Wednesday, May 16, 2012

A MOTHER'S KISS


HPIM0477.JPGA MOTHER’S KISS[1]

By Rev. Carmel VillarPaet

Matthew 15: 21-28


I.                     Introduction
This picture was taken by my daughter Mithi Andrea… she was just pointing her camera nonchalantly inside the church… bakasyonistakasisa Leyte, so she wanted to capture moments of their stay in Leyte [not with me] but with her Lola. Her lens captured this scene of a mother kissing her child.  At her mother’s kiss, the child stopped crying.
And so, on this photo, the photographer composed this line… “A mother’s kiss is the only medicine that can heal the suffering of her child.”
And on this Sunday where the whole world is celebrating Mother’s Day, I give tribute to all mothers who have healed so many lives just by their kiss.  Salute…
  To all biological mothers… for the kisses you gave your child the moment the child was born… up the time they ventured out of your embrace… yet you welcomed them with a kiss when they come back to you in pain or in jubilation.
  To all mothers who nurtured faith…
  To all mothers who may have not given birth to a child but has nurtured children not their own
It is the kiss of the mother that has healed the world.
But not all of mother’s kiss healed the world… comforted a crying child… reversed the sadness… brought joy to their heart.

Biblical Text:
There is one mother in the Bible who’s kiss is not enough to heal hear child’s pain.  She is the Canaanite woman in the Gospel of Jesus.
In Matthew 15: 21-28, we find a Canaanite woman crying out to Jesus, “Son of David… have mercy on me, Sir! My daughter is sick and is in a terrible condition….”  In GNT, the phrase goes, “ my daughter has demon and is in a terrible condition.  Don’t be shocked… During Jesus’ time, the only explanation for sickness is that the person has demons.  Or that the parents committed terrible sin…. Or that the sick person has sinned.  So when the Canaanite woman was shouting, “ my daughter has demon,” she was really saying that grabenaangsakitngakinganak.
If you look at Jesus’ response, iisipinmo, “walangpusonamanang Jesus na to!” Here is a woman desperately crying out for help to save her daughter and all Jesus could do was “deadma-hinangkawawangbabae.” V 21. Jesus did not say a word to her…. Deadma! Walay…walangpaki…  Nia pa judangmgadisipulo… begging Jesus to send her away…. Accusing her of being a pest! “Angingaynya! She’s making all these noise!”
Nungnagsalitangasi Jesus… it was practically a snob…. “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel…” angsumpayani, “Canaanite ka! Hindi ka sheep!”E anoangmga Canaanite?Mga goats? Canaanites were Gentiles and the Jews had nothing to do with them.
And yet, insistently, the woman fell at his feet… nagpatirapaugnangamuyo, “Help me, sir!”
And there ensue the debate between Jesus and the Canaanite woman.
Anongibigsabihinditoni Jesus? Alamnyo bang maraming feminist reading of this text angnasulat… scholarly rendition of this text… iba’t-iba! But that is not the purpose of this story and our message today.
I would like to focus on the plight of the Canaanite woman… because she symbolizes the plight of many women today!
1.      Desperate mother.She is one desperate mother.  Desperate over the illness and condition of her child.  Helpless… walangmagawa.  I’m sure like many mothers in our midst, when our child is sick… halos di ta katulog.  The fathers, they can sleep through their child’s illness…. But a mother… I still have to see a mother who can sleep through a child’s illness.  Angpinakamahiraptingaliangwalajudkaymahimo…. Dilinimoikapadalasaospitalaronmatambalankaywalayikadala… I can’t imagine the pain that mother is feeling.  Kay akongalanggani… halos luparonnakoangospitalsadihangmihilaknaangakonganak during his asthma attack, “nanay, di kona kaya!” I couldn’t close my eyes afraid that baka when I open my eyes my child would have stopped breathing.  Unsa pa kahaybationsainahanngawalaymahimo….

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