The Canaanite(Syro-Phonecian) Woman

[Doom]

What are we to make of Jesus’ rude (if not racist) response that “it is not fitting to give the children's food to dogs”, an attitude of apparent contempt for non-Jews, which is directly contrary to the Old Testament which often emphasizes that foreigners are not to be oppressed and the repeated predictoms in the prophets that “the nations” (Gentiles) will come to know the God of Israel and be included in the covenant?

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

According to some references, Jesus is calling her a puppy rather than a dog, which is somewhat less demeaning.

As the chosen people, the Jews had a certain claim on Jesus that others didn't. After their eventual rejection, God's mercy overflows onto the Gentiles (see today's second reading).

[Doom]

But Jesus does help non-Isrealites in both the synoptics and John, he raises the daughter of Jarius the Roman centurion, he heals the 10 lepers but only the Samaritan returns to thank him, he has a brief mission among the Samaritans in John 4, and he begins his ministry in the synagogue where they riot when he points out Elijah healed only one leper Naaman the Syrian. This incident is unusual because it not only the only instance where he refuses to help someone but the reason given for the refusal seems to go against his normal policy of inclusion.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Sure, and he helps her too. Remember, this conversation is specific to her; the people in your examples are in different situations and get different conversations. She gets this one because it's the best way for her to grow in faith.

[Doom]

I'm still confused about why he responded with an apparent insult, I guess I have to put it down to him knowing she would respond to his refusal with such humility, accepting the insult and expanding on the metaphor.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I believe that's correct.

[Kage_ar]

I'm still confused about why he responded with an apparent insult, I guess I have to put it down to him knowing she would respond to his refusal with such humility, accepting the insult and expanding on the metaphor.

That is what Deacon emphasized in his homily, the humility that comes when we ask and the answer is "no", that humility helps us grow in faith.

[Deacon Arky]

I'm still confused about why he responded with an apparent insult, I guess I have to put it down to him knowing she would respond to his refusal with such humility, accepting the insult and expanding on the metaphor.

While researching for my homily, I discovered that the Canaanites were often referred to by the Jews as "dogs" or "little dogs"....still an insult of course but it may not have sounded as harsh to her ears as it does to ours. And I agree with others who have said it was a test for her humility and it allowed her to demonstrate how great her faith was in our Lord.

And it wasn't just her that Jesus was trying to reach, but his disciples as well, who still didn't grasp the concept that our Lord came for everyone.

[Doom]

Well I think I'm satisfied with the answers I've gotten, that leaves the parable of the Dishonest Steward as the most perplexing passage in the gospels.

Most interpretations say that it means that Jesus is lamenting that dishonest people are more clever and creative than the righteous but that just doesn't sound right. In particular, this interpretation doesn't make sense of his apparent praise of accumulating "dishonest wealth". I'm sure this is supposed to be some kind of irony, but it's meaning is lost on me.

[anawim]

Since it is the first, last, and only time that Jesus travels outside of the land of Israel, I think he also did this so that later after the resurrection, his disciples would recognize that this was a lesson that they were not yet ready for, but that they would come to realize is precisely their mission: to the Gentiles. Jesus may have come for the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but his disciples would need to do so much more.

As to the corrupt steward, fwiw, a priest said in his homily that like tax collectors, stewards got a commission of sorts. He was taking off the amount he would have earned as commision. By letting those who owed money pay less, then they were now indebted to him, and he could use that as his 'marker'.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

I've heard that version of the unjust steward story. I'd be curious to know if there's any documentary evidence for it, or any Patristic support.

[Doom]

That seems like an attempt to sanitize it. The Steward is explicitly called "Dishonest" but removing his fee seems like the exact opposite of dishonesty. It seems more like an attempt to make amends l.

It seems clear he was trying to win the favor of his master's clients by deliberately cheating his boss out of money he was owed. It specifically says that the master praised the Steward "for his dishonesty",which is exactly the moment where the parable gets weird. No one praises another person for being dishonest, except perhaps ironically. But if it is ironic, what on Earth does the irony mean?

Weirder still is the conclusion where Jesus says that we should make friends with dishonest wealth, which would imply moral approval.

"If you cannot be trusted with dishonest wealth how can anyone trust you with honest wealth?" This literally makes absolutely no sense.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

https://blog.adw.org/2011/11/what-does- ... st-wealth/

[anawim]

I've heard that version of the unjust steward story. I'd be curious to know if there's any documentary evidence for it, or any Patristic support.

One footnote that I found is from The Catholic Study Bible, Oxford University Press, 1990, footnote to Luke 16 v 1-8a

I don't have this publication, so I don't know what it's referring to.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Me neither. Maybe I'll run across a copy someday.

[Doom]

The theory is in many different sources and I'm sure it is much older than 1990. The problem is that it is much like the claim that "the eye of the needle" was the name of a hole in a gate in Jerusalem, it's an attempt to sanitize a difficult passage. The name of the parable is "the dishonest steward", so you can't interpret it in such a way that the steward ends up being honest.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

The title isn't inspired.

[Doom]

It is called that because he is directly called dishonest in the parable, "the master commended the dishonest steward", you cannot get around that.

[Doom]

According to Wikipedia, the Fathers of the Church generally interpreted the dismissal of the steward is death, and the message of the parable is that "the power we have to do good with our money ceases so we need to do good with it now",

[BobCatholic]

That seems like an attempt to sanitize it. The Steward is explicitly called "Dishonest" but removing his fee seems like the exact opposite of dishonesty. It seems more like an attempt to make amends l.

It seems clear he was trying to win the favor of his master's clients by deliberately cheating his boss out of money he was owed.

Nope.

Back then stewards were not paid a salary or hourly wage. They were paid like this:

Suppose your boss wanted to make a deal. The price he wanted was 100 jars of oil. You're a great negotiator and you get 110 jars of oil for that deal. You are then paid that extra 10 jars of oil as your pay, when the deal is finally paid for.

This steward was going to get fired. This means all the extra items he was able to negotiate would not be paid to him. He couldn't go to the boss and demand those jars of oil since the deal hasn't been paid for yet (hence the invoices)

So, he went ahead and rewrote the invoices to reflect the ORIGINAL deal the boss wanted, that was minus the fee he would have gotten. He wasn't cheating his boss - he was merely giving away his cut of the deal back to the boss's people so he could get favors from those people when he's finally out of work.

"Hey, you're that guy who saved my boss 10 jars of oil! Maybe you can work for us!"