Homily: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

August 16, 2026

My dear brothers and sisters, the readings of today present to us a deep moral lesson on inclusive spirituality. These readings foreshadow the spreading of the gospel to the whole world. The readings point to the need for the breaking of all barriers to the universal brotherhood and sisterhood in Christ. In the first reading, we heard the prophet Isaiah prophesying that the foreigners who join in the worship of Yahweh and keeping the Sabath holy will be brought to the holy mountain of the Lord, their prayers and offerings will be accepted before the altar of God. In the gospel reading we saw the encounter between Jesus and another foreigner; a Canaanite woman. Even in the second reading, we heard St Paul speaking to foreigners; the Gentiles. So, the whole readings of today center on foreigners, people that are not Israelites.

The understanding of salvation which the Israelites of the Old Testament had is the base of the readings of today. In the book of Deuteronomy for instance, we see a closed mentality of Israel towards foreign peoples. They saw themselves as a special chosen nation of God and every other nation is excluded from God and from the Sacred Covenant. This book of the Scripture forbids Hebrews any contact with these pagan people to avoid being drawn away from Yahweh (Deut. 7:2-5). The foreigners could not become members of their communities and were excluded from prayers and sacrifices in the temple. However, the exile of the Israelites in Babylon, though very bitter and painful, still it was very useful in teaching them a lesson that helped them to mature both humanly and religiously. While in exile, they were forced to compare themselves with these other nations and they saw they were no better in living a moral life. They started correcting most of their prejudices about the pagan nations. By the time of their return from exile, they were not the same as before, they have begun to change their conception about foreigners, though it was gradual.

This their conception still continued even till Jesus’ time and beyond. The rabbis at Jesus’ time used to tell a story about a great king who owned a large orchard where he grew mangoes, grapes, pawpaw, groundnut, maize and other crops and fruits. He entrusted his orchard to stewards and went off on a long journey. When he returned, he found the orchard filled with thorns and weeds. In annoyance he asked the stewards to burn down the orchard. However, in the middle of the weeds he found a beautiful pineapple. He tasted it and it was so sweet. He told his stewards that because of the sweet pineapple, he would no longer destroy the field. So, the Israelites of Jesus’ days considered themselves as this sweet pineapple, for because of them the world would be saved. They believed that they are at the center of God’s love and only through them would other nations be blessed. They still thought they were the only pure human beings. They looked on pagans as “dogs” who did not know the law of God. They regarded themselves as the delight of the Lord.

In Jesus’ ministry on earth, we could see that He started with the Israelites not because he hated other nations but simply because of this historical formation. These people were prepared for many years to be the first to receive God’s message. In the gospel reading of today, in Jesus’s interaction with this Canaanite woman, we saw this, it appeared he was biased, prejudiced and harsh like His countrymen towards this foreign woman. He did not bother to look at her; He called her a “dog.” Was Jesus not overdoing it a bit? It was the end that showed us what Jesus really wanted to emphasize and teach. Jesus exclaimed at the end; woman you have a great faith! Jesus cured the daughter of the woman. By this miraculous episode, a seeming treatment with disdain towards a foreigner at the beginning but a thunderous accolades of praises for her faith and manifestation of God’s wonder at the end, Jesus teaches his disciples that time has come for them to move from the prejudices and divisions of the old to the faith, love and oneness in God of the new. He teaches his disciples that the time has come for them to pull down the barriers that divide people. So, the readings of today are a constant reminder to us that we all are sons and daughters of God, and we are in a spiritual journey where shall be reunited as one body of God’s children in heaven with God as our Father. We are to be committed in making thinner and thinner and not widening the divide between all God’s children here on earth. God calls us to continually struggle to see that the divide between the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the physically fit and the physically challenged, the boss and the employee, the citizens and the foreigners is not widened.