us as their master.
And it seems that there's nothing they'd rather do than be near us and serve us.
Even as an active member of the Capitol Hill dog culture,
I was surprised, when I visited Paris.
It wasn't uncommon to go into a nice Parisian restaurant
And see people holding their little dogs on their laps.
Hand-feeding them at the table.
No analogy is perfect.
But one comes to mind when we look at the Mass,
Or when we look to the heavenly banquet.
We're very much like those pampered Parisian puppies.
Not scrambling for scraps on the floor.
But reclining at our Master table
Being hand-fed by that loving Master.
All He asks in return is that we give Him our love and loyalty.
