21Then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed."
23But He answered her not a word.
And His disciples came and urged Him, saying, "Send her away, for she cries out after us."
24But He answered and said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
25Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, help me!"
26But He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
27And she said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."
28Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
I have a tough time with this text because it seems to be saying that Jesus was very much partial to the house of Israel, and wasn't going to take the time to help a Gentile. And this impression gets worse as we hear Jesus seeming to refer to her as a dog. This all seems so out of character from what I thought I understood of Jesus.
In fact, the footnotes in my Bible seem to confirm this impression as it says "Jesus spoke a similar word in His instructions to the disciples concerning their own ministry, Matthew 10:5-6". In Matthew 10:5-6 it says:
| 5These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. |
The footnotes go on to say it is more a matter of Jesus' limitation as a person and priorities set by God than any racial exclusivism.
I don't always agree with the footnotes in my Bible. First of all, yes Jesus was in human form, but even still, I do not believe there was possibly anything that could limit Jesus, especially to the point of curbing His great compassion. As He later showed, yes He was able to help this woman. He was not limited in His ability to help her.
Second of all, that text in Matthew 10 was followed a couple verses later in Matthew 10:8 with "Freely you have received, freely give." I thought this meant that they should never hesitate to give aid to those they meet. To me this means give to all, regardless of background. So when Jesus instructed them to only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, I thought it meant that was where they should base their preaching, not who should receive their gifts.
Many times Jesus was followed by multitudes and Jesus healed them all. I cannot believe this is the first Gentile woman to ask for help.
But here Jesus said He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Who are the lost sheep of the house of Israel? According to John the Baptist, God could even turn the stones into children of Israel. God could treat anyone as children of Abraham, as members of the house of Israel, even stones. For as he instructed the Pharisees at their baptism, in Matthew 3:8-9 he said:
| 8Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. |
So I have a tough time believing that Jesus would now make a distinction between helping children of Israel and helping a Gentile. In fact, I found text in Matthew which specifically seems to say that Jesus came to help the Gentiles as well as the Jews. In Matthew 12:15-21, when the Pharisees first started plotting against Jesus, it said the following:
| 15But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. 16Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ^18"Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; 21And in His name Gentiles will trust." |
It says Jesus warned them to not make Him known in order to fulfill this prophesy, but in this prophesy Isaiah also said He will declare justice to the Gentiles, in His name Gentiles will trust.
So far, all I have done is discounted what seems to be the message that Jesus was not going to help a Gentile because He was sent to help the Jews. But if that is not the message, what is it? Why was Jesus silent when this Gentile woman first cried out to Him? Why did He seem so rude to her?
There are two times in the book of Matthew that Jesus exclaimed someone had great faith, and two times that He exclaimed that someone had little faith. Their little faith was pointed out to the disciples in Matthew 8:23-28 when a great storm came up and Jesus was asleep in the boat. The disciples woke Jesus fearing they would drown. Again in Matthew 14:22-23 when Peter walks on the water but then fears the storm and starts to sink, Jesus notes his little faith. Both times were Jesus' disciples. Both times were children of Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus first exclamation of great faith was in Matthew 8:5-13, when a centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant who was not present. The Centurion expressed his faith that Jesus could command his servant well without even being in the servant's presence. I had assumed that the Roman Centurion would not be a Jew, in other words, a Gentile. And now here is another Gentile, a woman, in whom Jesus exclaims great faith. This woman who has faith that Jesus would help her, even though she is not a Jew.
It is interesting to note that when Jesus made His claim of what he was/was not sent to do, He used a double negative. He did not say He was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but that He was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. There is a difference. The Jews were waiting for their messiah to come to save them. Yes, Jesus was sent to save them, but he came bringing so much more. What He brings, He brings for all. There is more than what will be needed for the children of Israel. And many of the children of Israel will brush it off as crumbs, such as the Pharisees have been trying to do. But this woman, this Gentile, recognizes that there will be some for her if she but has faith in the fact that those crumbs are not worthless castoffs, but are the choicest parts of what Jesus has to offer, that she too could be treated as one of the lost sheep.
This dialog between Jesus and this woman emphasizes that there is no limit to what Jesus has to offer. Giving to others does not take away from what was given to the first group. Giving to this Gentile woman does not take away from what is available to the children of Israel, just as giving crumbs to the dog does not take away from what is available to the children seated at the table.
So why this negativeness in how Jesus taught this lesson? Why did He first ignore the woman's cries? Why did He seem to call her a dog? Was He doing it to test her? I think Jesus knows our hearts better than we do ourselves. I think Jesus knew her heart and did not need to test her. I think He did it instead to teach His disciples a lesson. His disciples wanted to have her sent away. Jesus was able to teach them that what He had to bring would be brought to all. Jesus was able to teach them, who were only able to show a little faith, what a strong faith looked like. I think He also did it to show additional fulfillment of Isaiah's prophesy, "In His name, Gentiles will trust". He knew this woman's faith. He gave her the chance to demonstrate it so others could learn from it.