WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.319 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:05.879 of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:12.019 The miracle and story that we have heard this 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:17.280 morning comes from St. Matthew's Gospel, and 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:21.920 substantially the same miracle is related in 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:28.620 St. Mark's Gospel. But there are two small differences. 00:00:29.769 --> 00:00:33.950 in a way, small, that you might not catch, we 00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:39.109 might not catch the first time. In St. Matthew's 00:00:39.109 --> 00:00:43.409 Gospel, she is described as a Canaanite woman. 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:49.130 St. Mark's Gospel, she's described as a Syrophoenician 00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:52.689 woman. So, well, what's the difference? In a 00:00:52.689 --> 00:00:56.509 way, not that much. But the Syrophoenician, that's 00:00:56.509 --> 00:01:00.579 an adjective. that a geographical adjective, 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:05.060 what part of the country she comes from. However, 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:10.040 Canaanite woman is more of a description of her 00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:15.200 ethnic, religious, and cultural background. Canaanite. 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:20.239 And remember, throughout the Old Testament, the 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:24.560 Canaanites were the nemesis for the Jewish people. 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:31.120 St. Matthew, who writes to a predominantly Jewish 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:34.359 audience, he knows that the people are aware 00:01:34.359 --> 00:01:37.980 of this. The Canaanites, when the Israelites 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:41.540 came in, took over the territory, the Canaanites 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:44.299 were there, and they were a constant temptation 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:50.000 for the Jewish people, the chosen people, to 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.640 intermarry with them, to adopt their cultural, 00:01:55.319 --> 00:02:00.120 and sometimes even religious practices. And this 00:02:00.120 --> 00:02:03.540 is why so many of the prophets, when they came, 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:07.980 they would berate the Jewish people for not being 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:13.080 completely loyal and exclusively loyal to the 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:17.979 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So here we 00:02:17.979 --> 00:02:23.680 see a Canaanite woman who was the embodiment 00:02:25.069 --> 00:02:28.069 The Canaanites is a sinful race that embodied 00:02:28.069 --> 00:02:32.250 everything that was wicked and godless and was 00:02:32.250 --> 00:02:36.250 to be resisted in the promised land. Here you 00:02:36.250 --> 00:02:40.550 have a Canaanite woman who comes and asks help 00:02:40.550 --> 00:02:45.169 from Jesus. At first, he doesn't respond to her. 00:02:45.569 --> 00:02:51.270 And the other interesting variant is that in 00:02:51.270 --> 00:02:56.340 St. Matthew's Gospel, In St. Mark's Gospel, she 00:02:56.340 --> 00:02:59.620 says, Lord, have mercy on me. Help me. My daughter 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:04.719 is vexed by a demon. St. Matthew's Gospel, she 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:11.680 comes up and she says, Jesus, son of David, Lord, 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:16.300 help me. My daughter is vexed. This Canaanite 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:22.639 woman uses a messianic title. She knows and she 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:27.879 affirms that Jesus is that promised Messiah who 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:32.900 came to the Jewish people. Now, knowing this, 00:03:32.979 --> 00:03:38.180 also, Jewish people who were around and heard 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:42.319 this would be utterly amazed that here you have 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:48.120 a secular woman. The comparison would probably 00:03:48.120 --> 00:03:51.379 be nowadays. We don't have Canaanites as people 00:03:51.379 --> 00:03:57.000 that are troublesome for us. Our Canaanite temptation 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:00.979 is secularism. But here you have this Canaanite 00:04:00.979 --> 00:04:04.919 woman who embodied opposition to the exclusive 00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:10.180 worship of the God of Israel. She affirms that 00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:15.580 Jesus is the Messiah by calling him son of David. 00:04:18.829 --> 00:04:22.509 This is much like, this I think should be seen 00:04:22.509 --> 00:04:28.790 in connection with an event which happened a 00:04:28.790 --> 00:04:32.209 few chapters earlier in St. Matthew's Gospel. 00:04:32.370 --> 00:04:37.649 Remember, the centurion comes and asks Jesus' 00:04:37.970 --> 00:04:43.769 help for his suffering servant or son. And here 00:04:43.769 --> 00:04:49.439 you have a Roman soldier. who asks help from 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.959 Jesus. And the Roman soldier says, Lord, it's 00:04:52.959 --> 00:04:56.279 not even necessary for you to come to my house. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:59.100 I'm not worthy to have you come to my house. 00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:04.500 Just say the word. And here you have a Roman 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:08.019 soldier and a few chapters later, a Canaanite 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:13.439 woman that asks help from Jesus. And then Jesus' 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:16.680 response finally doesn't say anything at first. 00:05:18.250 --> 00:05:23.209 He says to her, it's not good to take the children's 00:05:23.209 --> 00:05:27.269 food and throw it to the dogs, because he said 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:29.810 first that I've come to the house of Israel, 00:05:29.930 --> 00:05:34.529 so that's my mission, to present the gospel, 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:37.470 the good news, to the Israelis, to the Jewish 00:05:37.470 --> 00:05:40.949 people. That's my primary focus of attention. 00:05:42.250 --> 00:05:45.910 And that's when she says, he says, that's why... 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.060 I cannot take the children's food and throw it 00:05:50.060 --> 00:05:54.199 to the dogs. Now this sounds much more insulting, 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:58.040 I think, to us nowadays. It certainly wasn't 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:03.339 complimentary at that time. But it was a duel. 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:07.180 A lot of the commentators say Jesus engaged in 00:06:07.180 --> 00:06:10.819 a duel of wits with her because he knew what 00:06:10.819 --> 00:06:14.060 her response was going to be. And when he said 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:19.870 that, he says, O Lord, even the tiny dogs, the 00:06:19.870 --> 00:06:23.629 whelps, eat food that falls from their master's 00:06:23.629 --> 00:06:29.050 table. And Jesus says, O woman, great is your 00:06:29.050 --> 00:06:35.250 faith, be it done to you. So this affirmation 00:06:35.250 --> 00:06:39.889 of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus grants her request, 00:06:40.209 --> 00:06:44.209 just as he granted the request of the centurion. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:53.019 What does this mean to us? To us as Christians, 00:06:53.420 --> 00:06:57.439 and even more specifically as Orthodox Christians, 00:06:57.860 --> 00:07:03.420 much has been given. We are the recipients of 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:07.420 the gospel message of Jesus, of the apostolic 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:11.620 preaching that has come down to us for 2 ,000 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.889 years. Much has been given to us. And as our 00:07:15.889 --> 00:07:19.810 Lord says elsewhere in the Gospels, to whom much 00:07:19.810 --> 00:07:25.689 has been given, much will be expected. So we 00:07:25.689 --> 00:07:30.509 ask ourselves, myself and yourself, do our thoughts, 00:07:30.550 --> 00:07:35.149 words, and deeds, especially in our dealings 00:07:35.149 --> 00:07:39.550 with other people, do we reflect the teaching 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:44.459 and love of Jesus? in our words and deeds and 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:48.339 thoughts. Much has been given to us. Much will 00:07:48.339 --> 00:07:54.060 be expected. A fitting conclusion would be to 00:07:54.060 --> 00:07:59.139 remind you that this Canaanite woman is mentioned 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:03.519 in one of the pre -communion prayers, the collection 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:08.720 of prayers that we recite before we receive Holy 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:13.029 Communion. And in one of the prayers attributed 00:08:13.029 --> 00:08:21.269 to St. John of Damascus in the 700s A .D., this 00:08:21.269 --> 00:08:25.089 prayer says, O Christ my God, who did justify 00:08:25.089 --> 00:08:29.370 the publican and had mercy on the Canaanite woman 00:08:29.370 --> 00:08:33.409 and opened the gates of paradise to the thief, 00:08:33.730 --> 00:08:41.799 open the compassion of thy love to us. Receive 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:46.379 me, and may I dare to approach to receive your 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:50.580 holy body and blood. A few minutes from now, 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:54.039 we will receive the body and blood of Christ 00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:58.139 in Holy Communion. This is a pledge of our commitment 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:02.480 to Jesus in our thought, words, and deeds, which 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:06.559 we reflect in our life and our dealings with 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:08.139 other people. Amen.