Matthew 15, 21-28.
Tired of continuous opposition, Jesus and his disciples withdraw to the coastal area in the north- west of Palestine, bordering Tyre and Sidon – gentile territories. The Canaanite woman (Mark calls her a Syrophoenician) must have known about Jesus as a healer for her to come to him for help for her daughter. She addresses him as Lord, Son of David, acknowledging his messianic credentials, and asks for his compassion on herself and her daughter who is possessed by a devil. At first, he ignores her request. He may have felt that healing a pagan outsider may further alienate him from his own people who were particularly hostile to Samaritans. The disciples then advance her case with Jesus in order to silence her and save them from further annoyance.
He explains his reticence and his desire not to get involved on the grounds that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (See 10,6).
She won’t be put off by his silence, and kneeling at his feet,( the verb in Greek also means worshipping), she begs him again, as Lord, to help her. By acknowledging him as Lord she is confessing his power over the devil, and by implication, his divinity.
She will not be put off, either, by Jesus’ unflattering description of herself and her people as housedogs- a standard description for gentiles at the time. Accepting the derogatory description, she bargains, at least, for the crumbs which the housedogs could normally expect to lick up as they fell from the master’s table.
Jesus admires her faith and persistence and her love for her daughter, which drives her. He compliments her for her great faith and grants her wish, which would be music to her ears. At that moment her daughter was cured – at a distance, as in the case of the pagan centurion’s servant. That persistent mother would rush home to hug lovingly her beloved daughter for whom she had battled so gallantly with the Lord. Healed from her affliction and restored to her full senses she would begin to live a new life. Through her healing the seeds of the gentile faith/ mission are sown.
This nameless woman is a perfect example of what it means to persevere in prayer despite discouragement and seeming failure. She was unselfishly focused on the needs of her daughter and was clear about what she wanted for her. Giving up on prayer and hope was not in her lexicon.
She was a woman of great faith, and her faith grew stronger through her contact with Jesus. She began by shouting after him for help and she ends up kneeling before him in worship and prayer. She begins by requesting a healing and ends with thankful prayer for the healing.
Try to imagine the different ways in which this mother and daughter would have changed through their contact with Jesus. What does it tell you?
Her two prayers: ”Lord take pity on me,” and “Lord help me,” are brief and to the point, – a model of prayer for us.
The mother was quick-witted in her response to Jesus’ comment about not giving the children’s food to the house –dogs! Does humour have a place in your relationship with God?
Fr Geoff O’Grady