At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.” (Mt 15:21-22)
Jesus was definitely on the “wrong side of the tracks” in today’s gospel.
He did things like that regularly.
Why?
Because there was no wrong side of the tracks for Jesus. Everyone mattered. Everyone was special. Everyone deserved the love of God brought to them by Jesus.
Even in the gospel, Jesus is pleased with the faith of the Canaanite woman. She was not going to relent in her pleas for help and the Lord rewarded her for her faith.
If it were up to His disciples, the Lord would have gotten rid of the woman.
It is still like that today.
We often judge people as not being worthy, as not being special, as being on the wrong side of the tracks. We forget that everyone — EVERYONE — is a brother or sister in the Lord.
We had best start acting as if we believed that.
FAITH ACTION: Reflect upon your relationships with others. Is there anyone you have excluded, that you have pushed aside? Try to heal that relationship.