Jesus Christ, A Homeless Dog 耶穌基督，喪家之狗

Twentieth Ordinary Sunday, Year A
Theme: Jesus Christ, A Homeless Dog 耶穌基督，喪家之狗

Let’s begin our meditation today with dogs. Dogs are wolves domesticated to different degrees. Some breeds are more ferocious than the others are. Similarly, some civilizations would treat dogs better than the others would. They would call dogs “man’s best friends” for their loyalty and companionship. It is well illustrated by parishioners who request celebrating memorial masses for their deceased pet dogs. On the other hand, other civilizations have no qualm cooking or eating dogs! For example, a Chinese idiom even goes, 「仗義每多屠狗輩 People who practise justice are mostly dog-butchers!」No matter what, calling a person a “dog/bitch” would never be giving that person a dignity due him no matter how evil that person is in the eyes of most people. Uttering such demeaning words from the lips of our merciful Lord is the last thing we would expect to hear on earth. It’s rather mind-boggling how Jesus would say such harsh words to a Canaanite woman who begged Him respectfully for help, “But the woman came and did him homage, say, ‘Lord, help me.’ He said in reply, ‘It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs’” (Matthew 15:25-26).

Of course, we might defend Jesus by saying that He did not intend to humiliate the Canaanite woman. He was only speaking objectively about what should not be done in general. If you take it personal, it is not His fault. Moreover, didn’t Jesus also call Jewish sinners “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (15:25), thus comparing them to animals? Therefore, Jesus had been fair and His words were not discriminatory. Secondly, Jesus was testing the faith of the Canaanite woman ... You should find this second reason unreasonable. Jesus is the Son of God and the Evangelists are eager to show Jesus to be a mind reader whenever the occasions arose (9:4; Mark 2:8; Luke 6:8; John 2:25). Moreover, if God really wants to put somebody to the test, the Bible would say so (Genesis 22:1). As for Jesus’ intention, it is regrettable to say the context of the dialogue strongly suggests that Jesus was discriminating against this Canaanite woman in this encounter. Why didn’t Jesus apply the same “lost sheep” label? But discrimination and mercy are contradictory. How do we harmonize them in this encounter of Jesus’ ?

Suppose I ask you what you prefer to be called by the Jesus in Matthew, a “sheep” or a “dog”. What’s your choice?
First of all Matthew mentions “dog” three times only and twice in this Canaanite woman incident. It appears once earlier in the Sermon on the Mount discourse and reads, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:7). In this case, dogs and boars refers to people who not only reject the gospel but also attack the witnesses of the gospel, such as the Jewish religious authority. They were enemies of Matthew’s community of Jewish Christians. At least, “dogs” carried negative connotations in Matthew’s mind. Moreover, in other gospels, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and He gives his life for the sheep (John 10:11). He would leave 99 sheep behind to search for one lost sheep (Luke 15:4). Therefore, it would be good to choose being “a sheep” and even better “a lost sheep”! I agree. I think most of my readers would choose “sheep” because from these favourable texts, it is prudent of you to choose being a sheep. However, the Lord is merciful and how could He forsake the “dogs”?

I read the encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman as a beautiful tango! Jesus proposes her “dogs”. The woman chose wisely and transformed them into a pet which “eats the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” (Matthew 15:27). Sheep are in sheepfolds outside the house whereas dogs enjoy closer proximity to the master who could also be the Good Shepherd. The Canaanite woman chose wisely thus Jesus praised her, “O woman, great is your faith!” (5:28) As Gentiles, we are thankful to this Canaanite woman who has won for us a place in the Kingdom of Heaven!

But why among all animals did Jesus “proposed” dogs? What was in Jesus’ mind? We need to go back to the context. Previously, the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to accuse Jesus of allowing His disciples to break the tradition of the elders (15:1-2). Showing His mercy, Jesus taught them the true meaning of cleanliness and yet antagonized them. Giving them some space to learn the lesson, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon (15:21) leading to this encounter with the Canaanite woman. This reminds me of what happened to Confucius when he left his native state, toured around different states with disciples to sell his political ideals. The mandarins feared that the dukes would buy Confucianism thus shaking up their shares of power. With obstacles put up by those intermediaries, Confucius was rarely successful in advocating his political ideals.

One day while on their way to Zheng鄭, Confucius was separated from his disciples. He stood alone at the east gate of the city’s outer wall. A Zheng native told Zigong子貢, one of the disciples, that he saw a man at the east gate … exhausted and out of luck like a homeless dog. When Zigong reported to Confucius what the Zheng native had said, Confucius joyously agreed!「孔子適鄭，與弟子相失，孔子獨立郭東門。鄭人或謂子貢曰：『東門有人…纍纍若喪家之狗。』子貢以實告孔子。孔子欣然笑曰：『…然哉！然哉！』」(House of Confucius, Shiji 史記‧孔子世家#25). Both Christ and Confucius suffered similar treatments when they tried to proclaim a brave new world to their contemporaries. Probably this is the fate of all messengers of the truth. Of course, Confucius was not Christ. Confucius was a salesman travelling around while Christ was a master rejected by the “lost sheep” of His own house! John says it well, “He came to what was His own, but His own people did not accept Him” (John 1:11)! I speculate that Christ, who embraces all humanity, was musing over Confucius’ acceptance of the experience as a homeless dog when the Canaanite woman sought His help. Previously a scribe expressed his wish to follow Christ. Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Matthew 8:20). Jesus knows that a far worse fate than a homeless dog was waiting for Him!

The woman was a Canaanite. Why did she address Jesus as “Son of David” (Matthew 15:22), a Jewish Messianic title? She should be worshipping pagan idols and not Yahweh! Perhaps she had heard of Jesus’ healing miracles but how likely had she met Jesus before? Very unlikely! This encounter in Tyre and Sidon was very likely the first. How would she recognize Jesus? I suppose even biblical scholars might not even have any clues but Jesus surely knew how and why! When this woman persistently begged Him for the third time, I’m sure Jesus was able to experience the woman’s motherly love towards her suffering daughter. Thus perhaps out of irony or handiness, the Master & Jewish Messiah who was rejected by the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jesus put forth the image of dogs before the woman and let her, like the scribe mentioned above, choose whether she would accept His salvation!

When we read this Matthew narrative of the incident, we must bear in mind his Jewish mentality. For example in the first reading today, Isaiah’s language was very Jewish. Yahweh has expressed His desire through Isaiah to embrace all humanity, both the Chosen People and the Gentiles, “For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56:7c). What is expected of the Gentiles? “And foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, to become his servants --- All who keep the sabbath without profaning it and hold fast to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain” (56:6-7a). Confucius for one and Chinese in his period of time knew not the Lord. How could they join themselves to and minister to the Lord? They knew no Sabbath and the Old Covenant. How would they be able to meet the requirements listed above?

I would say that since the Jews were and we Christians are the Chosen People, they and we have entered into the Covenant as representatives of all humanity. Since as Gentiles or before our baptism, we did not know the letters of the Law such as keeping the Sabbath holy, nor do we love the name of a Person, we Gentiles should be blameless as long as we follow the spirit of the Law! Moreover, we can also become His servants in ways appropriate to our cultures and civilizations and minister to Him! Now that we have entered the house of the Lord, let us not become “lost sheep of the house of God” through establishing our own traditions, putting all our energies in maintaining them and consequently kicking the master of the house out, making the merciful Lord of heavens and earth a homeless doG! Amen!
God bless!

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2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: wiktionary.org