As many of you know, I have many nephews and nieces. I am a blest uncle. I enjoy spending time with them. Sometimes I even am asked to babysit them. I enjoy those times, because after it’s done . . . I am ready to re-commit myself to celibacy.
One game we like to play (especially with the young ones) is hide and seek. I remember once playing with one of my nephews when we was about 3 years old. I would go hide and he’d come looking for me . . . and squeal with delight at finding me. Then he would go hide . . . and he would go to the exact same place that I was just in. And of course, he’d be giggling and laughing so I had to pretend that it was hard to find him. And every time he would hide again, he went back to that exact same original spot. It’s as if he wanted to be found.
And so I got to thinking . . . isn’t that the goal for all of us? We want to be found. We want our presence to mean something. Probably everyone here wants to know that they matter.
That is sort of what the woman in the gospel wanted. Now remember that she is from Cana (that’s why she’s call a Canaanite) and Canaanites and Jews did not get along. The Canaanites worship Baal. And of course, the Jews worshipped God. Now Jesus was a Jew. The woman probably heard all about Jesus and the wonderful things he was doing, and she simply want to be acknowledged as good. That is, to be respected as a child of God (even though she is different than Jesus) and to be welcomed as a sister along with all the other followers.
At first it seems that Jesus is sticking to the party line of having no time for non-Jews, but as the story progresses and the woman is determined . . . the real message of the story comes through: shouldn’t we all look at those people that we “dislike” or have no time for? Shouldn’t we each try to tear down some of the blinders and obstacles that keep us closed off?
Our task is to admit that it is good to be found, to be known . . . and perhaps if we start getting to know those “different folk” we might be surprised how similar we all are. We are getting into that political time of year with elections coming up. Too often, we dismiss others because they think differently than us with political views or even social issues like immigration or health care. It is easy to point out differences. It is easy to say that “so and so” doesn’t belong here. What is challenging and also what Jesus invites us to do . . . is to perhaps giggle more, have some fun with others (especially with those we usually assume we won’t like). Get to know the other’s views. For example, ask questions, not for argument sake, but to respect the other and their views. That’s what all of us want anyway . . . to be known
The call of discipleship demands that we look beyond labels and stereotypes to realize that every one of us is a child of God, brothers and sisters all.