Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

Today's Reflections 

 

                                  

Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

Mt 15:21-28

²¹Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” ²³But [Jesus] did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” ²⁴He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” ²⁸Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

THE LOVE THAT "CONQUERS" JESUS. Because he stole his brother Esau’s birthright and took away his blessing, Jacob had to leave the land promised by the Lord to Abraham and had to live in Haran. After a long exile, Jacob decided to return to Canaan (Israel) with his family. Before he crossed the Jordan to Canaan, Jacob wrestled with a mysterious figure by the ford of the Jabbok (cf Gn 32:25ff). That figure was none other than the Lord.

Spiritual writers point to that wrestling as a symbol of the struggle between the human person and God as the person approaches the realm of the divine. In Jacob’s case, it was his struggling with God before he could set foot once more on the “holy land” of Israel—the territory of God and the chosen people.

Matthew’s description surprises us: Jesus has no word for the desperate woman, and when he does speak, his answer seems intended to discourage her from asking. This is something a “pious” Jewish rabbi does (to avoid contact with “unclean” people), but it is unexpected from Jesus who is close to sinners and outcasts.

The woman is not discouraged. Her love for her daughter is so great that she fights to the finish, staking even whatever self-respect she has left. And this human love, broken by sorrow, “conquers” Jesus. As Jacob prevailed and was blessed by God, the woman’s great faith earns her an instantaneous cure of her daughter.

Our relationship with God is always a “wrestling.” It is not that God is benevolent sometimes and not at other times; it is simply that we cannot dictate on God. A prayer must not be an automatic lip service but must come from the heart, the fruit of wrestling with one’s self. God will not turn a deaf ear if a person is dead serious about what one really asks of God.