Only the Lost Sheep of Israel? —Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 12A/Proper 15A (Matthew 15)
Matthew 15:21-28 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.
******************
Matthew
and Mark tell similar stories, though the identity of the central figure (other
than Jesus) is different. In Mark Jesus has an encounter with a Syrophoenician
woman while visiting the predominantly Gentile port city of Tyre (Mark 7:24-30). These cities were considered wicked Gentile spaces. This is not the
kind of place we would expect a good Jew, like Jesus, to hang out in. Not only
does Jesus go to this Gentile region, but here in Matthew 15 Jesus encounters a
Gentile woman identified as a Canaanite. To give a bit of background on this
woman’s identity. The use of the identifier “Canaanite” is noteworthy. It was
the Canaanites that Israel drove out of the land of promise so they could take possession
of it. They were the enemy in the eyes of the people of Israel. Thus, Anna
Case-Winters writes: “Given these hostile relations, it is a bit audacious for
this Canaanite woman to approach Jesus at all” [Matthew: Belief, p.
200]. Yet she does. Perhaps she feels entitled to do this since Jesus has
wandered into her space.
The
Canaanite woman, like the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7, remains unnamed.
Nevertheless, this woman like the woman in Mark 7, seeks Jesus’ assistance in
relieving a young girl from possession by a demon. This is a challenging passage
that raises several important questions about Jesus’ worldview, even as it
raises questions about concerns that still plague humanity. These include
ethnocentrism and religious bigotry. It’s an issue that has become a core
political issue—who is welcome in the United States (and elsewhere in the West)?
In this story, we face the question of whether Jesus could have been afflicted
by such perspectives.
It’s
not a comfortable issue, but we must face the question of whether Matthew and Mark,
in their accounts, reveal Jesus’ apparent ethnocentrism. Could we see Jesus’
claim that he has been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel simply as a question
of his mission focus? That is, does Jesus only have time for the people of
Israel (Jews) because he needs to keep focused on his primary task—preparing
his own people for the revealing of God’s realm? Or does his act of brushing off this Gentile
woman an expression of culturally conditioned ethnic/religious bigotry? I should
note that contextually, at that moment in the story, Jesus is the foreigner. That
Jesus responds to the woman’s question while wandering through her native land,
is a bit puzzling. Nevertheless, this passage does raise important questions
for Christians in the West (Europe and North America) to wrestle with as we watch
the rising tide of Christian nationalism take place around us.
If we
interpret this story in terms of ethnocentrism and religious nationalism, then
could we read this encounter as a moment of conversion on Jesus’ part? Does
this encounter with the Canaanite woman (Matthew’s version), while wandering
through her country, open Jesus’ eyes to the full humanity of this woman and
all others like her? While interpreters of this story offer differing
explanations of Jesus’ response to the woman’s request, I don’t know that any
of them are satisfying. However, this version of the story, as well as Mark’s,
offers us an opportunity to ponder our own openness to the full humanity of
those who are different from us, whether that involves religion, ethnicity,
race, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
We
might want to start our conversation about this story with the verses that
precede it. In the verses just prior (Mt. 15:10-20), Jesus speaks to a crowd that
had gathered around him about things that defile. This discussion goes back to
the beginning of the chapter, where Jesus has a confrontation with a group of
Pharisees and Scribes, who are concerned that his disciples don’t properly wash
their hands before eating. This conversation leads to a conversation about things
that defile. Jesus tells the crowd that it’s not what we put in our mouths that
defile us, but what comes out of the mouth (let the reader understand).
Ultimately Jesus reveals to the disciples that when he was speaking of things
that defile, he was speaking of matters of the heart, out of which all matters
of evil emerge. Thus, washing one’s hands isn’t that big a deal (though I do
recommend hand washing and good hygiene!).
This
conversation leads to Jesus’ journey to the “district of Tyre and Sidon,” predominantly
Gentile regions on the coast. Why Jesus decided to go there is not revealed.
Perhaps he was hoping to get away from the crowds by disappearing into a Gentile
region where people might not know him. Of course, as we saw in Matthew 14,
that rarely works! As Jesus made his way through this region a Canaanite woman
approached and began yelling at him. She asked for mercy on her daughter who
was tormented by a demon (we might diagnose the young girl differently today,
but in that day her situation was understood spiritually). She also addressed
him as Son of David, a messianic title that you wouldn’t expect a Canaanite
woman to make use of. That she approached Jesus suggests that she had heard he
was known for healing people. She must have assumed that Jesus didn’t care
about things like religious or ethnic identity. After all, it’s not the
externals that matter. She may have heard that he was a compassionate and gracious
religious figure. So, surely Jesus would have compassion for her daughter, whatever
their background. So why does Jesus respond to the woman’s request as he did?
Why does he find her something of an annoyance, especially since unlike many of
the folks he claims to be ministering among fail to recognize him? If Jesus
doesn’t see her as an annoyance, at least his disciples thought she was an
annoyance because they urged Jesus to send her away.
According
to Matthew, at first, Jesus ignored her calls for his help, even as his
disciples, ever conscious about attempts to hijack Jesus’ attention, urged him
to send the woman away. When Jesus
finally addresses the woman—perhaps intending to brush her off (Jesus wouldn’t
do that, would he?)—he tells her that he had been sent only to the “Lost sheep
of Israel.” In other words, he was called to address the spiritual needs of the
Jewish people, not Gentiles. The woman responds to Jesus’ brush-off by kneeling
before him (showing him respect) and pleading for his help. Then he speaks
words that seem to many modern hearers as insulting and offensive. He tells the
woman that it’s not fair (haven’t we heard that word lately?) to give the
children’s food to the dogs. Yes, you heard that right, Jesus called the woman
and her daughter dogs. In that world, calling someone a dog wasn’t a term of
endearment. Dogs were considered unclean animals. Modern Americans might
treasure dogs (and perhaps cats) as members of the family. Such was not the
case back then. As this was a common racial slur used for Gentiles, Jesus’
usage of the term suggests the dividing line between Jew and Gentile.
I don’t
know about you, but I find Jesus’ response at the very least unsettling if not
offensive. This isn’t what I would expect from Jesus, who is understood as
reflecting to us God’s love and compassion. Here he treats this woman and her
daughter as if they are unclean animals and not human beings. I don’t know
what to make of Jesus’ response. But as for the woman, she won’t be deterred.
If Jesus wants to call her a dog, so be it. Her daughter needs help, and she
will do whatever is necessary to achieve her goal. She knows Jesus can heal her
daughter and she’s not leaving without that help. When Jesus says it’s not fair
to give the children’s bread to the dogs, the Canaanite woman tells Jesus that
even the dogs get to eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. She’s
willing to receive the table scraps if that makes a difference.
In
Matthew’s version, Jesus commends the woman for the greatness of her faith.
That she was willing to go toe to toe with Jesus reveals the strength of her
faith. He tells her that her request had been honored. She now can go home and
find her daughter fully healed. So, all is well that ends well, or so they say.
The problem is, Jesus doesn’t act in this situation as we might expect. He
demonstrates a certain ethnocentrism, an “Israel-First” mentality that is
off-putting. So, is this only an act? Is he testing her faith? That’s the
answer some give. That explanation, however, doesn’t make sense to me. If this
was a test of faith, it was a very cruel test. How could he treat this woman
this way? All she wanted was to have her beloved daughter back. Besides, we don’t
see him doing something like this in any other place. So, perhaps this was a
learning opportunity for Jesus, similar to the kinds of learning experiences we
have in life.
Now, the
good news is that the daughter is freed from her oppression and can go on with
life. The question is, did something change in and for Jesus? Did he have his
eyes opened to this woman’s true humanity? Even if we find this encounter
distasteful, it does remind us that whatever we believe about Jesus’ divinity,
we also confess his full humanity. Surely this is an expression of his
humanity. As a human, he too has learning experiences in life. As for Matthew’s
audience, perhaps they heard this, as Anna Case-Winters suggests, as “an
affirmation of the mission to the Gentiles. The story of the Canaanite woman
continues and extends the theme that was begun with the homage of the wise men
from the East (2:1-2) and will culminate in the final chapter (28:16-20) where
the mission bursts its boundaries and extends into ‘all the world’” [Matthew: Belief, p. 203].
However
we respond to this story, the question now before us concerns its message to
us. How open are our hearts and minds to those outside our circle? Are
we willing to open the doors wide and welcome the stranger, the one who is
different, into our midst? In other words, are we willing to be
converted?
Comments