A: 20th Sun of OrdTime (20 Aug 2017) - OPENING OUR DOORS - Mt 15:21-28

Our gospel today gives us pious Christians the difficulty in scrutinizing Jesus’ alleged racialized comments against the Canaanite woman. He referred to her and her ethnic group as a “dog” (v.26) who is unworthy of receiving God’s salvific gifts.

Biblical commentators tried to explain this remark of Jesus in a sanitized way lest Jesus’ reputation is brought into a bad light. I see 3 basic reasons raised in this attempt to water down the sting of Jesus’ words:

• “Nagbibiro lang s’ya” (“He was only joking”). Jesus actually didn’t mean those words. He was merely trying to make their conversation less formal in order to make the Canaanite woman more comfortable with his presence.

• “Naniniguro lang s’ya” (“He was merely testing her”). Jesus was just examining her intent, checking if her act of coming to him is a result of a genuine faith. In verse 28, he indeed praised her admirable faith manifested in her perseverance.

• “Naglalambing lang siya” (“He was being endearing to her”). Jesus, instead of using the usual word for “dog,” employed instead the diminutive Greek word “kunarion” which literally means a “little dog.” By qualifying her as a domestic pet, Jesus appears as somewhat proclaiming to all that she is a domestic companion and is very close to him.

I see the 3 explanations above as sound. However, they stand as very apologetic and do not anyhow dislodge the possibility that the contrary position (that Jesus actually meant what he said) may have some validity as well. Still, we can’t simply welcome it since we can’t imagine Jesus as using racialized words. However, looking at the historical context of his time, the Jews were indeed at odds with other contemporaneous social groupings. Jesus was only speaking the general sentiments of the Jewish population. He may actually mean to demean her ethnic status when he called the Canaanite woman a “dog,” but it should be noted that such is the situation in his time when peoples were not too open to each other for security reasons.

Nevertheless, Jesus was way ahead of his time as he began to open gradually the doors of the admittance of non-Jews into God’s kingdom. Even if it is socially unpopular, he began mixing with them, inviting them to receive God in their lives. Very much connected here are the first and second readings of today, respectively: “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord… I will bring to my holy mountain” (Is 56:6-7) and “I am an apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:13).

Our political global environment nowadays is decorated with leaders who are vulgar, discriminatory, and racial in their speeches—foremost are the American and Filipino presidents. Their supporters have tried their very best to defend their words. Yet like Jesus, they may actually mean what they said (futile then is sanitizing their remarks). However, very much unlike Jesus, they do not really open the doors to the social “Other.” Instead, they brag on the superiority of their ethnic/national grouping, shutting alien groups away and creating walls instead of bridges.

Jesus may indeed be accused as using inappropriate language by our generation, but his alleged ethnocentric mentality is quickly disproved by his act of loving compassion and welcoming of foreigners. We should remember that we are all foreigners to this place called earth. May all of us then especially the leaders of our lands learn from the example of Jesus who by his actions showed that: “Nagmamalasakit kasi s’ya sa lahat” (“He does really care for all”).

- Rex Fortes, CM