21 From there, Jesus went to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from those territories came out and shouted, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” 23 But he didn’t respond to her at all.
His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away; she keeps shouting out after us.”
24 Jesus replied, “I’ve been sent only to the lost sheep, the people of Israel.”
25 But she knelt before him and said, “Lord, help me.”
26 He replied, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and toss it to dogs.”
27 She said, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall off their masters’ table.”
28 Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith. It will be just as you wish.” And right then her daughter was healed.
Reflection
What would a parent not do to have their child healed from a devastating illness? In today’s story from Matthew, Jesus and his disciples have travelled into the Gentile occupied area between Tyre and Sidon. A “Canaanite woman” takes to the streets shouting after Jesus, “Show me mercy, Son of David. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.” This nameless woman, only referred to by her ethnicity, has abandoned all social norms and is
openly pursuing Jesus for help. She is a marginalized person who must overcome the stigma of centuries of conquest and hatred between her people and the Jews. She is the personifica-tion of everything a first century, religious Jew avoided; she is a foreigner, a ritually unclean person, an idolator, and a shamelessly bold woman. All of these barriers preclude a face to face conversation with Jesus, but she doesn’t give up. Jesus seemingly ignores her cries,
but the Canaanite woman won’t give up or go away until her daughter is healed.
Why does Jesus seem to ignore her pleas? Why do the disciples not respond to her with compassion, but instead urge Jesus to “send her away” for causing a scene? Does the prejudice of the disciples against her, blind them to seeing her as a child of God, in spite of all that Jesus has taught them? Jesus responds to her, as much as to the disciples, that God has sent him first to the lost people of Israel, which seems to justify the disciples’ wanting to send her away. Desperate at this response from Jesus she kneels and calls him Lord, and begs for help. Jesus responds by saying he will not take the bread away from the children of Israel, to give it to the ‘household’ dogs. In humility, given her status, she calls Jesus, Lord, and acknowledges that while she is not an Israelite, she is still worthy to gather the crumbs from under the master’s table, she is not outside of God’s grace. She has confessed she is not worthy and by faith, believes in the promises of God. This woman accepts the healing grace of God’s love by faith through Jesus. And Jesus’ tells her that she has “great faith” and heals her daughter, demonstrating to the disciples, that great faith is to be found even outside of Israel.
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
This is a hard story for us to hear, because in the Kin-dom of God there is no ‘us’ versus ‘them’ but it is both/and, a place of inclusion. We don’t want to acknowledge that we don’t treat everyone as a child of God. I know I struggle with this too. Jesus shows us through this story that our own prejudices about people blind us to seeing that we are all children of God. None of us are outside of God’s grace. Jesus taught us what the Kin-dom of God is-it’s a place where all are welcomed, accepted and loved. This is the radical hospitality of the Kin-dom that we are called on to extend to others and proclaim. This is also one of the hardest truths for us to live into because we all have blind spots of bias and prejudice we need to overcome. When we acknowledge this, with God’s help, the Spirit reveals to us those areas in our lives where we are excluding others and helps us to grow to become more like Jesus. What blind spots do you need to confront?
Prayer: Holy and loving God, heal us of our blind spots when it comes to showing radical
hospitality to all of your children. Forgive us for excluding people and point out to us those places in our lives where we need to grow to become more like Jesus, where all are welcomed, accepted and loved. Amen.
