In this
reading from Matthew’s gospel, I wonder what is going on.
What happened to the Jesus who fed over 5,000 people,
the Jesus who calmed the waters.
What happened to Jesus the compassionate healer?
What happened to the Jesus who fed over 5,000 people,
the Jesus who calmed the waters.
What happened to Jesus the compassionate healer?
Jesus is in
the borderlands; the Greek isn’t clear if he is in or near the district of Tyre and Sidon. Either way, he
is out of familiar territory. And as so often happens, someone comes begging
for mercy. This woman is so sure Jesus can help, she asks for healing for her
daughter, even though her daughter is not with her.
Then the bit that stuns me,
Jesus ignores her.
She was shouting, ‘Have mercy
on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’
And Jesus does not answer
her.
Does he not hear her?
Is he testing her?
Waiting for the disciples to
do something?
??? [shoulder shrug]
The woman, who is not given a
name, is given a race; she is referred to here as a Canaanite, one of
the original inhabitants of the region – you may recognise the term from
Genesis 15, and God’s covenant with Abram that the land between the river of
Egypt and the great river, the Euphrates, would belong to his descendants – the
land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Rephaites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.
Her people had been displaced generations before by the Israelites when they
started on their nation building exercise.
“The designation "Canaanite"
certainly defines the woman as a gentile, but not just any gentile. The term
conveys deep-seated historical biases that "Syro-Phoenician" does
not. There were no Canaanites living in the first century, so the label does
not describe present-day encounters. The label evokes historical conflicts and
thus defines the woman in terms of age-old prejudices a first-century Jewish
audience would understand.” [i]
The woman,
is an outsider, in terms of gender, race, and having a sick child. But she
shows something that the others do not.
While this woman is not one of the
Jews that Jesus came to save, … she calls him Lord, Son of David.
She calls
Jesus Lord, in each of the three times she speaks to him. The Greek word is used
to speak of Lord, master, supreme authority, the Emperor and is the word used
for God.
When Jesus
initially ignores her, she falls at his feet, kneels or prostrates herself, she
pays homage to him, and shows great respect for him in the physical position
she takes, and again calls him Lord. How could Jesus continue to ignore her.
Then when he has told her she is not one of the chosen ones, she continues in
faith to plead her case.
After Jesus
recognises her as a person of faith, and heals her daughter, she is still a gentile
woman. Her daily interactions will not change, except now her daughter is
healed. She will still be a gentile, an
outsider.
The woman can
teach us about speaking with God.
At times, it
seems like we need to follow a set formula for praying:
Use our best
voice, and our best words;
Be very
polite, and use ‘religiousy’ words.
This is a
pattern of prayer:
recognising
who God is,
recognising
who we are, and
humbling
ourselves before God.
When we look
at this story with the first part of the gospel reading, the idea of being
clean or unclean, acceptable or unacceptable, inside or outside come into play
again.[ii] Traditionally,
the people of Israel followed strict dietary rules, what can and cannot be
eaten, how food should be prepared and ritual hand washing.
Then Jesus
comes and turns that around. It isn’t eating pork or shellfish that makes you unclean,
or unsuitable for being part of the people of God; it is what is in your heart.
I wonder if
the story of the woman is an example of this way of thinking. Where you were
born, what you eat, your ethnicity, your gender defining who you are. Being assigned
a value because of where you live or what you look like. The woman would be
considered of little consequence in Israel, she was an outsider, and not just
any outsider, she is an old enemy.
And then
comes Jesus and he says belonging to God is about what is in your heart, not
what is on your dinner plate.
How is that going
to work? It was easy to know if you ate the wrong thing, but how will anyone
know what is in your heart?
By what comes
out of your mouth.
Our words and
our lives bear witness to what is in our hearts.
Are our
hearts compassionate?
Do our hearts
glorify God?
Are our
hearts obedient to God?
Then our
lives and words will show compassion;
will glorify
God;
will show our
obedience to God.
The interaction
between Jesus and the woman start off, as a first century Jew would expect, by Jesus
ignoring and then dismissing her. People were expecting a Jewish Messiah, someone
to save Israel, the chosen people of God.
Jesus
redefines who is in and who is out. Not even a Canaanite woman is an outsider
in the Kingdom of God. That would have been shocking to the people Matthew was
writing for.
In a culture
where speaking to an unrelated man is seriously questionable, the woman speaks
to Jesus;
she doesn’t give up, and
she does whatever she has to,
to get a result for her daughter.
she doesn’t give up, and
she does whatever she has to,
to get a result for her daughter.
She ignores
what is left of her reputation,
she doesn’t take no for an answer,
she knows what people think of her race.
she doesn’t take no for an answer,
she knows what people think of her race.
She doesn’t
argue that it is unfair that Israel is the chosen race, just that there is
enough for all.
These days we
watch what we eat for health reasons, or because we dislike some foods. There is
no list of untouchable foods.
I wonder are there
still people we think of as outside God’s love?
