Why is Jesus so mean to the Canaanite women in Matthew 15? Twenty-one verses earlier, some dude trips over The Rock and bumps into Jesus at a falafal stand and boom he's cancer free. Yet this woman follows Jesus and his entourage around Tyre balling her eyes out. Jesus' response: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Huh?
Cause I just finished that covenant in Genesis 12 and there was that part about one of Abraham's heirs blessing all of the earth. Pretty sure that it's this guy.
So what is the deal? Did he know the Jews wouldn't believe and wants to give them a shot? Why give her guff? Why is she different than the Roman centurion?
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Thanks for these blogs. I always find it interesting to see how other people...perceive?...the Bible--or anything else for that matter. Because, even when I don't agree with their outlook, it forces me to clarify my own outlook. I never took Jesus' response to the woman as a rebuke or rebuff...but I've never really considered why He challenged her at all.
ReplyDeleteHaving looked at it now, if I were to write a Bible Study on this, I would probably pick up on the reaction of the disciples ("send her away"), Jesus' apparent validation of that sentiment ("I was only sent..."). When the woman insists and Jesus grants her request, it's like Jesus is throwing it back in the disciples' face as if saying "through faith, ANYONE, may approach." There's plenty of examples in the Bible of non-Jewish people being accepted by God through their faith in Him (Rahab, Ruth...all the others...).