Matthew 15:21-28 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Matthew reveals a story that all Jews at that time would understand and appreciate. To them, Jesus was correct not to acknowledge this Canaanite woman’s request. He was right to ignore her especially in the midst of other Jews. The Canaanites, scourge of the Jewish nation, did not deserve to be recognized or spoken to, just as the Samaritan woman at the well should have been ignored by Jesus. The pleasures and temptations of Canaan tantalized the Jewish people from the time they entered the Promised Land. The Lord God wanted the Canaanites cleansed from the land when the Israelites inhabited the country, but the Jews did not do so. Because of the evil practices of this people, the Jews fell right into an evil and adulterous lifestyle. The Canaanites’ way of living was adopted by the Jewish people. In fact, the Bible records that they did even more evil than the people of that land. They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven. They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire. They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord’s anger. (2 King 17:16-17) The people of Israel were totally corrupted by the pagan way of living in the land. Finally, God removes his people from the kingdom of Israel by the force of the Assyrian army and replaces the people of Israel with populations from other lands. All of these people brought in their own religions to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Samaria. The king of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and resettled them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns. (2 King 17:24) Because these new inhabitants of Israel were not thriving in their new land, the Assyrian king sent a prophet of the Lord to them from the exiled Israelites. He sent this prophet to teach these people from many lands how to worship Jehovah the God of Israel. Of course these new people who had their own gods assimilated this new religion of Jehovah into their already pagan practices. This is the reason the Jews of Jesus’ time rejected the Canaanites and the Samaritans. They had unclean hands, impurities in their view of the Creator of all things. The Canaanites served other gods and the Samaritans served a corrupted view of God. When Jesus failed to recognize the Canaanite woman immediately, his hesitancy probably was based on what He knew about people in her corrupt society.
The Canaanite woman was aware of the Jewish religion, for she addressed Jesus as the Son of David. She knew of the prophets of old and of their miracles. She might even have known of the story of Elijah raising a widow’s son from the dead. This miracle happened in her area of Sidon. Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” (1 King 17: 20-23) Whatever her knowledge about the Jewish religion, she knew there was power in it, and her knowledge of Jesus’ ministry had brought her to Jesus with an incessant call for help from him. She was so annoying that the disciples were displeased with her constant cry for Jesus to help her. His disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” They were not concerned about her need, but only that she was a woman from an adverse society. Jesus, knowing full well of the history of the pagan Canaanites, ignores her and then addresses her directly: I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. He was sent only to God’s chosen ones whom God delivered out of slavery. He knew the pagan practices of the Cannanites had caused a Jewish diaspora, creating in many places slavery again for them. So, Jesus was now sent to the community of Jews to set them finally free from the hands of the evil one. This would come through the cross. Consequently, with this purpose in mind, Jesus says, It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs. The Children of God are to eat the manna from heaven, not the dogs. Those He rescued from Egypt are to eat the manna, not those who are captivated by their evil practices as were the Egyptians. God’s blessing is for the children of God, not the pagans who serve other gods that are no gods. She contradicts the Son of God, Yes it is, Lord. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table. She relates what is actually true in real life. Dogs do eat the food that falls from a table. Jesus assents to her demand then, for He knows she is speaking the truth about life. He accepts her earnestness, her willingness even to contradict him, a man she knew as a man of power, a Son of David, well respected by those who were surrounding him that day. Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. This woman from the wrong ethnic group, with little status among these Jewish people went away with her plea answered. Her request, reminds us of Jesus’ answer to John’s disciple on whether He was the Messiah or not. Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. (Luke 7:22-23) In her case, good news was proclaimed to an outcast, poor in spirit because she was not a Jew. Her daughter was healed at that moment.
Faith is central to today’s story, required for those who struggle with the God of creation. They need the faith of Jacob when he wrestled with God. This Canaanite woman had other beliefs taught to her when she was young. Now she had met a circumstance that she could not change on her own. My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly. Her love for her daughter brought her to this Jewish Messiah. She understood what the Jews thought of her background, her ethnicity. She knew those around Jesus would abhor her boldness, her tenacity in asking him to heal her daughter. She understood well that as a pagan woman, she had no right to approach Jesus the Son of David. She definitely was out of place in this group. But she was willing to wrestle with God for his blessings. She contradicted Jesus’ statement of feeding only Jews, desiring only one thing, her daughter’s healing. Are we willing to wrestle with God for a huge need in our lives? Are we willing to ask and ask again when we feel out of place, out of order, unwilling to accept the first answer we hear from God? Faith is an incessant demand on God. God is not intimidated by our failure to accept everything we feel God has given us in life. Jacob wrestled with God. I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there. So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:26-30) This Canaanite woman wrestled with Jesus. She would not accept his first statement. She had the boldness to discount Jesus’ words, to say that He was wrong. In the Jacob story, we see Jacob returning to the place where he was born. He was fearful Esau his brother would kill him, for he had taken Esau’s birthright by deceiving their father. His fear was so great that he made elaborate plans on how to meet Esau and his four hundred men that were coming to greet him. He sent his less favored wife ahead of him with gifts for Esau. If Esau’s anger was still raw, he knew Esau would reject the gifts and punish the people he sent ahead of him. Under this stress he wrestled with God, asking God to bless him, knowing he was a deceiver, an outcast. God gives Jacob a new name because of his temerity of wrestling with him for a blessing: Prince of God, he who wrestles with God. Jacob believed in the God of creation. He believed God could change the circumstances of the moment. Otherwise, he had GREAT FAITH. The Canaanite woman believed Jesus could change her circumstance, that He could deliver her daughter from the demon. She was unwilling to accept Jesus’ first answer. As Jacob, whose sons become the foundation of the Jewish community, she was willing to face Jesus and ask him a favor that no Canaanite should be granted. Jesus recognizes her faith, and grants her request. Jacob was received graciously by Esau. God intervened in that troubled relationship. God intervened in the pagan woman’s family, restoring her daughter to health. What intervention do you need, breakfast companions? Yes, it is also good, as Paul said, to be content in whatever state you find yourself. But this story reveals that as children of God, we have the right to wrestle with him for what we consider important in our lives. Do we have great faith? Or, do we see the waves in our lives and experience great fear? We are in the boat of life. It might seem as if Jesus is asleep, unconcerned about what is happening to us. But we are not dogs: we are children of the Most High. Let us ask for his help in faith, willing to seek what is needed in our lives, for the manna of the Lord is ours.
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