Matthew 15:21-28

Matthew 15:21-28 The healing of the Canaanite woman

Jesus now moves clearly into Gentile territory.  Tyre and Sidon are coastal cities northwest of Galilee, outside of Jewish territory.

Who comes to Jesus, and what does she ask?

Mark tells us more specifically that this woman is a Greek(-speaking) Syrian Phoenician woman.  Matthew calls her a Canaanite, which is an anachronistic term he takes from the Old Testament.  Centuries earlier, the Israelites had battled the Canaanites when they took over the Promised Land.  In Genesis’s table of the origins of the nations, Canaan is the father of Sidon (Gen. 10:15).

The Pharisees of Jesus’s time would have had nothing to do with this woman for multiple reasons: she was a woman, a foreigner, and a Gentile, and therefore unclean.  Jesus, however, allows her to engage him.

In verse 22, what words does she use to describe Jesus?  What does her uses of these terms tell you about her faith?

How does Jesus react, initially?

He says nothing.

Why do you think Jesus at first does not respond to her, but waits until she persists and the disciple ask him to send her away?

How does Jesus respond to the disciples and her in verse 24?

The woman’s reply is very simple: “Lord, help me” (Matt. 15:25).  How is that a good example for us?

I will explain Jesus’s troubling statements in verses 24 and 26 in a moment, but first, given that the woman gets what she wants in the end, do you think Jesus may be testing her in some way?

Jesus appears to be prejudiced here, but that's a misunderstanding. What is really going on?

Jesus’s dismissive and seemingly racist comments to the Syrophoenician/Canaanite woman – “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24) and “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26) – have troubled many people.  Jesus sounds callous and prejudiced.  But that interpretation does not fit with the rest of what we know about Jesus, so there must be more to the story.  And there is!

Here are 5 big points that can help us accurately interpret what Jesus says here:

First, Jesus has already shown that he cares about Gentiles and is willing to heal them:

• In Matthew 8:28-34, Jesus goes to the Gentile territory of Gadara and heals the men who were possessed by demons.

• In Matthew 8:5-13, he heals a Gentile centurion’s servant.

• Matthew has been hinting to us from the very first chapter that Jesus’s gospel is for all people.  He started by identifying the Gentile women in Jesus’s genealogy (see the study Matt. 1:1-17).

• Although when Jesus sent the apostles out on their first preaching mission he told them to stay in Jewish territory and not preach to the Samaritans (Matt. 10:5-6), that was only a first step.  Matthew’s whole Gospel is driving toward its final verses where Jesus says the gospel must be preached to all nations (Matt. 28:19-20).

• In the passage right before this one, Jesus demolishes the idea that something outside of you can defile you.  That’s how Jews felt about Gentiles, that they were a source of defilement.

Second, this appears to be another case where Jesus quotes a claim others are making before showing how it is wrong.  We have seen this in several places:

• In Matthew 5:21, Matthew 5:27, Matthew 5:31, Matthew 5:33, Matthew 5:38, and Matthew 5:43, Jesus begins a teaching by starting with, “You have heard that it was said . . .” or similar words, and then reframes the issue.

• In Matthew 11:7, he quotes people’s erroneous thinking about John the Baptist before providing a true understanding of John’s role.

• In Matthew 15:5, he quotes the Pharisees’ flimsy excuse for not taking care of their parents, before calling out their hypocrisy.

This appears to be another case where Jesus is quoting the erroneous thinking of the people of his time.  In fact, it is quite possible that the disciples said these things to Jesus when they were asking him to send the woman away.

Third, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon for a reason – perhaps with the specific intention of having an interaction such as this one.  Matthew tells us that Jesus “withdrew” to the region of Tyre and Sidon, but he doesn’t say why.  In Matthew’s Gospel, nothing happens without a reason.  Some scholars think that Jesus just wanted to get away from the crowds so that he could focus on training his disciples and preparing them for his crucifixion.  But there were out-of-the way Jewish places he could have gone to.  Or he could have gone to Bethsaida, the Gentile city his disciples were supposed to meet him in when he walked on the water (see Matt. 14:22 and Mark 6:45).  Going to the Tyre and Sidon allows him to show by his actions that his point in the previous passage that nothing external can defile you apply to the Gentiles.

Fourth, when he said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (Matt. 15:26), the word isn’t actually “dogs.”  The Jews routinely called Gentiles “dogs.”  Dogs were despised at this time: mostly unclean, stray scavengers, not domesticated pets.  But Jesus doesn’t actually use the word “dog.”  The word he uses is the word for a little dog, a house dog, or a puppy.  So he is twisting the standard quote of his day as he prepares to demolish the ungodly attitude behind it.

Finally, Jesus is following the typical style of verbal jousting that was common for the men of his time, which was to make an argument and then see if the other person can make a better argument.  Jesus honors this woman by treating her as an equal and worthy of such an argument.

When you put all these points together, it becomes clear that Jesus is quoting the prejudices of his day to in order to demolish them, not because he believes them.

How does the woman react in verse 26?

Jesus loves the woman’s response.  Why?

How is her response an act of faith?

How does Jesus respond to her in verse 28?

This is the only person of whom Jesus says that they have “great” faith.

What does this woman teach us about faith?

What did this event show about Jesus’s relationship to the Gentiles?

Can we talk back to God?  If so, how?  Does it matter that she talked back to him while still being respectful?  . . . and that it was based in faith?

What do you think this woman thought about Jesus?

What do you think she thought he felt about her?

She must have sensed that he really cared about her, even though his words didn’t sound like it.  We, too, can embrace the fact that God really cares about us, even though some of the things he allows to happen might make it seem like he doesn’t.

Jesus didn’t even make her bring her daughter to him.  He just healed the daughter from a distance.  That also happened in the healing of the centurion’s servant.  Both requesters were Gentiles.  Why do you think he did the healing at a distance in both cases?

What does the fact that he never sent her away tell us?  What can we learn from that, with regard to our own relationship with Jesus?

Take a step back and consider this:

Unless you are a Jew by heritage, this is a really important story.  Jesus shows that his good news is for you, not just for Jews.  Are we as welcoming?

Are there any groups in your society that are not welcome in your church community?

How do you think Jesus would respond?

How can you help make all people welcome in the church?