Emetic of the Day

It may be difficult for us to picture Jesus, when someone was pleading with him, "Help me! Help me! Have mercy on me!" and Jesus just turned away. He didn't say a word to her. That is not usually the way we picture Jesus, is it? His disciples complained to him, "Look, she's still shouting at us! Get rid of her!" Then Jesus made that terrible remark, in effect calling her a dog, which was a term that the Jewish people at the time used for those who were not part of the chosen people. But this woman was so extraordinary, she didn't take offense even, but she turned the words of Jesus around in a way that really challenged him. "Look, even the dogs get at least the crumbs from the master's table." With that Jesus, I'm sure, must have broken into a smile and said, "OK, you've outdone me. You've outwitted me." He then proclaimed how deep was her faith and praised her for that faith, and said, "Yes, your daughter is healed."

If we reflect on the humanness of Jesus, I think, it's much easier for us, in a way, to connect with him than if we just think about his divinity.

Here we go! Brace yourselves!

Yes, as God he could heal in a second. He could change everything. But he's also human. So if we're going to gradually become more like him, we're going to have to connect with his humanness and grow and change as he did. That's exactly what happened on that occasion. He changed. He was converted.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa stop the presses. JESUS WAS CONVERTED?

Personally I always figured Jesus was playing a game to draw out her faith — to prove how faithful she was. Let's not forget that salvation was supposed to go the pagans eventually anyway; that is why God chose Israel in the first place, to be a witness to the nations.

So Jesus didn't really change his mind. Reaching out to pagans was part of the plan from the beginning.

You may find that almost impossible to believe

Well put.

but remember Luke said in his Gospel that Jesus grew in age, wisdom and grace. He grew. He developed. He became more profoundly a full human being by growing. And how does he do it? Well, at this moment, it was because he was willing to listen. He was willing to listen! To be open!

Ah now we have the crux of the issue (again if you'll pardon the expression). He wants the hierarchy to be "open" to "listening" to pagans. (I don't think he meant the pagan part but there it is.)

As we have seen Jesus didn't change anything other than the tune he was singing to her.

That had to be very difficult for him. In his humanness he was also a Jew, and the Jews had over the centuries, struggled and struggled to maintain their identity. And it was very difficult. They are far less than one percent of all the people on the planet and so for them to maintain their identity, they had to stick together and reject any kind of intermingling, intermarriage and so on.

Jesus was a Jew out of that culture, out of that time.

I'll bet he is going to argue Jesus is bound by that culture.

That is why at first he would not have anything to do with this pagan woman. And besides being a pagan, she was also a Canaanite, the long, long-time enemies of the Jewish people. From the very beginning of their coming into the promised land, the Canaanites were the ones who resisted them, who were always their enemy. Jesus was caught up in that.

Oh was he? (See, I told you.)

Maybe he was setting an example for his apostles — going along with their way of doing things and then appearing to change, just like he expected his apostles to do.

That's who he was in his humanness. He was fully human like us, and he was a Jewish human being. That's why he responded the way he did.

But then, again, he didn't close himself off. He was willing to interact with the woman, listen to what she said, take it in, and let it change his mind, change his way of being, change his conviction.

Yeeeowch. Of course it didn't.

If we reflect on this incident and especially on the humanness of Jesus and how he reacted, there are all kinds of ways in which we can bring it into our own lives to understand how you and I might have to change -- probably in a lot of ways. We may be able to do it -- to change -- if we are open to one another, open even to our enemies, open to those whom we ordinarily reject and don't have anything to do with.

While the premise is faulty, I have to agree that there is much we need to change about ourselves (especially if we are heterodox! ;-)), but he doesn't exactly set a standard for what we should change to.

We can't speak for someone else and determine how someone else will respond to this scripture but I can't help but think about what would happen if President Bush were willing to listen to Cindy Sheehan,

Oh here we go ...

the woman who's out there in Crawford, Texas, has been there a couple of weeks now. She is saying, "I'm gonna stay right here. I want to talk to him. I want him to understand what it means for a mother to lose her son in a war that seems to have no purpose. He's got to listen." But so far he won't. Maybe we could pray for him that somehow he would be more open.

Yes, let's. While we're at it let's pray that you will be open too — to the truth.

What a difference it would make if all of our leaders and our government were open to listening to others. But not only our leaders, if all of us were more open to listening to others.

Listening to others — yes, that is good under a number of circumstances. But if someone is trying to sell you a load of crap, it's time to not listen. And if someone is going to contradict or attack the Gospel, unless you're well-equipped to refute them, it's time to not listen. We should give priority to the truth when we listen to others.

What if over the past few years we had tried to listen much more deeply to the Muslims in the world so many of whom see the West led by the United States as carrying out a crusade against them?

Somehow I don't think not listening was the problem. I have an image of Muslims in need of therapy, with a group hug scheduled for afterward.

Now, we don't feel that that is what we're doing, but if we listened to them, maybe we would understand what they perceive, how they see it, and then we could begin to interact with one another.

This I can agree with.

In the church we face a terrible crisis right now.

Hoo boy.

You know our parish is in danger of being closed by the end of this year. I don't think it's going to happen, so don't worry, but it could. Certainly many parishes are going to be closed. Why? Not for financial reasons. One reason - there are not enough ordained priests.

That's 'cuz wackos like you keep poisoning the well.

That's the reason we can't have small communities, and yet there are people thinking in the church, women, who are saying, "I have a vocation! I am called by God!" And they have the talent and the training and the ability to minister. Well, we live in the church or part of the church that refuses to be open, to listen, to the women in our midst. How wrong that is!

Yadda, yadda, yadda ...

And we build it right into our church law, which could be changed.

Can you say Ordinatio Sacerdotalis? Wait! Give him some air! Paramedics!

One of the reasons women aren't listened to is because no woman has any office in the church.

Huh? Does it require a woman to listen to a woman? No wonder this guy is screwed up.

The only reason a woman can't have an office in the church, why a woman could not be a cardinal, for example, help to elect the Pope, is because we made laws — the men in the church made laws — that make that impossible. The law, the canon law of the church says, "Only an ordained person can hold office." Then we say only men can be ordained, and so only men can hold office. How wrong that is!

Getting a little bold here for a bishop, aren't we? Somebody excommunicate this guy, will ya?

We're not listening as a church.

Oh I agree, but for different reasons.

Our leadership especially, but maybe some of us even would not be willing to have a woman lead our community. But if we could be more like Jesus we would listen, we would be open to letting ourselves be changed, breaking down some of our prejudices, some of the bias that has been built into us over many years and out of the culture of which we're part. If we could be more like Jesus, we could connect with our humanness, and like Jesus who first turned that woman away but then was willing to listen, we could be converted.

"Connect with our humanness"? Where are we living, in our divinity?

There are many other ways in which we need to listen to one another, to become more of an open, inclusive, welcoming community

*BARF!*

Another glaring example of how there's not openness, many times on the part of us as individuals but also as a church, is to the gay and lesbian people
*Barf!*

in our midst. Even in our families, we are brought up culturally to reject them. We have to listen to them, understand their experience and be willing again to change, to be converted.

I'm sure everyone of us, if you take the time now to think about the ways in which I have to try to listen more deeply to others, to other ways of doing things, other ways of thinking, other ways of looking at what's going on in our world, I'm sure everyone of us could think of ways I must be changed and I hope we will do that today as we continue to reflect on these scriptures and reflect on Jesus as one of us, like us in every way — that we can be more like him in his humanness so that gradually we will take on more of the qualities of his being a divine person in our midst.

One big UGH!

If we think about it, pray over it, I'm sure it will happen. And then miracles can happen.

"Just keep a slice of all the advice ya give so free!" (People Will Say We're In Love, Oklahoma)

In today's Gospel, the woman's daughter was healed. So many other things could be healed and marvelous changes could take place that would be like miracles if everyone of us tried more consistently and with greater determination to look at Jesus as a fellow human and to imitate him and let ourselves continue to grow in wisdom, age and grace just as he did. Great miracles will happen once we let that happen.

<rolling eyes>

In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What, no caps on Father and Son?

So there you have it folks. Straight from the ass's mouth (wait, is that me or him?).