Hello my friends,

Today, I wanted to reflect with you on Matthew 15:21-28, which features a rather unsettling interaction between Jesus and a woman asking him to heal her demon possessed daughter. He doesn't respond like the Jesus we have come to know and love. However, once we dig deeper into this passage, I think we will not only come away with a deeper understanding of the dynamics at play in that first century context, but also how those dynamics are still very much at play in our world today.

Recommended Resources

​-No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model by Richard Schwartz. I have recently started working through the Family Systems model and this book has been so helpful and fascinating all at once. It not only looks at individual trauma but collective as well, adding some brilliant insights to the shaping influences of our culture and Christianity today.

​-Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. I just wanted to make you aware of the new book from the author who brought us "Jesus and John Wayne." I know I am looking forward to reading it myself and thought you might want to as well.

​-Theology Girls Podcast. I was recently a guest on the wonderful theology girl's podcast to discuss Christian nationalism and a few other things. We had a great conversation and I encore you to give it a listen through the link above and check out the rest of their wonderful episodes as well.

The Faith of the Dismissed.

Matthew 15:21-28

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

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​What Would Jesus Do?

This is probably one of the more controversial and challenging passages describing Jesus. At least it always has been for me. Both Matthew and Mark include this interaction in their gospels, and both depict Jesus as rather cold and dismissive, reflecting the bigotry of his historical context. All towards a woman who was simply asking him for help. Not just for help, but help for her child who was being attacked by a demonic force. Only after she persists does he grant her request and acknowledge her great faith. What are we to do with this depiction of Jesus? Is this really "what Jesus would do?"

Personally, I have come to find it to be one of the more raw, human, and even humble sides of Jesus that can really teach us something profound about him and ourselves if we allow it to.

The Context.

Matthew’s audience existed in a time of tremendous change, reform, and collective trauma. He was writing to his largely Jewish audience, who were all still reeling after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD by the Romans. They were asking deep questions about who they were as a people and what the future held for them. While there were numerous theological and political groups within the Jewish community prior to the destruction of the Temple, such as the Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, and Zealots, the Pharisees emerged as the largest surviving group after the Temple’s destruction. Matthew’s Jewish audience was compelled by Mark’s gospel to deeply believe that the post-Temple reality signaled a new eschatological reality in Jesus, and were setting themselves apart from the broader post-Temple Pharisee movement. This context can be seen in the consistent tensions with the Pharisees and inclusion of the Gentiles throughout Matthew’s gospel. Our passage today and the verses that come immediately before it are prime examples of this context.

The Heroine.

The appearance of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 is brief. She has no name. We know almost nothing about her life. Yet in many ways, she becomes the unexpected hero of the story.

The passage begins after a dispute between Jesus and the religious leaders about purity. The Pharisees were concerned with what went into a person's mouth and whether someone had followed the proper rituals. Jesus responds by shifting the conversation entirely. What truly defiles a person, he says, is not what enters the mouth but what comes out of it. The problem is not external contamination but the condition of the heart.

That teaching forms the backdrop for everything that follows.

Matthew tells us that Jesus then withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. The Greek verb Matthew uses is anachōreō, a word he often employs when describing a significant transition or crossing into new territory. In this interaction, we will witness Jesus moving beyond familiar boundaries- geographical, cultural, and theological.

There, a woman approaches him. Matthew intentionally identifies her not merely as a Gentile, but as a Canaanite. That detail would have immediately captured the attention of Matthew's Jewish audience. The Canaanites represented one of Israel's oldest historical enemies. Matthew could have used a more contemporary ethnic description, but instead he reaches back into Israel's collective memory. Matthew wants to make it clear that this woman stands on the far side of nearly every imaginable social boundary. She is a Gentile. She is a woman. She is from a people historically viewed as outsiders and even enemies and yet she approaches Jesus with remarkable confidence and faith.

Her daughter is suffering terribly, and she cries out: "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David."

In the context of Matthew’s entire gospel, the irony of her calling Jesus by this title is stark. Many religious leaders and even many of the disciples in Matthew's Gospel struggle to recognize who Jesus is. This Canaanite woman does not. She addresses him as “Lord." She calls him "Son of David.” She recognizes something about Jesus that many of his own people have missed.

The disciples also seem irritated by her presence. They want her sent away. They treat her as disruptive and inconvenient. She is not “one of them.”

If we are honest, this moment reveals a temptation that has followed religious communities throughout history. It is often easier to protect our boundaries than to expand our compassion. It is often easier to dismiss someone's voice than to listen to it. It is often easier to decide who belongs than to ask what God might be doing through those we have overlooked and dismissed.

Bravely, the woman refuses to disappear. She persists. She kneels before Jesus. She continues to cry out for mercy.

What unfolds next is where things get controversial. Jesus speaks of his mission being exclusively directed toward the lost sheep of Israel and uses language that reflects the deep ethnic tensions and prejudice of the time. It was common within the Jewish community of that time to call those seen outside the Mosaic law “dogs.”

Remarkably, the woman does not respond with hatred or prejudice of her own. Instead, she answers with wisdom, humility, and astonishing courage.

What is fascinating in the Greek both Mark and Matthew use in this interaction is that the Greek kyrios (“lord”) sounds very similar to the Greek word kynarion (“dog”). It is intentional wordplay to show both similarity and contrast in the tension between the boundaries being challenged here. In essence, she is embodying the core of Jesus' gospel, where the last shall be first, the hungry will be filled with good things, the humble will be lifted up, and the rejected will be given grace and redeemed. That just as the creator of the universe is mindful of even when the smallest sparrow falls, the distance between the Lord and the dogs should be nonexistent.

In sum, her persistence dismantles every barrier standing before her. Again and again she addresses Jesus as Lord. Again and again she demonstrates confidence in God's mercy. Again and again she refuses to accept the divisions that others insist must remain. And in the end, Jesus responds: "Woman, great is your faith."

Only a handful of people in the Gospels receive such praise from Jesus. Many religious leaders receive rebukes. Many disciples struggle with doubt. Yet this Canaanite woman is commended for her faith. Her daughter is healed. The barriers collapse. Mercy triumphs. The story ends not with exclusion but with healing. Not with division but with restoration. Not with hostility but with grace.

While I have heard numerous sermons and countless commentaries on this passage attempting to protect Jesus’ “perfectness” or even to justify his words here with various reasons, I think such theological gymnastics both downplay the courage and leadership of the Canaanite woman and the humility and leadership of Jesus.

In a moment when Jesus could have responded with patriarchy, arrogance, and insisting on his authority as a rabbi, Jesus instead shows an openness to correction, to changing his mind, to treating someone seen as “beneath” and “outside” by his religious community as worthy of listening to and even learning from. Imagine the kind of world it would be if every position of authority held by a man, within and outside the church, acted in this same way today?

Desperately Needed Today.

This passage feels especially important in our own moment.

We are living through a time when racism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of bigotry continue to wound our communities. We see people targeted because of their race, nationality, religion, gender, or background. We see fear weaponized for political gain. We see entire groups of people reduced to stereotypes and treated as threats rather than neighbors. All while those in power, predominantly male, refuse to listen, let alone learn, from the voices of those being oppressed and dismissed. What makes this even more painful is how often these attitudes are defended in the name of Christianity.

Yet this interaction between Jesus and the Canaanite woman clearly stands as a powerful witness against such distortions. The movement of this story is not toward greater exclusion. It is toward greater welcome. The movement of this story is not toward building higher walls. It is toward expanding mercy. The movement of this story is not toward protecting privilege. It is toward equality and the recognition of faith and dignity in someone society has overlooked.

Again and again throughout the Gospels, Jesus elevates voices others dismiss. He listens to women. He touches lepers. He welcomes children. He eats with tax collectors. He speaks with Samaritans. He includes Gentiles. He consistently moves toward those whom society has pushed to the margins. This does not mean differences disappear. It means differences no longer determine who is worthy of dignity, compassion, and love.

The church desperately needs to recover this posture today. We need Christians who are willing to listen to voices they have been taught to ignore. We need Christians who are willing to learn from those whose experiences differ from their own. We need Christians who understand that defending human dignity is not a distraction from the Gospel but one of its most visible fruits.

Most of all, we need the courage to recognize that sometimes the people who teach us the most about faith are the very people we have been conditioned not to hear. The Canaanite woman reminds us that faith is not confined by ethnicity, nationality, gender, social status, or religious pedigree. Faith can emerge from unexpected places. Truth can come from unexpected voices. And mercy is always bigger than the boundaries we create.

Perhaps that is one of the great invitations of this passage. Not simply to admire the Canaanite woman's faith. But to imitate her courage. To embody her persistence. To share her confidence in God's mercy and to become the kind of people who magnify voices that others would rather silence.

For that is the way of Jesus, and it remains just as revolutionary today as it was then.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

We thank you for the witness of the Canaanite woman.

For her courage when others dismissed her.

For her persistence when others wanted her silenced.

For her faith when barriers stood in her way.

Forgive us for the ways we have ignored the voices of others.

Forgive us for the times we have chosen comfort over compassion, silence over justice, and prejudice over love.

Give us ears to hear the stories of those whose experiences differ from our own.

Give us eyes to see the image of God in every person.

Give us hearts that are quick to show mercy and slow to build walls.

Where racism divides, teach us reconciliation.

Where sexism wounds, teach us dignity.

Where fear creates enemies, teach us love.

Where bigotry seeks to silence, teach us to listen.

Help your church become a community where every person is treated with the worth and dignity you have given them.

Teach us to follow your example by moving toward those who have been pushed aside, overlooked, or forgotten.

And may we, like the Canaanite woman, trust deeply in your mercy, persist in hope, and believe that your love is greater than every boundary humanity creates.

In the name of Christ, who welcomes all people to his table,

Amen.

Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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