Matthew 15:22-28
Jesus went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 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.” 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.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.
After our Annual Fall Women’s Retreat last month I came home full of new ideas and new ways to see the work we do in our churches. Since we were still in the middle of our Summer Sermon Series on John’s Gospel, I didn’t really have time to share much about the retreat and the teachings we shared there.
Well, we’ve finished with John now, so we have time to go back and check out the retreat theme, “New Hope -- Where do we go from here?” a question that challenges us to live out the Gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit in this present, postmodern world. Our Keynote speaker, Dr. Sharon Jacob, visiting professor of New Testament, from Claremont, had plenty to share with us.
But before we get into that I want to – briefly – remind us that we are a story-telling people. We humans have always told stories about ourselves and all that share this world with us – ‘how did we get here?’ stories, ‘what’s it all mean?’ stories, ‘why did this happen to me?’ stories – stories that shape us and stories that explain us.
The Bible is a book of such stories. Some we accept as not literally true but still making a good point, such as: ‘Noah’s Ark’. Some we accept in part while rejecting other parts such as the birth of the baby Jesus as a human child – most of us believe that part – but we ignore the part of that story that says the sky that night was lit up by angels singing praises to God (which absolutely no one seemed to remember at any time in the following 30 years.)
I titled this message “Reframing those Old, Old Stories.” Reframing is a psychological technique that involves changing the way a person understands a situation, experience, or emotion, by changing the information that surrounds it – basically, putting it within a new framework. – viewing it from another point of view that may change our interpretation of what we’ve read.
The reading we opened with today comes from an example Dr. Jacob shared with us, involving the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman and her demon-possessed child. This one is available from both Matthew and Mark.
Now, as we’ve always accepted, Mark’s gospel is the first one written down and read by many. We know that much of Matthew, put together later, was taken directly from Mark and there is one note in these two versions of the story that you and I have no way of knowing about unless we know a lot of Near Eastern history, yet this primary point makes all the difference in how we would hear this story if we heard it 2000 years ago – or today.
In both versions a non-Jewish woman comes to Jesus asking him to heal her possessed child. In both versions Jesus at first rejects her and her plea, comparing her to a dog (!) -- and in both versions, eventually changes his mind and heals the child.
In Mark’s telling, the woman is simply described as a Syro-Phoenician – a geographical descriptor telling where this story takes place and that the woman is non-Jewish and therefore not as important to him as the Hebrew people he usually walks among. In Matthew’s version, she is described as a Canaanite woman -- and this matters.
When the Hebrew people ended their forty years in the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt, the area we generally lump together as the Near East, was inhabited by several different peoples of different ethnicities. There were few solid boundaries between them and the whole area, in general, was referred to as Canaan and the people as Canaanites. It was this loosely defined area that God “gave” to the Hebrews as their long-promised new homeland.
The Hebrews marched in and waged bloody war, killed off many of the inhabitants and settled in their promised land. The Canaanites resisted and became generational enemies.
But this was long ago – even in Jesus’ time -- and for Matthew to refer to the people who now lived in the northern realms as Canaanites was simply inaccurate – deliberately so. That term was no longer used – they were simply Syro-Phoenicians – as Mark described the woman -- not the Canaanites they had invaded and battled centuries ago.
This was a case of Matthew pushing his readers into an Old Testament mindset to manufacture a justification for Jesus and his disciples to be so contemptuous of the mother who was pleading for her child’s healing. We are being forced to few this woman and her child as outsiders – people not included in God’s special covenant with God’s chosen people.
Such a little thing, so easy to overlook with a casual reading – especially if we today don’t know the ancient history. We aren’t going to understand that “Syro-Phoenician” is OK but “Canaanite” is not. A small thing and yet it makes such a big difference in the story we read and our understanding of this Jesus person -- who we believe, from all other evidence, to be loving and kind – and yet somehow – uncharacteristically – comes across here as an arrogant jerk.
Mark tells us the same story, but without the layers of contempt that this woman would dare to ask Jesus for help. Jesus is still rude (by our standards) but to a much lesser degree. In many ways he is simply acting like a Jewish man of his time.
Such instances occur all through the bible – and they color how we hear and interpret what the scriptures are saying to us. In many cases, they can sway how we believe what the stories tell us. We need to be ready to hear them and recognize them when we are seeking God’s intention. As Jesus himself discovered as his ministry progressed, God’s promises are not only for the children of Israel but for all God’s beloved children.
Well, we’ve finished with John now, so we have time to go back and check out the retreat theme, “New Hope -- Where do we go from here?” a question that challenges us to live out the Gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit in this present, postmodern world. Our Keynote speaker, Dr. Sharon Jacob, visiting professor of New Testament, from Claremont, had plenty to share with us.
But before we get into that I want to – briefly – remind us that we are a story-telling people. We humans have always told stories about ourselves and all that share this world with us – ‘how did we get here?’ stories, ‘what’s it all mean?’ stories, ‘why did this happen to me?’ stories – stories that shape us and stories that explain us.
The Bible is a book of such stories. Some we accept as not literally true but still making a good point, such as: ‘Noah’s Ark’. Some we accept in part while rejecting other parts such as the birth of the baby Jesus as a human child – most of us believe that part – but we ignore the part of that story that says the sky that night was lit up by angels singing praises to God (which absolutely no one seemed to remember at any time in the following 30 years.)
I titled this message “Reframing those Old, Old Stories.” Reframing is a psychological technique that involves changing the way a person understands a situation, experience, or emotion, by changing the information that surrounds it – basically, putting it within a new framework. – viewing it from another point of view that may change our interpretation of what we’ve read.
The reading we opened with today comes from an example Dr. Jacob shared with us, involving the story of the Syro-Phoenician woman and her demon-possessed child. This one is available from both Matthew and Mark.
Now, as we’ve always accepted, Mark’s gospel is the first one written down and read by many. We know that much of Matthew, put together later, was taken directly from Mark and there is one note in these two versions of the story that you and I have no way of knowing about unless we know a lot of Near Eastern history, yet this primary point makes all the difference in how we would hear this story if we heard it 2000 years ago – or today.
In both versions a non-Jewish woman comes to Jesus asking him to heal her possessed child. In both versions Jesus at first rejects her and her plea, comparing her to a dog (!) -- and in both versions, eventually changes his mind and heals the child.
In Mark’s telling, the woman is simply described as a Syro-Phoenician – a geographical descriptor telling where this story takes place and that the woman is non-Jewish and therefore not as important to him as the Hebrew people he usually walks among. In Matthew’s version, she is described as a Canaanite woman -- and this matters.
When the Hebrew people ended their forty years in the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt, the area we generally lump together as the Near East, was inhabited by several different peoples of different ethnicities. There were few solid boundaries between them and the whole area, in general, was referred to as Canaan and the people as Canaanites. It was this loosely defined area that God “gave” to the Hebrews as their long-promised new homeland.
The Hebrews marched in and waged bloody war, killed off many of the inhabitants and settled in their promised land. The Canaanites resisted and became generational enemies.
But this was long ago – even in Jesus’ time -- and for Matthew to refer to the people who now lived in the northern realms as Canaanites was simply inaccurate – deliberately so. That term was no longer used – they were simply Syro-Phoenicians – as Mark described the woman -- not the Canaanites they had invaded and battled centuries ago.
This was a case of Matthew pushing his readers into an Old Testament mindset to manufacture a justification for Jesus and his disciples to be so contemptuous of the mother who was pleading for her child’s healing. We are being forced to few this woman and her child as outsiders – people not included in God’s special covenant with God’s chosen people.
Such a little thing, so easy to overlook with a casual reading – especially if we today don’t know the ancient history. We aren’t going to understand that “Syro-Phoenician” is OK but “Canaanite” is not. A small thing and yet it makes such a big difference in the story we read and our understanding of this Jesus person -- who we believe, from all other evidence, to be loving and kind – and yet somehow – uncharacteristically – comes across here as an arrogant jerk.
Mark tells us the same story, but without the layers of contempt that this woman would dare to ask Jesus for help. Jesus is still rude (by our standards) but to a much lesser degree. In many ways he is simply acting like a Jewish man of his time.
Such instances occur all through the bible – and they color how we hear and interpret what the scriptures are saying to us. In many cases, they can sway how we believe what the stories tell us. We need to be ready to hear them and recognize them when we are seeking God’s intention. As Jesus himself discovered as his ministry progressed, God’s promises are not only for the children of Israel but for all God’s beloved children.
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