Seeing Beneath the Surface
His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying 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." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matt. 15:23-28, RSV.
Northern Galilee wasn't distant enough from Jerusalem. The Pharisees had followed Him that far. Yet Jesus needed time to instruct His disciples in the face of the coming crisis. The only solution was to enter Gentile territory, including Tyre, Sidon, and Caesarea Philippi. That would also put Him beyond the reach of Herod Antipas.
As we might expect, Jesus soon encountered non-Jews. One was a Canaanite woman who came to Him begging for mercy for her demon-possessed daughter. In response, He does something that seems offensive to us, but which His Jewish disciples certainly expected. He ignores the woman. The disciples, sensing what they perceive to be Jesus' attitude, ask Him to turn her away.
Jesus responds by telling the woman that He had been sent to the Jews. But, undeterred, she keeps imploring Him for help. He tells her that it is not right to toss the children's food to the dogs. At that point she sees a glimmer of hope, pressing her claim by admitting she is willing to be a dog if she can only receive the blessings of the kingdom.
Jesus rewards her profusely. Not only does He commend her faith, but He heals her daughter. This unnamed Canaanite woman has grasped what the disciples have failed to understand--that a person must be willing to become nothing in order to enter the kingdom.
While that is true, Jesus' apparent harshness to the woman still offends most modern readers of the Bible. Here we need to remember that facial expressions and body language accompanied His words. By the twinkle in His eye, in the slight smile at the corner of His mouth, she saw a sign of hope. Ellen White noted that "beneath the apparent refusal of Jesus, she saw a compassion that He could not hide" (The Desire of Ages, p. 401).
Help me, Father, to be as sensitive to You and desire You as much as the Canaanite woman did.
His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying 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." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matt. 15:23-28, RSV.
Northern Galilee wasn't distant enough from Jerusalem. The Pharisees had followed Him that far. Yet Jesus needed time to instruct His disciples in the face of the coming crisis. The only solution was to enter Gentile territory, including Tyre, Sidon, and Caesarea Philippi. That would also put Him beyond the reach of Herod Antipas.
As we might expect, Jesus soon encountered non-Jews. One was a Canaanite woman who came to Him begging for mercy for her demon-possessed daughter. In response, He does something that seems offensive to us, but which His Jewish disciples certainly expected. He ignores the woman. The disciples, sensing what they perceive to be Jesus' attitude, ask Him to turn her away.
Jesus responds by telling the woman that He had been sent to the Jews. But, undeterred, she keeps imploring Him for help. He tells her that it is not right to toss the children's food to the dogs. At that point she sees a glimmer of hope, pressing her claim by admitting she is willing to be a dog if she can only receive the blessings of the kingdom.
Jesus rewards her profusely. Not only does He commend her faith, but He heals her daughter. This unnamed Canaanite woman has grasped what the disciples have failed to understand--that a person must be willing to become nothing in order to enter the kingdom.
While that is true, Jesus' apparent harshness to the woman still offends most modern readers of the Bible. Here we need to remember that facial expressions and body language accompanied His words. By the twinkle in His eye, in the slight smile at the corner of His mouth, she saw a sign of hope. Ellen White noted that "beneath the apparent refusal of Jesus, she saw a compassion that He could not hide" (The Desire of Ages, p. 401).
Help me, Father, to be as sensitive to You and desire You as much as the Canaanite woman did.
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