Reflection
I know this is the middle of summer, but I was thinking about the story of the Maji in Matthew’s gospel this past week. Their willingness to interrupt their lives for an extended period of time simply for the need to pursue something beyond themselves. That idea of pursuing something is strong within the human psyche. What types of things do we pursue in life? Humanity has so many areas which lead us to pursuit: sports, athletics, science, medicine, space, longevity, dreams, world records, or simply something on our bucket list. For these Maji, it was a newborn king. Remember, a Messiah wasn’t even part of their religious tradition. Yet they left their homeland to pursue.
For us as believers, our quest is Christ. Our life should be about the pursuit of Christ, not merely fitting Christ into our schedule when convenient. There should be a pursuit of Christ as the very driving force of our lives, and this pursuit should bring forth a certain joy. Much like the Gospel we heard last Sunday with the parables of the buried treasure, the fine pearls and the fisher’s net, the hope is that we are driven to pursue it.
This idea fills my thoughts as I think about today’s Gospel text from Matthew. The Canaanite woman pursues Jesus. She crosses two significant cultural norms: gender and religion. First, she is a woman who initiates a conversation with a man. Second, the Gentile world had little to do with the Hebrew people. Even Jesus uses this argument in the conversation. Despite these differences, she goes out of her way to pursue Jesus. Why? Because of her need. Matthew tells us that her daughter is tormented by a demon.
I’m thinking about some of the deeper questions for pondering here:
- What brought her, to this foreigner at that moment?
- What does she see in this person of Jesus?
- Does she know who he is?
- Does she know his reputation?
- If so, how did his reputation spread into the Gentile lands of Tyre and Sidon?
- Did any of her friends encourage or try to discourage her from engaging him?
As strong as the cultural norms are, we know the love she has for her daughter brought her to Christ.
Unlike the Maji, she doesn’t journey to a foreign land to find Christ. Jesus journeys to her land and she discovers him out of her need. It was a moment which was completely unplanned and unpredictable. In a moment of opportunity, she responds with the love she has for her child and discovered the love that Christ has for the world.
As Passionists, we believe Christ is not absent in the midst of human suffering. But somehow as we embrace the struggles, difficulties and pain, we find Christ in human suffering. It is the essence of compassion, and the compassion of Christ is a tremendous jewel.
I invite you this day to think about some of your own life pursuits. Have there been opportunities which suddenly appeared which in pursuing you suddenly discovered something about Christ? What have you learned through the uniqueness of each Have you discovered a Christ who pursues you?
