The One Who Surprised Jesus

Have you ever read something in the Bible that made absolutely no sense to you? For some people, that one passage will be enough to turn them away completely, saying the Bible is full of contradictions, is written by man, and is a product of the culture of the times. For believers who hold the Word of God to be life-giving, we might cobble together some explanation for what we’re reading, always wondering if our interpretation is correct – always feeling that the explanation is rather weak, after all. For me, the story of the Canaanite woman was just such a difficult passage.

Before we read the story, I want to give full credit for any wisdom found in this post to my husband, who studied out the passage and made the discoveries regarding its meaning. I keep trying to get him to write posts for my blog, but he has a busy work schedule and has not yet taken the plunge. Feel free to add your encouragement in the comments.

The story of the Canaanite woman is found in Matthew 15:21-28 – or the Syrophoenecian woman if you read the story in Mark 7:24-29.

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

So what is it with Jesus’ response? Did he just call her a dog? Did he just ignore her suffering and place her below the ranks of humans to that of a dog? In truth, he did, but not in the unloving way it seems.

When I first read this story, my way of making sense of it was to say that Jesus knew ahead of time that she would answer with faith. He tested her by not responding to her right away (pushing her to insist), and then by saying ‘no’ to her request (in a way that seemed completely unloving), he was helping her to see how deep her own faith was. This is how I made sense of the story and this is how I explained it to others, adding of course, that I could only guess at Jesus’ intentions.

But that’s actually not true, is it? It doesn’t seem like he knew how deep her faith was because he was astonished by her answer. And I’ll get to that in another minute because you can’t really tell from this translation. In that context, it doesn’t make sense that he was testing her for her own (or his listeners’) benefit. So why the rejection and why the “dog” comment?

When Jesus went around Israel, power came out of him all the time.

Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Matthew 15:29-31

He even healed people without being aware of it, as is evidenced by the bleeding woman in Mark 5. Wherever he went, he healed and power flowed out of him continually. But when he left Israel and went to Lebanon (Phoenecia at the time), his power stayed within. The Canaanite woman had to beg for him to heal her daughter. She couldn’t simply touch his cloak. Why is that? I think the reason is found in his answer. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Italics are mine).

God had made a promise to the Israelites that he would send a Messiah to redeem them, and Jesus came in answer to that. As it says in Romans 15:8, For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed. Jesus was there to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.

There would be a time when healing would be given to everyone, including the gentiles, and that time was after his crucifixion. He said, in John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” But at this point, he hadn’t died yet, and this wasn’t yet the time for all people. He needed to fulfill the promise God had made to his people first, and that meant limiting his salvation and healing to the Jews.

So his telling her ‘no’ was not to test her, but rather because it was not yet her time. The healing of her daughter would have to wait.

The God we follow is one of great kindness and compassion. He is the God who is willing to listen to Abraham’s negotiations to save Sodom & Gomorrah (and his nephew, Lot). He is the God who is moved by our passionate pleas for help, and who rewards our faith in Him. Like his Father, Jesus is filled with compassion.

The Canaanite woman was not deterred by Jesus’ response given to the disciples and took it as a chance to approach him. When she came near, she worshipped Jesus, calling him ‘Lord’ and kneeling before him in complete humility. She again asked for help.

When Jesus spoke to her directly, he referred to her as a dog. The words inferred that she had not the status of a child within the house, with all the blessings that position entailed. She was not even worthy of partaking in the family meal. To give some historical context, in those days, Israelites sometimes referred to unbelievers as dogs, and to mingle too closely with the “uncircumcised” could make a believer unclean. Therefore, they avoided associating with them.

When we were living in Djibouti, my husband went outside the city to study the Bible with some Ethiopians there. This was not long after September 11th, and there was a terrorist camp in the near vicinity. Someone saw his white skin and heard him speaking English and assumed he was American. When Matthieu walked by, the man spat out the words “sale chien” – dirty dog – not realising that my husband was French and could understand him. Matthieu was on crutches at the time, in a completely vulnerable position, far from the relative safety of the city. The Ethiopians didn’t speak French and asked what the man said, and my husband had to explain. To this day, he still remembers how it felt. It hurts to be called a dog.

But when you look carefully at the Greek word, you realise Jesus is not referring to the wild dogs that filled the streets of Djibouti, whose coats were matted with dirt, their skin stretched over their rib cages, unwanted and rejected. He said – it is not right to give the food from the children to the little dogs. The household pets. The ones who slept inside the house.

The Canaanite woman picked up on that subtlety right away, and said, True! You’re right. The children eat first. However, even the little dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table.

This response? It’s beautiful. She shows a deep humility that is so rarely coupled with such tenacity. You might see tenacity but not humility. Or you see humility, but not tenacity. Moved by her daughter’s need and her confidence in Jesus’ approachability, she wasn’t willing to give up on her quest as easily as that.

When he heard her reply, Jesus’ reaction was profound, and the version above simply does not do it justice. If you look at the Greek interlinear Bible, you see his exact words were: “O – Woman. Great is your faith.”

The first O is the Greek omega, and Jesus only used the exclamation three times. He used it once here when his disciples didn’t have enough faith to drive the demon out of a boy.

I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”

And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither. Luke 9:40-42 (NIV and KJV)

O faithless and perverse generation. In this passage, the O was used to exclaim over his disciples’ lack of faith.

Below, Jesus uses it again. His disciples were walking to Emmaus after the crucifixion and they hadn’t realised it was Jesus walking with them. When he explained all the prophecies about himself, they were slow to get it.

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27 (King James Version for the 1st line, then NIV).

‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe–‘ In this passage, the O was to exclaim over his disciples lack of understanding.

But this woman? She had great faith, and she understood everything.

She completely believed in Jesus’ power. She knew his power was so great it would only require a few crumbs to heal her daughter. She had faith. She understood the reference to the dogs and she took Jesus at his word. Yes, a little dog. But still part of the house. Maybe the lowest part of the house, but still in the house. True, I’m not in Israel. I’m not part of God’s chosen race, but I’m in the house all the same. You said so. Now give me the crumbs because that will be enough for me. The Canaanite woman had understanding.

She had both faith and understanding – she who was a foreigner and ignorant of the scriptures. At this, Jesus was moved to astonishment. And he cried out,

O!

Woman!

GREAT is your faith.

The Canaanite’s daughter was healed at that moment. When you first read the passage – I don’t know about you – but I found it almost offensive. Why was I offended by Jesus’ words and not her? The answer lies in her humility. She understood Jesus was Lord of heaven and earth, while she ranked among the lowest in humanity. But that was okay for her as long as she could be in the house and settle for a few crumbs.

Oh, how she teaches us today in her humility. Are the crumbs enough for us? Is it enough just to be in the house and not have any particular rank? The Word is a crucible for our hearts, and in this story, Jesus unveils what’s in our heart even today.

Thank you for reading, as always. And I appreciate those of you who follow me on such diverse topics as faith, France, recipes, and fiction. Next week I’m going to be doing a giveaway for the INSIDR full-service European smartphone, if you or anyone you know plans to come to France before April 2020. Details about this service are here, and the post will go up next Wednesday. So look out for that. In case you missed it last week, you can sign up for my author newsletter here to get a sneak peak of my Regency novel coming out in March 2020.

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