(Matt 15:21-28; see also Mark 7:24-30)
This is a well known and understood story: the Syro-Phoenician mother comes to Jesus because her daughter is demonised and ill; the disciples tell Jesus to send her away because she is making a big fuss, and Jesus initially tries to turn her away, saying it is not right to give the children’s food to dogs; when she counters that even the little dogs get to eat the scraps that fall from the table, her request is fulfilled.
Here is Matthew’s version…
Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐκεῖθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὰ μέρη Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος. καὶ ἰδοὺ γυνὴ Χαναναία ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων ἐξελθοῦσα ἔκραζεν λέγουσα· Ἐλέησόν με, κύριε υἱὸς Δαυίδ· ἡ θυγάτηρ μου κακῶς δαιμονίζεται. ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῇ λόγον. καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἠρώτουν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· Ἀπόλυσον αὐτήν, ὅτι κράζει ὄπισθεν ἡμῶν. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ. ἡ δὲ ἐλθοῦσα προσεκύνει αὐτῷ λέγουσα· Κύριε, βοήθει μοι. ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· Οὐκ ἔστιν καλὸν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ βαλεῖν τοῖς κυναρίοις. ἡ δὲ εἶπεν· Ναί, κύριε, καὶ γὰρ τὰ κυνάρια ἐσθίει ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτῶν. τότε ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Ὦ γύναι, μεγάλη σου ἡ πίστις· γενηθήτω σοι ὡς θέλεις. καὶ ἰάθη ἡ θυγάτηρ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης.
Matt 15:21-28 SBL Greek Testament
…and Mark’s
Ἐκεῖθεν δὲ ἀναστὰς ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὰ ὅρια Τύρου. καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς οἰκίαν οὐδένα ἤθελεν γνῶναι, καὶ οὐκ ἠδυνήθη λαθεῖν· ἀλλ’ εὐθὺς ἀκούσασα γυνὴ περὶ αὐτοῦ, ἧς εἶχεν τὸ θυγάτριον αὐτῆς πνεῦμα ἀκάθαρτον, ἐλθοῦσα προσέπεσεν πρὸς τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ· ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ἦν Ἑλληνίς, Συροφοινίκισσα τῷ γένει· καὶ ἠρώτα αὐτὸν ἵνα τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐκβάλῃ ἐκ τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτῆς. καὶ ἔλεγεν αὐτῇ· Ἄφες πρῶτον χορτασθῆναι τὰ τέκνα, οὐ γάρ καλόν ἐστιν λαβεῖν τὸν ἄρτον τῶν τέκνων καὶ τοῖς κυναρίοις βαλεῖν. ἡ δὲ ἀπεκρίθη καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, καὶ τὰ κυνάρια ὑποκάτω τῆς τραπέζης ἐσθίουσιν ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν παιδίων. καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ· Διὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ὕπαγε, ἐξελήλυθεν ἐκ τῆς θυγατρός σου τὸ δαιμόνιον. καὶ ἀπελθοῦσα εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτῆς εὗρεν τὸ παιδίον βεβλημένον ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐξεληλυθός.
Mark 7:24-30 SBL Greek Testament
Mark gives us several details lacking in Matthew’s account – that she was a Greek, born in the Syrian part of Phoenicia (Matthew just calls her a Canaanite), that Jesus had gone into a house hoping no one would hear He was there, and that His answer to her was a little softer than Matthew’s version – “first let the children eat their fill”, rather than just “it is not right to give”. But Matthew does collect one key detail that Mark omits: the involvement of the disciples.
Contrary to the reading favoured by the NIV and most other English versions, I think we have to read Matt 15:23 as the disciples saying to Jesus, “release her [ie give her what she is asking for], because she is crying out after us.”
Why? Firstly because Jesus’ response – “I was not sent except only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel” is a valid answer to some version of “give her what she wants”, but doesn’t make any sense at all as a response to “send her away”; and secondly because ἀπολύω (“I loose from”) is used at least as often in the positive sense of “release, redeem, ransom, deliver” as it is in the negative sense (“divorce, do away with, remove”). It is indeed often used of Jesus “releasing the crowds”, but that is hardly “send them away” in the negative sense that the NIV uses here.
So what, you may ask? Well, it gives us a hook to hold onto, while we understand Jesus’ heart and intentions here; which might be helpful to us as we seek to understand His heart towards us, as well.
If, as I am suggesting, the disciples are saying, in effect, “would you please heal this woman, she is driving us mad”, then Jesus’ response makes it clear that He isn’t swayed by this argument.
Now it is true that in Acts, Paul drives the demon out of a slave girl because she is annoying him – or at least this is what Luke suggests in Acts 16:18, although διαπονηθεὶς δὲ Παῦλος is more like “Paul being worn out [by this]…” than the NIV’s “Paul became so annoyed…” My point is that – like all of us – Paul was rather preoccupied with what he was doing; he could probably have set the slave girl free a lot sooner, but it took being worn down by the irritant before he noticed the obvious: this is demonic, therefore I should do something about it.
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus Himself tells the story of the unrighteous judge who gives the widow justice “for fear she would black his eye” – but He is making it clear that God doesn’t operate that way; the point He is making is that “if even a godless judge gives justice, how much more will God swiftly respond to His chosen ones?”
So, asked by the disciples to heal the woman’s child so she will stop being annoying, Jesus answers that He was not sent, except only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. As an answer, that is at least as much aimed at the disciples as at the woman herself. “You (the disciples) are asking me to act for your own convenience, but I have a clear assignment and will stick to it.” What He doesn’t say, but everywhere demonstrates, is that He absolutely responds to faith when and where He finds it.
And then the woman, despite what He has said to the disciples, approaches and falls to her knees, saying “Lord, help me.” That is already faith. Jesus then pushes her to prove her faith.
“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the little dogs (τοῖς κυναρίοις)”
Pause a moment. Healing, and the casting out of demons, is the children’s bread. In Mark’s version, Jesus says “let the children first eat their fill (χορτασθῆναι τὰ τέκνα)”. As Jesus demonstrates over and over again, everyone who comes to Him gets healed and delivered, just as children are given their bread every single day. No parent (except in the direst of situations) answers their children’s request for bread with “yes / no / maybe / only in heaven”, and neither should we be teaching others that God sometimes (ever) answers requests for healing or deliverance that way.
Please don’t let what you have been taught by religion, poison your ability to receive, as a child in, and of, His Kingdom. Like it says: “He …healed all.” (Matt 8:16)
And our Canaanite mother clearly has the heart of a parent, and with the very real nugget of faith she has, is on a roll. That faith allows her to answer Jesus, “okay, so my daughter and I are little dogs: and that is fine because – Lord – the little dogs get to eat the scraps that fall off the table!”
And that is what faith sounds like. Not “if it be thy will” (no one ever got healed that way). Faith says “God is good, and I am having some of that. You can call me what you like, but I am not letting go.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is MEGA”
Actually, μεγάλη, but it is “GREAT”, not just “great”.
And yes, her daughter was completely healed at that moment.
Was Jesus really saying He wasn’t going to do anything for those outside Israel. Clearly not. He was saying that His current assignment was to go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. That didn’t stop anyone else coming to Him – as long as they were coming with desire and determination. Faith (πίστις) is, after all, trust in someone else and their ability, not about the person who has faith in the first instance.
So – however far outside the Kingdom you feel, and however much of an outsider you consider yourself to be: who cares? (Actually, God cares, and a lot; but you don’t have to start there). The only questions that really matter are: What do you want? And could Jesus give you that?
Seeing the Kingdom 