This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Jeremiah  31:1-7

1 When that time comes, the Lord declares, I shall be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.

2 The Lord says this: They have found pardon in the desert, those who have survived the sword. Israel is marching to his rest.

3 The Lord has appeared to me from afar; I have loved you with an everlasting love and so I still maintain my faithful love for you.

4 I shall build you once more, yes, you will be rebuilt, Virgin of Israel! Once more in your best attire, and with your tambourines, you will go out dancing gaily.

5 Once more you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria (those who plant will themselves enjoy the fruit).

6 Yes, a day will come when the watchmen shout on the mountains of Ephraim, ‘Up! Let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God!’

7 For the Lord says this: Shout with joy for Jacob! Hail the chief of nations! Proclaim! Praise! Shout, ‘The Lord has saved his people, the remnant of Israel!’

These are moving words, either a prophecy of restoration, or written in praise of it having happened. The Lord’s words are full of memories of the exodus from Egypt: pardon in the desert, marching to rest, tambourines and dancing (as after the Red Sea victory). The restoration of Israel is a return to the covenant of faithfulness between God and his people. Believing Jews may well see the fulfilment of these words in the modern nation of Israel. If so, they should be arguing for that nation to keep the commandments of justice and compassion better than it does presently. Israel’s behaviour today is exactly that which saw it destroyed by the great powers of the ancient world.

For Christian believers the words express the joy of God in restoring people through Christ, the same joy as is spoken of by Jesus in the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Out of his own faith Jeremiah finds words that go beyond his own time to the heart of the relationship between God and the world: I have loved you with an everlasting love.

Gospel, Matthew 15:21-28

21 Jesus left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And suddenly out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Lord, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ 23 But he said not a word in answer to her. And his disciples went and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting after us.’ 24 He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’

25 But the woman had come up and was bowing low before him. ‘Lord,’ she said, ‘help me.’

26 He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs.’

27 She retorted, ‘Ah yes, Lord; but even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters’ table.’

28 Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.

A woman to learn from

The doctrine of the perfection of Jesus’ goodness has prevented a proper appreciation of this story because perfection was seen as unchanging condition. If, however, we insist that moral perfection includes a willingness to learn from new experience, then we can recognise that Jesus, a Jewish man, learned from a Gentile woman, that God’s gifts are for all, now. It wasn’t that Jews imagined God’s gifts would be withheld from Gentiles; rather, they would be extended to Gentiles in the “age to come.” Jesus learns from the pleading mother, that now is the time. If it’s the time for the ministry of the kingdom (as Jesus himself proclaimed) then it’s also the time when Gentiles can approach Israel’s God.

John Bell and Graham Maule have a song about the kingdom which includes the line, “We’re going to learn from the poor in the kingdom of heaven.” That’s what Jesus does here. Perfection in Christ includes being ready to learn.