Fr Antony Christy –
Pagan who knows God or a believer who knows not?
August 20, 2023: 20th Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15: 21-28
“Pagans” is a strong word! It can sound discriminatory and at times even derogatory. There was a time when religiosity consisted of making this stark distinction between the so-called believers and alleged pagans. We see that in Jesus’ time and culture – in fact the Jews still consider the rest of the humanity as Gentiles, just as the believers in Islam look at the ‘others’ as “infidels”! So, if we condescendingly call someone a pagan, let us remember for some other group of people we are equally pagans too!.
Why this polemic here? It is just to bring out the central term of the Word today and the resultant lesson to attend to. The first reading speaks of how a person of the chosen people of Israel, cannot take his or her chosenness for granted. The Gospel presents how Jesus himself was a man of his times and was affected by the differential thinking – we and others! But Jesus seems to end up with a new understanding, which St. Paul in the second reading elaborates.
There is a key understanding to be highlighted here: which is true – that, a pagan does not know God? or that one who doesn’t know God is a pagan? These two statements are definitely different from each other. One is taking for granted the chosenness of a category of persons, while the other defines chosenness in terms of ones knowledge and rapport with God, that is, in terms of lived faith.
Keeping this understanding in focus, we have three lessons to consider:
1. Faith makes us children of One God: When Jesus declares, “Great is your faith,” he acknowledges that it is faith that makes one a child of God and the lack of it counts one out of that category. Only faith can distinguish someone as God’s, nothing else…not some privileged birth or progeny!
2. What matters is knowing God – knowing or not knowing that is what makes one a believer or a pagan. First of all, it’s not some brand name, franchise banner or magical formula. Secondly, the knowledge here is not knowing about God, but knowing God…knowing God personally and allowing God to encounter us.
3. We are called to grow out of all discriminatory thinking – in the name of creed, caste, colour, tribe, or anything of that sort. Especially today with so much of polarisation in the context, we have a bounden duty to uphold the Reign of God, in equality, dignity of all, and divine justice.
Isn’t it better than to be a fake believer who knows not the God of the Reign, to be a so called pagan who knows and belongs to the Reign of God?
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He has completed his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.