Today’s Gospel August 13, 2011 - The Daughter Possessed

21 Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐκεῖθεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὰ μέρη Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος. 22 καὶ ἰδοὺ γυνὴ Χαναναία ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων ἐξελθοῦσα ἐκραύγαζεν αὐτῷ λέγουσα· ἐλέησόν με, Κύριε, υἱὲ Δαυῒδ· ἡ θυγάτηρ μου κακῶς δαιμονίζεται. 23 ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῇ λόγον. καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἠρώτων αὐτὸν λέγοντες· ἀπόλυσον αὐτήν, ὅτι κράζει ὄπισθεν ἡμῶν. 24 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου ᾿Ισραήλ. 25 ἡ δὲ ἐλθοῦσα προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ λέγουσα· Κύριε, βοήθει μοι. 26 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· οὐκ ἔστι καλὸν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις. 27 ἡ δὲ εἶπε· ναί, Κύριε· καὶ γὰρ τὰ κυνάρια ἐσθίει ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτῶν. 28 τότε ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῇ· ὦ γύναι, μεγάλη σου ἡ πίστις! γενηθήτω σοι ὡς θέλεις. καὶ ἰάθη ἡ θυγάτηρ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης.   Matthew 15: 21-28

Imagine a charismatic preacher visiting a Californio (descendents of California residents before California became part of the USA) community, and then imagine a woman coming to the preacher and asking for his help, because she has a daughter who has difficulty coping  or poor skill with her social environment (a bad attitude), and the mother needs the preachers help. The preacher’s retinue tries to keep the woman away, but the preacher says he has come to save Americans, should he take food out of Americans’ mouths and give it to an unworthy Californio.  The woman responds: “does not a few scraps of food fall off the masters table which even the dogs can devour.” Now imagine that the preacher hears the plea of the mother and asks her what she would have for her child.  After wards telling the mother that she has faith, let it be as you want it to be, and so it came about that the daughter was released from her difficulties.  In essence this is the Gospel lesson’s parallel in today’s world.

There are a number of messages in today’s gospel, not the least of which is how we treat or our attitude towards Hispanic, Native and immigrant communities.  But the primary traditional interpretation of the lesson involves a daughter possessed by a demon (ἡ θυγάτηρ μου κακῶς δαιμονίζεται.). What is interesting is the Greek for this, in our modern parlance, we do not speak of demon possession, unless we are literalists.  Yet it is clear that the daughter is psychologically or emotionally troubled, perhaps depressed.  One should note first of all that κακῶς is an adverb modifying the verb δαιμονίζεται.  The next thing to notice is that the verb comes from δαιμονίζομαι meaning to have an allotted fate or secondarily to be possessed by a devil. One should note that to be possessed by a devil is merely a figurative way of saying that one has psychological or emotional problems.  What exactly those problems are is not stated, unless one takes a more careful look at the verb and its roots.  δαίμων the noun means 1) a god or goddess, 2) fate or destiny, 3) one’s genius or lot, 4) a name for the soul of the departed or 5) an evil spirit.  In our modern language we might refer to the spirit with which one performs an act or the disposition one has or the attitude one has in the act’s performance.  Fundamentally the daughter is referred to as one with a poor or bad attitude.  We all know children like this and seldom do we understand the motivating force behind such children.  But Jesus tells the woman that it will be as she wants, or perhaps that because the woman has great faith, she should let it become what she wants - γενηθήτω σοι ὡς θέλεις - (perhaps with patience and understanding required for her daughter).

Perhaps there is no miracle here to the story at all.  Jesus is not a healer of psychological ailments or a behavioral therapist, but rather a person who recognizes the faith in the woman and tells her to use that faith to mold the daughter as she would wish her to become.  Perhaps he is just reminding someone of the power of their faith in themselves and their offspring.  Perhaps we are misled by translations and Jesus is only being the caring person a dear friend might be, when that friend says: “have a bit more faith in yourself and your child, it will work out as you wish in the end.” or perhaps it’s just an ‘I’m OK, you’re OK’ moment when the friend says: “back off a bit, it will all work itself out.”  Perhaps it was not the daughter at all but the mother and from the very moment (hour) Jesus advised her, the healing process between mother and daughter began.  Perhaps it was the broken relationship between mother and daughter that needed to be repaired, after all, the mother was the one who reported that the daughter had a bad attitude, and with Jesus’ advice for using her faith, the relationship between mother and daughter was repaired (ἰάθη).