Two friends were eating lunch in a café; one was Chinese and the other was a Jew. Without warning, the Jew struck the Chinese fellow in the jaw, sending him sprawling. The Chinese man picked himself up, rubbed his sore jaw and asked, “What did you do that for?”
The Jew coldly replied, “For Pearl Harbor!” His response astounded the Chinese man. “Pearl Harbor? I didn’t have anything to do with Pearl Harbor. It was the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor.” The Jew replied, “Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, they’re all the same to me.”
The two men resumed eating their meals in silence but before long, the Chinese man leaned over and sent his Jewish friend flying with a hard slap. The Jew yelled out, “What was that for?”
The Chinese man icily responded, “The Titanic!” The Jew sputtered, “The Titanic? Why, I didn’t have anything to do with the Titanic!” Thereupon, the Chinese man snorted, “Goldberg, Steinberg, Iceberg…they’re all the same to me!”
Prejudice provides us with the basis for much humor but prejudice also hurts many people. My dictionary defines prejudice as either an irrational hostile attitude or preconceived negative opinions and judgments of others.
This gospel story does not present Jesus in the best light. Certainly, this encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman doesn’t appear to be one of the finer moments of his ministry. This foreign woman begs a favor she has no right to, bursting onto the scene, pleading for help. His reaction may surprise us but what we witness is a classic example of Jewish prejudice toward Gentiles in biblical times. Jesus implies that the Canaanite woman isn’t even human when he harshly responds to her heartfelt plea to save her daughter from demons, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Does his insult bother anyone here or have we grown numb to the pervasiveness of prejudice in our own society?
We tolerate many prejudices which in turn prompt us to exclude certain people from our lives. Growing up, the prevalent prejudice in our country was toward people of African heritage. Today, it seems to be aimed toward those who have recently immigrated to America from third world countries, legally or illegally. We hesitate to welcome the immigrant in our midst, complaining that they have taken away our jobs. For any number of reasons, we don’t think of their plight as our plight, or appreciate what they have to offer.
I can think of few emotional experiences more painful than being shunned. To be excluded can leave a person feeling humiliated, unwelcomed, or unloved. Being excluded can destroy a fragile self esteem, something many people struggled with in childhood.
Exclusion is a human tragedy God does not care to duplicate. At first, God promised the gift of salvation to a chosen few, the Israelites, but as we just heard in the final line from Isaiah, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” God now desires to include all peoples in his kingdom.
Overcoming the cultural bias of his time, Jesus extends mercy to this foreign woman and her ill daughter. Paul reminds us that God will have mercy on everybody. When we reach out to embrace the stranger in our midst, we are acting like our merciful God. Living the gospel means reaching out to others with mercy and compassion, no matter who they are.
Before Vatican II, many Catholics believed that salvation would only be experienced by good and faithful Catholics. In the third century, Saint Cyprian gave us the slogan, “Outside the Church, there is no salvation.” The Church never officially held such a position, teaching instead that those who seek God with a sincere heart will gain salvation.
Well, if the name of my faith doesn’t matter in my quest for salvation, what does? The simple answer is love. St. John tells us that God is love. In Genesis, we hear God saying, “Let us make man in our own image.” If God intended to make us in the image of love, we are being called to be people of love and if we are people of love, nothing can justify whatever prejudices we stubbornly cling to. Prejudice prompts us to build walls instead of bridges. How can love be generated if we continue to imprison ourselves?
After listening to the Canaanite woman, Jesus changed his mind about Gentiles and now could see that God’s kingdom was meant for all peoples. His conversion sets a good example for us to follow, that is, to reconsider our own prejudices. Instead of clinging to his prejudice of looking down on Gentiles, which was common in his culture, Jesus listened openly and was moved to now include this woman in his world and to embrace her.
At Vatican II, the hope was expressed that we as Church would seek to deal with our own prejudices. The bishops wrote, “With respect to the fundamental rights of the person, every type of discrimination, whether social or cultural, whether based on sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”
We call ourselves Catholic for good reason, convinced that our message of salvation is meant for all peoples. If that dream is to come true, we must confront those prejudices we cling to, which prompt us to ignore anyone, even the person in the pew next to us. Unless we abandon our own prejudices, can we honestly consider ourselves to be people of love?