Reflection: All are welcome within the Church, but in keeping with the terms of the covenant.
The Gospel (Matthew 15:21-28)
A house of prayer for all people
In the first reading of today’s Mass, there was mention of a new age for the people of God, with an opening to foreigners and others to the house of God – a house of prayer for all people, but presupposing their good works and their fidelity to the covenant. Today’s Gospel reading is about Jesus’ reply to a pagan woman seeking his help. Jesus replies that the time had not yet come for the entry of the gentiles; his mission was only to his own people and the lost sheep of the house of Israel. However, the woman persists and Jesus praises her great faith and grants her request.
The combination of the first reading with today’s Gospel reading presents an opportunity for reflection on the invitation to become members of the Christian community, together with the demands made by this membership. In the parable of the wedding banquet and the wedding garment, when the invitation to the wedding banquet was not accepted, the king sent his servants to gather people from the streets – the good and the bad – so that the wedding hall was filled with guests (Matthew 22:1-14; read on the 28th Sunday of the year). Then, when the king saw that there was one not wearing a wedding robe, he had him cast out. The lesson to be drawn from this is that there are conditions attached to the open invitation to the messianic feast, and here on earth to membership of the Church.
The salt of the earth and the light of the world
There has been, and will be, a certain tension between the invitation to membership of the Church, the House of God, and the demands arising from the covenant with God and the mission of the Church. According to Christ himself, his followers are intended to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and the early Church took this very seriously in her teaching and practice. From this, there arose the question of how to combine fidelity to Christ’s teaching and the Church’s own mission and failings arising from human weakness – a question that still arises for the Church today. Matthew’s own community was severe enough on the person who refused to make amends with one of his fellow Christians – by exclusion from the community. Paul took an equally severe attitude towards a Christian in Corinth guilty of marital misconduct. This is a problem that will always be with us, arising from the call of the Church by Christ to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and behaviour running contrary to this.
There has been a long history of the Church in this matter, with, for a long period, heavy penalties for the errant. The problem is currently being discussed in the Church, especially with regard to the question of Holy Communion for divorced and remarried persons, and with regard to admission of certain non-Catholics to Holy Communion. Fundamentally, it is a question of how to reconcile the infinite mercy of God with fidelity to the demands of the covenant and Christ’s message for the world. One can only pray that a satisfactory solution will be found.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
For more reflections from Fr Martin, please visit the Sunday Scripture Online.