August 16, 2020
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 instantly.
This week something historic happened. Joe Biden chose a woman of color to be his running mate on the Democratic Presidential Ticket. We have all heard her bio. Kamala Harris is the daughter of immigrant parents. She is of Black and South Asian descent. She attended Howard University before returning home to the Bay Area to attend Hastings Law School at UC Berkeley. She was the attorney General of California and currently represents us in the US Senate. Cooper asked me when this news dropped why we spent so much time hearing about the person’s bio rather than their policies. I said because person’s story matters. It helps us to understand something about them and their life experiences. History and bios matter.
Another event happened recently; there was an explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. We were all horrified seeing the mushroom cloud erupt in that port city. I mention that because our story today took place in Lebanon. Tyre and Sidon were coastal districts within Canaan. This region we now call Lebanon, was also known at the time Syrophoenicia. That is the why Mark tells the same story is with a Syrophoenician woman coming to Jesus rather than a Canaanite woman. Syrophoenician is a Greek Roman term and Canaanite is an older term; remember Canaan was part of the Promised Land, the land of milk and honey, the first home of Israelites. But anyone from that land that was not a Hebrew was known as a Canaanite.
I got really excited doing research on this passage starting to see what at first looked like a simple healing story becoming a deeply rich tale with great history and connections. Matthew is the one who has all of the “begats” telling the lineage of Jesus; starting with Abraham, tracing through David and culminating in Jesus. Amazingly Matthew includes three Canaanite women in Jesus’ lineage- Tamar, Rahab and Ruth. These women gave birth to men of both King David and Jesus’ heritage. So even when we do not know this Canaanite’s woman’s name, we must see her as part of this lineage, this heritage that is so important to Matthew.
She was a strong woman from Canaan. A mother trying to help her daughter. She must have heard about Jesus and took the risk of approaching him, even though women were to be seen and not heard. Oh, but she makes sure she is heard. She starts shouting to get Jesus attention. She continues shouting until the disciples want to send her away because she is bothering them. Her shouting matters. What she said matters. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” She asks Jesus for mercy much like we have cried and sung, “Kyrie Eleison,” “Lord have mercy,” in our moments of need. She seeks mercy from the only one who can heal her daughter. She kneels before her Lord and then she calls him the Son of David harkening back to the lineage mentioned before. She humbles herself before him and pleads for help.
When the world feels overwhelming, pleading for mercy is all you can do. George Floyd pleaded for help when he could not breathe. He begged to not be placed in the police car because he was claustrophobic. He cried out to his mother because he was afraid, afraid he was going to die. George was pleading for mercy. Mercy that did not come.
So today people shout and continue shouting, much like the strong woman from Canaan. Black and white Americans endure tear gas and violence in order to peacefully protest longstanding injustice. They need their voices heard because they need mercy, they need help to end the racial injustice within our nation. We can be part of that help. Yet I wonder if we are more like the disciples who just want the shouting to stop, for the protests to end, because they are bothering us? That is not what this moment calls for. Our nation needs to change. Our policing system needs to show mercy. A person should not die over 20 bucks.
Did you have a hard time with the way Jesus responded to the Canaanite woman? I did. It felt unexpected, uncompassionate and dare I say “un-Christian.” Why did Jesus ignore her and her cries? Jesus did not answer her at all. Then rather than acknowledge her, Jesus states what he is about. Sort of like when you are bargaining, and the other person keeps saying only what they want. It is very frustrating. Jesus declares his mission to “save only the lost sheep of Israel.”
I’m ok with saving the lost sheep of Israel, but why does it have to be only? He ignores the woman in front of him. It is only after she kneels before him and begs for help, that Jesus at least engages with her. Even his words feel demeaning. “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” Where is the humanity? Where is the mercy? Two other times in Matthew, Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 when dealing with the Pharisees and obedience to the law, saying “I desire mercy not sacrifice” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). So where is Jesus’ mercy?
The moment changes when the woman humbles herself, to the level of a dog, yet lifts up the power of Jesus. She replies, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” You must know that referring to Canaanites as dogs was a familiar insult of the Israelites, much like calling a woman a female dog still stings today (Feasting on the Word, A3, p.361). But she does not shy away when being likened to a dog. Her need is too great! Yet along with her humility, she attests to the fact that even the crumbs of Jesus’ power are sufficient to heal her daughter.
This foreign woman, this strong woman, bears witness to the power of Jesus that is greater than his mission to save Israel. Jesus has the power to save the Israelites AND Canaanites, to save Gentiles, and to save us. Jesus’ power reaches farther than Israel. With that declaration, Jesus heals her daughter and states, “Woman, great is your faith!” This is the only time Jesus declares a persons’ faith great! In all of scripture this is the only time. Think about that.
What makes it great?
That she saw that even the crumbs of Jesus’ power could restore her daughter?
That she had the courage to beg and shout for what needed?
That she expanded Jesus’ mission to include the Gentiles?
Her cause to save her daughter, meant more to her than her pride. Her cause to save her daughter meant she could lower herself to enact change. People are protesting today because their cause means more to them than the pain they endure. My prayer is that our nation will show mercy, that we will see the humanity in all people and end the systemic racism that causes so much pain. Because when we do, we will be making our own declaration of faith. Great faith that sees beyond the color of skin, sees beyond our privileged ways, sees beyond the shouting in protest so that one day we can live in the fullness of faith and the fullness of God’s calling as brothers and sisters in Christ. Where humanity is honored. Mercy is given. Then maybe, just maybe, we can be like Jesus because this would be unexpected, we would have to change our ways, much like Jesus changed course after hearing the cries of this woman. We would be demonstrating that we have heard the shouts of our fellow Americans and we will change course, just like Jesus changed course. Our new course would be filled with compassion and certainly it would be Christian. May God bless the hearing of these words. Amen.
