Feb. 7, 2010
Background Scripture: Mathew 15:21-28
Devotional Reading: Isaiah 42:1-9
In a group studying Matthew 15:21-28, someone commented: “If I had been Matthew, I wouldn’t have included that sequence in my Gospel!”

“Why not?” the teacher inquired.

“Because it’s an embarrassment; it’s not the Jesus I know,” was the reply.

The “embarrassment” was Jesus’ insinuation that Gentiles were no more worthy than a dog begging at the table, and his refusal to heal her daughter. He eventually did commend her for her faith and healed her daughter, but some cannot get beyond verse 26.
There are a variety of possible explanations for this passage.
One might easily assume that Jesus was infected with the typical prejudice of Jews to all Gentiles, particularly the Canaanites, native inhabitants who had been displaced by the Israelis, who regarded them as “people of reproach.”

Because of the woman’s obvious faith and persistence, Jesus was persuaded to respond to her request. So, could Jesus, being both human and divine, have been subject to a very human prejudice?
Time out?

A variation on that interpretation is that Jesus initially did not respond because he had come to this area to get away from the crowds, acclimations and the conniving of the Pharisees. Some think it is because he had to recoup his spiritual resources.

Others think he sought refuge in this area because he needed time to instruct the disciples for what lay ahead. Matthew tells us that he is in the “district of Tyre and Sidon.” Both were well out of Jewish territory: Tyre served as the northern boundary of Israel and Sidon was 30 miles north of Tyre.

So, on this one occasion, Jesus was outside his native Israel, probably choosing this area so that he could be incognito for a time.

(While typing the above paragraph, our telephone rang. Normally, when I’m writing and if Valere is here, I don’t answer the phone. But she is out for a while and, thinking maybe she was calling, I answered and found it was a friend who just wanted to “check in” and chat. When I hung up I regretted the valuable “time lost,” but acknowledged that interruptions are often opportunities in disguise.)

I see the encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman with Jesus using both irony and humor to teach his disciples a vital lesson. In the gospels there are incidents in which his first response to a challenge is silence, as before Pilate (Mt. 27:14), Herod (Lk. 23:9) and before the mob that wanted to stone an adulteress (Jn. 7:53-8:11).

Another ‘lost sheep’

After the enabling silence, Jesus adopted another manner that he sometimes assumed when confronted either with a challenge or teachable moment: An ironic, provocative playfulness: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 24).

Instead of expressing his own sense of mission, I think Jesus was ridiculing an attitude held by certain of his disciples: the Messiah for the Jews; Gentiles need not apply. As with his parables, I see Jesus playing a role, acting out a pun to expose the breadth of his mission. (Scholars note that the Greek word for “dogs” means not the hounds of the streets, but pet lapdogs – thus, taking some of the bite out of the term.)

But, whatever Jesus’ intentions – and I think they are entirely in keeping with the Jesus we “know” – the key on which the encounter turns is the Gentile woman’s recognition that Jesus is the “Son of David,” the Messiah.

While his opponents denied his messianic calling and others arduously wrestled with it, here was a Gentile, a Canaanite woman and “person of reproach,” who comprehends what so many others are still missing.

Question: Who are our Canaanites today, and what shall we do with them?

Answer: You know who they are – and if you can’t lead them to Jesus, don’t get in his way!
  
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.