20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A (2026) 

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A 
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4) 
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 
Matthew 15:21-28 
August 16, 2026 

Word of Jesus and his power to heal was spreading.  It had reached even the ears of a Canaanite woman whose daughter was “tormented by a demon.”  She comes to Jesus for help for her daughter.  It is amazing that a Canaanite would come to Jesus, a Jewish man, for help.  Canaanites and Jews did not associate with each other. 

This did not matter to the woman.  Her daughter needed help and the woman knew of Jesus’ power to heal.  She goes to Jesus and says, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David.”  The fact that she calls him Son of David indicates she knows him not just as a Jew but as the long awaited Messiah (the title “Son of David” was a messianic title).  She comes to Jesus with faith that He is the Messiah, something that not all the Jews accept. 

At first, Jesus did what every faithful Jew would have done in those days.  He “did not say a word in answer to her.”  His disciples, rejecting her as a Canaanite, ask Jesus to “Send her away.”  Jesus himself says “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  No one seems surprised that Jesus would say this.  It is what they expect but Jesus knows what He is about to do. 

The woman is not deterred.  She comes to Jesus and did him homage, something all the Pharisees and scribes who rejected Jesus did not do.  Do you give true homage to Jesus? 

The woman repeated her cry for help.  Jesus seems to remain fast to the Jewish stance against Canaanites as He says, “It is not right to the food of the Jews and throw it to the dogs.”  The children He refers to are the Israelites as the children of God.  Dogs were unclean animals.  He is using words that would have been offensive. 

Still the woman is not deterred.  In faith, she repeats her request for help.  Jesus, through her repeated and heartful requests for her daughter, sees her faith and answers her prayers.  Her daughter is healed.  Would you have persisted in faith if you were the Canaanite woman or would you have walked away after the repeated rejections and insults? 

It has always been God’s plan to welcome all into His house.  Over 600 years before Jesus came, in Isaiah we hear of God’s plan to welcome foreigners into His house.  Through Isaiah the Lord says, “Observe what is right, do what is just…my salvation…my justice” is “about to be revealed.”  God’s justice is offering faith and a place in His house to all who love “the name of the Lord…keep the sabbath free from profanation” and hold to his covenant. 

Do you revere the name of the Lord? 

Do you keep the Sabbath holy? 

Do you keep the Lord’s Covenant? 

We need to live in accord with God’s Covenant.  The world needs our witness as faithful disciples.  The world needs to see us following God’s ways. 

There were some faithful Jews throughout history who served as the remnant of God’s people.  When Jesus came, many other Jews rejected him.  Thus, Paul was sent to be an “apostle to the Gentiles.”  From the sins of the Jews who rejected Jesus, God’s mercy was offered to the Gentiles.  Paul, writing to the Romans, expresses his hope that seeing God’s salvation offered to the Gentiles, that those Jews who had rejected Jesus, would see His Mercy, and repeat to open themselves to God’s mercy. 

God wants to save everyone.  Do you want to be saved?  Are you ready to hand your whole life over to him?  Are you ready to be a witness to what it means to follow Jesus? 

God can do beautiful things in you and through you. 

Peace, 

Fr. Jeff