Genesis 45:1-15 and Psalm 133 | Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 and Psalm 67 | Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 | Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
The story of the Canaanite Woman can be troubling to some readers, as Jesus comes across as tribalist and, frankly, rude. I suppose we’ve come to expect this from the disciples to some degree, but Jesus does not often speak to people this way, comparing them to dogs and denying their need in desperation. So, perhaps it is reasonable to be unsettled by Jesus’ interaction with the woman in this story.
Having traveled to the region of Tyre and Sidon, we know that Jesus has left Israel’s territory into gentile territory. The Canaanite woman is styled as such, though “Canaanite” is historically implausible. It seems that Matthew is using this signifier as a way of drawing attention to the contrast between this small group of Israelites and the woman who kneels before Jesus.
She is a gentile, and Jesus makes it clear that his ministry is reserved for “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The disciples want her sent away, but she is desperate to find relief for her tormented daughter. Desperation fuels her persistence, and she kneels before Jesus – that is to say, in front of him – only to hear Jesus’ crass remark about the unfairness of dogs eating the children’s food. Her reply is self-deprecating and brilliant, and Jesus seems genuinely astonished by her faith as he acquiesces to her plea.
Willie Jennings has pointed out the significance of this woman’s posture – kneeling before Jesus, but in front of him. It is a humble posture, but it does seem to demand an audience that Jesus has already refused on some level. I wonder how many of the doctors and faith healers she consulted among her own, gentile people. It is clear that Jews and Gentiles do not mix, but that is not a one-way street. Styled as a “Canaanite,” it is likely that there is a mutual dislike between her people and Jesus’ people. What is she risking to come to Jesus in her desperation? Is she abandoning faith in her own religious and cultural systems of healing in this last effort to find relief for her tormented child? This woman engages in a risky encounter with a group of unwelcoming, strange men for the sake of her daughter on the chance that she overheard this Jewish healer was trekking just over the border.
But she also takes her place in front of Jesus, kneeling and begging his help. I am reminded of another character who took his place in front of Jesus in order to rebuke him for suggesting that the Messiah must suffer and die, and Peter was named as a “satan” and told to get behind Jesus in that episode. Yet this Canaanite Woman, though she takes her place in front of Jesus, does so in such a way that illuminates the fidelity of God and draws Jesus closer to God’s work in the world.
Unlike Peter, who stood in front of Jesus as a barrier to the cruciform way of the Messiah, the Canaanite Woman becomes an entryway into the surprising, limitless mercy of God unleashed into the world. Far from inhibiting Jesus, her presence characterizes the narrow gate that leads to abundant life – an abundance that, in the mercy of God, includes gentiles in the borderless Kingdom.
If we are to read this from the proper position, those of us that are indeed Gentiles (and that would include a vast majority of Christians), then we ought to see ourselves in the place of the Canaanite Woman’s daughter. We are the ones for whom she intercedes, having overheard the Gospel from the other side of the border, risking herself for the sake of our place at the table.
But we must also hear the desperation of mothers in present-day Israel, who are desperate for relief for their own children. We must hear the desperation of those who have stood at the door of the church looking for welcome and safe community, even as so many other disciples have petitioned for them to be sent away.
And for yet another perspective, we must be open to the surprising mercy of God to teach us faithfulness in the form of those whom we might not imagine to be faithful. If Jesus can be amazed by the faithfulness of this woman whom he had initially dismissed, if he can witness in her own faithfulness the faithfulness of God to all creation, then there is no neighbor, stranger, enemy, or friend who cannot teach us something of God’s mercy. In the words of Willie Jennings, “Sometimes the faith we need to see does not come from the people that ought to have it.”1
For the vast majority of us who are Gentile Christians, our place at the table is bound up with the surprising faithfulness of this woman who interceded on our behalf. And though she requested crumbs under the table, she has instead found the table is set with plenty good room for all of her children, with the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation offered to all in the abundant mercy of God.
- This comes from his lecture entitled, “Overhearing the Shema,” given at Duke Divinity School in the Spring of 2015. ↩︎