Matthew 15:21-28

 Matthew 15:21-28     A Canaanite Woman’s Faith

The phrase left there had already appeared twice in the narrative, the first time after Pharisees had started to plot Jesus’ death [12:14], and, later, after Matthew’s account of Herod’s execution of John the Baptist [14:13].  Jesus’ response to abuse and danger in these instances had been that of non-violent withdrawal.

Disputed Territory

Over a period of about ten centuries, the district surrounding the Gentile coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon had been disputed territory.  Most Jews understood it to belong by right to their “Promised Land”, though they had never succeeded completely in acquiring it.  At the time of Jesus, it belonged in the Jewish psyche, even though politically it belonged to the province of Syria.  A number of villages and rural areas were inhabited and farmed by Jews.  Perhaps Jesus did not consider himself moving spiritually out of Jewish territory.  Matthew’s text could be translated that Jesus went “towards”(rather than “to”) the district of Tyre and Sidon.  This might explain Matthew’s awkward comment that the woman “came out”. Whatever about such considerations, she was not Jewish. Indeed, Matthew identified her by the ancient name “Canaanite”.

The person seeking Jesus’ help was a Gentile and a woman.  She did not rate on any scale of relative “honour”.  More than that, she was shouting at him, apparently from a distance, asking Jesus to show mercy to her because her daughter was severely possessed by a demon. It was not clear whether the daughter accompanied her or had been left at home.

She referred to Jesus as Lord, the title appropriately reserved for the risen Christ.  She was a forerunner of the Gentile disciples who belonged to Matthew’s community.  Furthermore, she called Jesus Son of David.  Even though Gentiles belonged to Matthew’s faith community, the salvation that they enjoyed had first been promised to Israel and had come to the nations through Jesus, the Jewish Son of David.  The salvation brought by Jesus had a long history of loving care and formation under the guiding hand of God.

That the consistently merciful Jesus was unwilling to take any notice of her was, to say the least, uncharacteristic.  Was his problem that she was Gentile? or a woman? or was it a case of offended honour?

Mark, from whose Gospel the episode was taken, had made no mention of any intervention by disciples.  Matthew, on the other hand, drew attention to their presence and their role.  Apparently, the woman’s persistent shouting upset them.  It is not clear what they were suggesting.  The phrase translated, Do send her away, meaning, “Send the woman away”, could equally be translated “Send the demon away”.

Jesus’ answer was not totally consistent.  Earlier in Matthew’s narrative, Jesus had heard the respectful request of a Gentile centurion and cured his paralysed servant (who may have been Gentile or Jewish), without having to enter the centurion’s house [8:5-13].  Contrary to their plea to leave them, he had exorcised two Gadarene demoniacs on Gentile soil [8:28-34].

However, whatever about exceptions, Jesus’ strong sense of mission did focus clearly on Israel.  When he had sent the twelve on mission, he had explicitly directed them likewise: Go nowhere among the Gentiles ... but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel [10:5-6].  Only after his death and resurrection would he commission them to make disciples of all nations [28:19].

Yet the woman and her daughter were clearly in need.

In the depth of her love for her daughter, the woman would not be put off.  She came close to Jesus and knelt before him.  In the honour-regulated culture of the time, kneeling was not unusual – but in her case, she was a woman; and women, particularly Gentile women, could not initiate an interaction with a male Jew.  Normally, Jesus paid no attention to cultural considerations of relative honour.

Jesus made his defensive comment about the children’s food being taken and thrown to the pups against the background of an economic situation where peasant labourers in the conquered provinces of the Empire were oppressively taxed, and their produce commandeered, to support the Gentile population of the cities of the Empire.  The ethnically Jewish peasants of the district surrounding Tyre and Sidon would have been no exception.  Many would have deeply resented their children’s food being taken and thrown to the pups.

While Jesus may have had such a situation in mind, it cannot be assumed.

Jesus’ response seemed even more uncaring than his former ignoring of her.  "Dogs" was not an uncommon epithet used of Gentiles by Jews.  It seemed to infer that Jesus’ fund of compassion and power was limited: what he gave to her would not be available to Jews.

The woman would not be put off.  Her neat response shattered Jesus’ argument, and he had no credible answer.

The woman’s persistence and humility, along with her insight, led Jesus to change his mind.  In the process, he came to a better understanding of the extent of his ministry.  Like everyone else, Jesus, too, could grow in wisdom.

Respected leaders of Israel, along with the disciples, struggled to have any faith in Jesus.  It took a Gentile woman to exemplify the depth of faith and tenacity that Jesus wished for all. 

Applying the Lesson

Perhaps the incident is best read against the background of the disputes unsettling Matthew’s mixed community of Jews and Gentiles.  It reflects their search for answers to the vexed question of the admission of Gentiles to the community, and the requirements placed on them.  There was no disputing their need for salvation.  Yet, Jesus had restricted his mission, and the original mission of the twelve, to Israel.  Was the same restriction appropriate for the Church?  The solution was found by reflection on the abundance of God’s love – already envisioned by the later prophets, and clearly reaffirmed in Jesus’ parables of the Kingdom.  The only requirement to be made of Gentiles was faith in Jesus as the risen Lord.

Next >> Matthew 15:29-39