The Liturgical Teaching on the Catholicity of God

Reflection on the Readings at Mass for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray. READINGS: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7, Romans 11:13-15, 29-32. Matthew 15:21-28 (Watch on YouTube) The Liturgical Teaching on the Catholicity of God Today’s First Reading for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A is drawn from Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 and opens the theme of today’s readings to bespeak God as being Catholic. Chapter 56 of Isaiah is the first chapter of the final section of the Book of Isaiah, often referred to as Trito-Isaiah (i.e., the Third Isaiah). The setting of this book is immediately post-exile. After enduring a Babylonian forced exile from 587 to 516 and having been scattered throughout the neighboring nations, Israel’s prophets encouraged the exiles to return home. For Isaiah, the prophecies given to him to announce to this gathering after the Second Exodus not only concerned Israel’s final redemption but also a striking change to Israel’s ecclesiology. While the Torah granted foreigners living within Palestine limited protections (Cf. Exo. 22:20; Deut. 10:19), now, those who were previously excluded from enjoying full rights in the community of God’s chosen people (e.g., Eunuchs and foreigners) are being given a place in the House of God and within His walls, and even their offering and sacrifices will now be accepted at His altar. The essential thing to note in the Old Covenant is that God has not changed the criteria for membership in His community. On the contrary, the requirements are still the same for foreigners as for the Jews. The text reads, “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming his servants—all who keep the sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” In other words, the body of the ecclesia has not yet expanded, but what has been extended to all peoples was the mercy of God. Similarly, we encounter Christ Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading from Matthew 15:21-28, where He appears reticent to heal a Canaanite woman’s daughter of demons who she says are tormenting her. In replying to her plea for help, saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Jesus was not contradicting Isaiah because this woman is not asking to become a Jew; she is merely asking for mercy, nor was Jesus offering a commentary on the admission of Gentiles into the Kingdom of God. Jesus is simply telling everyone who the lost people are, and it is not this Canaanite woman – she appears to know exactly where to go for help. Rather, it is the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Nevertheless, because of her faith, Jesus extends His mercy to her and her daughter, who “was healed from that hour.” Now, after the resurrection, ascension, and descent of the Holy Spirit, something about the ecclesia of God’s People changes because the nature of the ecclesia changes. It shifts from being a mere cooperative covenant to becoming an actual person. In other words, the Old Covenant community could not expand because it was based upon the finite limits of Abraham’s seed, which could only be as numerous as the stars in the sky. That is not the case in the glorified and infinite Body of Christ; God does not have a capacity limit in His Body. Therefore, God has not only come for all and can save all becaus