Sermon Notes

15 21-22 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.” 23 Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.” 24 Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.” 25 Then the woman came back to Jesus, dropped to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.” 26 He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.” 27 She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.” 28 Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.

This passage of scripture is one of the more difficult texts to read and interpret within the New Testament Gospels, due to the fact that Matthew’s Jesus appears to be acting totally out of character. In his interaction with this Canaanite mother, Jesus is rude, sexist, and downright disrespectful: how else should we interpret referring to someone as a little dog? Yet, because her child is sick, this mother humbles herself, enduring both ridicule and verbal barbs to ensure her daughter receives the healing she needs. She does all she can—despite the obstacles in her way—to help her child. Swallowing her pride, the Canaanite mother is undeterred, resolute, and determined—if she has anything to do with it, her child will get well.
The lesson that this text reveals is instructive for Christian believers today: if one is serious about healing and wholeness, they will do whatever it takes to get what is needed. Matthew tells us we should not be deterred by indifference, criticism, negative talk, or even ethnic, racial, geographical, or cultural boundaries. We should do all we can to seek healing and wholeness for our communities and then leave the situation at Jesus’ feet.

21-22 From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, “Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit.”
In the opening verses of the lesson, Matthew indicates that Jesus left Jerusalem—where he had just endured a tense encounter with representatives of Jewish orthodoxy—Pharisees and Scribes. Jesus challenged the religious leaders to reevaluate how they determine others’ spirituality, particularly those who were from different cultures. As soon as he arrives in Tyre and Sidon—a coastal area to the north of Judean—he encounters with Canaanite mother. This Canaanite is a Gentile, a woman, and a member of a cultural/racial group that were the arch enemies of ancient Israel. Because she is Canaanite, she would have been labeled “unworthy” by Jewish orthodoxy. The woman comes to Jesus because her daughter is afflicted by a demonic spirit. In desperation, she asks Jesus to exorcise the demon from her child. Often it is not faith as much as it is desperation that initially brings us to Jesus. There is a difference.
It is also important to note that this Canaanite woman calls Jesus, “Son of David.” This is a specific reference to Matthew’s genealogy (Matt. 1:1-17), which breaks the established patterns of reporting genealogical information to include the stories of five women—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary—to place the Davidic royal line within the overarching story of God’s loving interaction with humanity. While the Deuteronomistic theology of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament sets God’s interaction with God’s people solely within the framework of Davidic kingship, Matthew recognizes that God is doing something new in the life of Israel.
In his gospel, the Matthean writer sets Jesus’ physical birth within the context of God birthing a radical new order and new kin-dom on which includes everyone in the Divine plan of salvation. Not only are Canaanite women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth included in God’s kin-dom, the Roman Centurion and this Canaanite woman are also worthy of being a part of God’s family. When the Canaanite woman calls Jesus, “Son of David,” she is essentially saying, “I know your ministry is designated for your own people. In fact, Jesus has already told his disciples to not take the road leading to Gentiles, and not enter a Samaritan town…going instead to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel (10:5-6). But the woman is thinking and acting theologically. She is saying, “although I am a Samaritan, I believe that God’s grace is bigger than only encompassing Israel.”
23 Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, “Now she’s bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She’s driving us crazy.”
Hearkening back to the encounter Jesus had with the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus begins the process of “live demonstration” of what religious orthodoxy espoused. Although it appears that Jesus’ lack of compassion reveals his intention is to put the woman off and not heal her daughter, he is using this situation to further instruct his disciples. And clearly, they needed instruction for they were as irritated with the woman’s pleas as Jewish orthodoxy would have been. They say, “She’s bothering us.”
The disciples reaction to the woman’s predicament is particularly instructive for contemporary 21st Century Christians. As Jesus’ disciples, people look to the Church for help. We represent the presence of Christ in contact with all of humanity. We are those to whom people turn when they don’t know where else to go for help. We are those through whom God works to minister to their needs. People expect the Church to be a source of help. Moreover, Jesus expects his disciples—the Church—to be a source of ministry to those in need; to effectively minister to people in His name. We do not get to choose who we minster to, or when that ministry may find us. We cannot be “bothered” by those who show up needing help. Our assignment is to meet their need.
24 Jesus refused, telling them, “I’ve got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel.” 25 Then the woman came back to Jesus, dropped to her knees, and begged. “Master, help me.” 26 He said, “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to dogs.”
Jesus doubles down on his apparent unconcern for this mother’s plight, or the plight of the tormented child. In referencing the “lost sheep of Israel,” Jesus is playing the role that Jewish orthodoxy intended and expected the Messiah to play: “Show concern for us and no one else.” However, Jesus uses this situation to further instruct the disciples on how they should approach the world. In Matthew 10:5-15. Jesus has already told the disciples to “cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with a skin disease, and cast out demons.” Based on this criteria, this woman’s request should be granted—except, she is Canaanite. However, this is where Matthew continues to flesh out the ministry to the Gentiles that began with healing the Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13), and will culminate in the Great Commission (Matthew 28: 16-20). Jesus is teaching his disciples that they must set aside their preconceived notions of who is worthy to be a part of the kin-dom of God, and prepare themselves to minister to the whole world, regardless of race, creed, or culture.
Matthew’s teaching illustration moves to another level when the woman comes back to Jesus, begging for His help. Traditionally, Canaanites had no dealings with Jews. But this mother didn’t care about that. Her child was being tormented and she wasn’t going to let the strictures of her culture prevent her from getting her child well; she needed to get up close and personal with Jesus. After all, what did she have to lose? 21st Century Christians should heed her actions. Getting close to Jesus means leaving other things behind. Sometimes, it means leaving other people behind; sometimes, it means leaving culture behind. If you want healing to take place, then don’t let anything or anyone or any tradition keep you from getting close to Jesus.
At first, Jesus seemed unsympathetic to her situation. He said nothing to her. But even when His disciples urged Him to send her away, this mother continued to plead for her child. Not only does she get up close and personal with Jesus, but she also remains persistent. Getting well demands persistence. This mother believed that she had brought her child to the right One. But often when we come to the right One, there will be those who will try to send us away. But that’s where persistence comes in. The more folk try to send us away, the more determined we must be that we will press. Even when it looks like He’s not interested in our condition, we must exercise a persistence that affirms, “I shall not be moved!”
27 She was quick: “You’re right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master’s table.” 28 Jesus gave in. “Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!” Right then her daughter became well.
In the final verses of the lesson text, what we have described thus far as persistence, brought on by desperation, Jesus now calls “faith.” This mother was doing all that she could to help her child, surrendering completely to His Lordship. She knew that, to relieve her daughter from her torment, she must surrender completely to Jesus—even if it meant her personal humiliation. The Canaanite mother spared no pain to help her daughter. She swallowed her pride; she withstood her ridicule; she allowed her feelings to be hurt. But she stayed right there in front of Jesus and she exhibited faith. She loved her daughter, and she was determined to do all that she could to make her child well.
Further, the Canaanite mother refuses to let Jesus’ snarky words dissuade her. When Jesus verbally berates and disrespects her, he reveals the Jewish male bias that marginalized this woman because of her gender, race/ethnicity, and religion. Further, Jesus basically calls her a little dog, that has no right to the feast that God prepared for Jewish children—when he utilizes the metaphor of a dog at the table begging for scraps. However, when Jesus goes off on her, the Canaanite mother claps back with womanish sass! She says even beggar dogs get scraps from the table,” outwitting Jesus as she reverses his metaphor, using his own words against him. According to New Testament biblical scholar Dr. Mitzi J. Smith, her sassy speech is a language of resistance—the Canaanite woman is resisting the dehumanizing, oppressive, discriminatory systems that seek to keep her “in her place,” and her daughter diseased. Through sass, the woman asserts that God’s purpose is to move beyond Israelite priority in the Divine plan of salvation, to universal inclusion.
Due to her efforts, this teaching demonstration results in acclimation for this Canaanite mother’s faith and healing for her daughter. The woman’s comments force the situation, and Jesus relents from the harshness he had initially displayed. Apparently, his point has been made—his ministry and purpose is not limited to one group or culture, but is available to anyone and everyone who seeks it.

Initially, Jesus was very harsh with this mother and He showed no real concern for her or her daughter. One biblical commentator says Jesus was caught with his compassion down. However, Jesus was using this Canaanite woman’s situation as an object lesson for His disciples. Jesus knew that He was going to heal her child, but He wanted to use her situation as an example to others of what the “real” Messiah looks like, and what authentic ministry entails.
If there is a lesson we can learn from this story that is shared in Matthew’s gospel incident, it is that when we’ve done all that we can do, when we’ve gone as far as we can go, when we’ve worked as hard as we can work, when we’ve sacrificed all we can sacrifice, we must remember to leave it all in the hands of the Lord—who will meet our needs with God’s love and compassion.

i) See Mitzi J. Smith, Womanist Sass and Talk Back: Social (In)Justice, Intersectionality, and Biblical Interpretation (Cascade Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers: Kindle Edition) p. 29.
ii) See Warren Carter, “Matthew,” in Gale A. Yee’s, Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set (Fortress Press: Kindle Edition) p. 2415.