Have you ever stumbled over the passage where Jesus seemingly insults a desperate mother by calling her a "dog"? This moment in Matthew 15 has troubled readers for centuries—but what if everything we thought about this encounter is completely wrong?
In this eye-opening exploration of the Canaanite/Syrophoenician woman, we unpack the rich cultural context that completely transforms our understanding of this interaction. Far from a momentary lapse into prejudice, Jesus orchestrates a brilliant social exchange that elevates this foreign woman to unprecedented status in her community while simultaneously expanding the boundaries of God's kingdom.
The story unfolds immediately after Jesus rebukes the Pharisees about true defilement, teaching that it's not external factors but what comes from the heart that truly makes someone unclean. Then, deliberately moving into "unclean" Gentile territory, Jesus encounters a woman whose daughter is possessed by an "unclean" spirit. The stage is perfectly set for a masterclass in what true purity looks like.
By understanding the ancient honor-shame culture and the verbal dueling practice called "challenge and riposte," we see how Jesus manipulates these cultural systems to benefit this marginalized woman. When she responds to his apparent insult with her clever "even the dogs get the crumbs" comeback, Jesus doesn't just heal her daughter—he publicly declares her faith "great," contrasting directly with his own disciples' "little faith."
This fascinating episode reveals how Jesus never simply heals physical ailments but restores social relationships and standing. His compassion extends beyond immediate needs to consider how a person will live after the encounter. The Canaanite woman walks away not just with a healed daughter but with elevated honor in her community—a truly holistic restoration.
Join us for this transformative journey into biblical context that will forever change how you read this powerful story of faith, cultural boundaries, and the God who transcends them all while working masterfully within them.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jessica LM Jenkins (00:00):
Welcome back to we who Thirst podcast.
We are continuing our series onwomen in context, where we look
at specific accounts dealingwith women of the Bible and look
at them in their historical andtextual contexts to understand
these women better and to seewhat's going on in the account
(00:22):
and to see how God cares forwomen and how that's revealed
through this passage.
Today we are dialing in to theaccount in Matthew 15 of the
Syrophoenician woman who Jesuscalls a dog.
This at first blush, seems likehe's calling her a slur and
(00:45):
therefore this can be a verydifficult passage to work
through sometimes.
How do we understand Jesus, godin the flesh, celebrated
teacher, kind, gentle man, wholifts up women in so many ways?
How do we comprehend himturning around and calling a
(01:07):
supplicant woman who's justasking for help for her child, a
needy mother, a dog, a slur?
We need to make sense of this.
Lots of explanations have beengiven.
Some people say he's providinga test of faith.
We'll have to see if we thinkthat's what's going on.
Some people even go as far tosay he's allowing his human side
(01:30):
.
Jesus is fully God and fullyman, but he's leaning into his
fully man side here and some ofthe inherent classism, racism of
his Jewish heritage, is leakingout.
And then she teaches Jesussomething about his mission and
his ministry.
I do want to start off sayingthat second idea I definitely
(01:53):
disagree with.
Jesus is always fully God andfully man.
You can't separate the two.
He is perfect and without sin,so racism cannot be what's going
on here.
Also, as he's dealing with thisSyrophoenician woman, this is
not the first time where heinteracts with Gentiles and
(02:16):
heals for them.
This account of Jesus and theSyrophoenician woman occurs in
Matthew 15 and Mark 7.
We are going to focus on theMatthew 15 account because it's
a little longer, a little moredetailed, a little more to
unpack.
But you can also read theparallel passage in Mark 7.
But in the Gospel of Matthew,since that's the passage we're
(02:38):
focusing on, Jesus heals thecenturion's servant in Matthew,
chapter 8.
So dealing with Gentiles andhealing them, obviously not a
problem.
Later on in chapter 8, he's inGentile territory in Roman
Palestine, near the Sea ofGalilee, but it's the Decapolis.
These are Gentile Greek cities,and he healed two
(03:00):
demon-possessed Gentile men inMatthew 8.
And so Jesus healing Gentiles,casting demons out of Gentiles
these are not uncommon.
Jesus has done this before.
We've seen Jesus dealexceptionally kindly with women.
In chapter 9 of Matthew heheals the woman with the issue
of blood, which I hope to do anepisode on soon and he raises
(03:24):
Jairus' daughter from the dead.
So Jesus dealing with women andhealing them contextually in
the text has not been a problem.
So why in this passage doesJesus look at this woman who's
coming to him with a request forhealing of her demon-possessed
(03:44):
daughter?
Why does he turn to her first,ignoring her and then calling
her a dog?
Let's back up and look at thechapters surrounding this
passage before we walk throughthe verses.
So Jesus and the Syrophoenicianwoman or in Matthew Mark calls
(04:06):
her the Syrophoenician woman,matthew calls her a Canaanite
woman and we'll talk about thatin a moment.
But this passage occurs inMatthew 15, 21 through 28.
So let's back up in chapter 14.
Just I'm going to give highlevel overview context here.
Chapter 14, john the Baptist isbeheaded by Herod.
(04:29):
Then Jesus feeds the 5,000.
Then he walks on water.
Peter walks on water, with himsinks, and Jesus tells Peter
calls Peter, oh ye of littlefaith because of Peter's lack of
faith during that instance.
Then we move into chapter 15,where Jesus has an interaction
(04:51):
with the Pharisees.
Then he has his interactionwith the Canaanite Seraphim
nation woman.
Then he feeds the 4,000.
And then he has more conflictswith the Pharisees.
I mention all this because Ithink it's important to consider
that the feeding of the 5,000and the 4,000 bookend three
(05:13):
accounts that I think are kindof tied together.
You have the feeding of the5,000.
Jesus is feeding people, he'scaring for people.
The theme of bread and feedingand banquets are really
important to understand hisinteraction with the Canaanite
woman.
So he feeds the 5,000.
Then he's interacting with hismale disciples on a boat in the
(05:36):
middle of the Sea of Galilee.
Peter walks on water and thenloses sight of Jesus and Jesus
calls Peter, who later orearlier is called the rock on
whom I will build my church.
I forget exactly where thatpassage is in the flow.
But Peter, who will be the rock?
Jesus tells him he has littlefaith.
(05:58):
So Jesus' disciples arestruggling with faith.
They push back at the feeding.
How are we going to feed allthese people?
And Jesus is like hold on y'all, I got this.
And then he walks on waterBrilliant faith.
That then falls flat as hesinks down below and Jesus says
oh, you of little faith.
So we have faith struggleshappening in Jesus' disciple
(06:21):
group and that is how we enterinto chapter 15.
So in chapter 15, I'm going tostart talking through the
beginning of the chapter beforewe get to the Canaanite woman,
because it sets up the Canaanitewoman.
The beginning of chapter 15 isa key contrast for what I
believe is going on in Jesus'interactions with the Canaanite
(06:43):
woman.
So 15 starts.
Matthew doesn't give us the fullcontext that Mark does.
In Mark it says that in thisbeginning of the chapter, jesus
and his disciples are walkingthrough a field and they're just
picking ears of grain andeating them.
Matthew doesn't specify that,but that's the context of what's
(07:05):
going on.
So Matthew 15 starts verse 1,.
And then some Pharisees andteachers of the law came to
Jesus from Jerusalem.
Now, these are the Pharisees ofthe Pharisees.
These are like the bigmucky-muck Pharisees.
These are the really smart, thesuper educated, the best of the
best Pharisees, and they'recoming to Jesus from Jerusalem.
That's how we know educated,the best of the best Pharisees,
(07:25):
and they're coming to Jesus fromJerusalem.
That's how we know they're thebest of the best, because
they're not your neighborhoodPharisee, they are the Jerusalem
Pharisees.
This is important.
So they come to Jesus fromJerusalem and they ask Jesus why
do your disciples break thetradition of the elders?
They don't wash their handsbefore they eat.
(07:46):
What is going on here is thePharisees are accusing Jesus of
allowing his disciples and Marksays it very directly that Jesus
is allowing his disciples toeat with unwashed hands.
They are defiling themselves bynot washing hands because the
(08:09):
tradition of the elders says youhave to wash your hands before
you eat.
In this very ritualistic way.
It's not germs that they'reconcerned about, it's not soap
and water, it's ritual purity.
So let's pause for a moment andtalk about purity in the Bible.
This is something I think a lotof people don't fully
understand.
(08:29):
My explanation right now isgoing to be really short.
I hope to do a full episode onhistorical context and purity at
some point, but for now let'sjust talk about purity in brief.
Purity doesn't necessarilyindicate one's sin or sinfulness
.
I want to state that outright.
(08:50):
Your purity status doesn'tnecessarily match your
sinfulness status.
So we need to separate purityand sinfulness.
Though they're related, theyare separate concepts.
In the Bible, purity isconcerned with ordering the
world and making one's sense ofone's everyday experiences in
(09:13):
light of the order that Godcreated.
David Da Silva, in his bookHonor, patronage, kinship and
Purity, really talks about thisin detail.
I recommend that book all thetime.
It is excellent forunderstanding the historical
context of the New Testament.
But that's his definition thatI just mentioned.
(09:33):
Purity is concerned with theordering of the world and making
sense of one's everydayexperiences in light of that
order, the order which Godcreated.
And so you have a couple ofdifferent status markers of one
purity, and purity can be of aperson or an object.
So you have status markers.
(09:55):
First, status marker issomething can be either common
or holy.
Common is just the everydaythings.
It doesn't mean they're bad,they're not bad, they're just
the normal everyday stuff.
Then you have holy.
These are the special thingsthat are set aside for God.
So your house would be a commonplace.
The temple would be a holyplace.
(10:18):
It doesn't make your house bad,sinful or gross, it's just
common, it's normal.
Then you have holy, which wouldbe the temple.
That's the special set-apartplace.
Okay, so that's oneconsideration.
The second consideration iswhether something is clean or
unclean.
According to De Silva, clean isa natural term referring
(10:39):
generally to a person or thingin its normal state, the way God
created it, to a person orthing, in its normal state, the
way God created it, the way it'sdesigned to be, that is clean.
Unclean, again, according to DeSilva, is the corresponding
marked term denoting thatsomething has crossed the line
from their normal state into adangerous state of pollution.
So clean and unclean are verybig concerns to the Pharisees
(11:04):
and the Sadducees.
Why?
Why is this a concern?
You have a lot of generationaltrauma going on, partly going
back to the exile in the OldTestament.
Pre-exile Israel was notfollowing God's commands.
They were not following God'slaws.
They became unclean, bothsinfully and purity-wise, and
(11:28):
God cast them out.
The Pharisees and the rabbinictraditions kind of started while
they were in exile in Babylonand then they brought those
traditions back when theyresettled the land.
But these purity traditionsbecame, rather than a
wholehearted love for God.
A fear of supernatural angeragainst them took root in some
(11:52):
of these people's hearts.
That became an obsession withpurity laws and legalism,
because they are afraid if weare impure God will be angry
with us.
And so, rather than, as Godsaid in the Old Testament, I
care more about mercy and carefor one another than your
(12:13):
sacrifices, god was even tellingthem.
I'm not looking for thespecifics of the purity laws.
I'm concerned about your heart,but they're like no, you have
to be concerned about specificsof purity laws and we have to
stay pure so that you're not madat us and God's like I want
your hearts and they're like ithas to be the purity laws.
Anyway, that's a very quickoverview, but the Pharisees are
very concerned about the puritylaws because we have
(12:33):
generational trauma way backfrom the exile, but also from
the Romans, and a lot of warsand things going on.
So the Pharisees want purityfor their own safety personally,
but also to protect their power.
(12:53):
So the Pharisees, in verse 1 ofchapter 15, come to Jesus and
say basically, you are allowingyour disciples to be defiled, to
become unclean because they'renot following our ritual rules
to protect purity.
Okay, to further understandthis interaction, we also need
(13:17):
to understand something that wasvery common in this honor-shame
culture called challenge andriposte.
Now, in an honor-shame culture,you are exceptionally concerned
with how the people around youperceive you.
An honor-shame culture isoriented towards the approval or
(13:43):
the disapproval of others.
An honor or shame?
Honor, specifically, is yoursocial currency.
Those with higher status havemore honor.
You want to gain honor, somehonor you kind of have innately
because of your given socialstatus.
It could be the family you'reborn in, the amount of wealth
you have, perhaps your gender,whether you were a slave or a
(14:03):
freeborn person.
These sorts of things give youa kind of base level honor.
Everybody kind of comes intothe world with a base level of
honor because of their family,gender, social status, wealth.
There's a whole list of thingsthat impact social status and
honor.
But you kind of come in with abase level.
But this culture had a way ofgaining more honor at the
(14:26):
expense of others through whatis called a challenge and
riposte system.
And once you learn about thechallenge and riposte system, a
lot of Jesus' interactions withthe Pharisees make a ton of
sense.
Because the Pharisees areconstantly trying to shame Jesus
.
That means bring his honorlevels down.
(14:48):
If you think of it like a videogame where they have the health
bar, they want to make Jesus'honor bar lower and they want to
make their honor bar bigger.
And so challenge-repostinteractions do that.
They make one person they getmore shame, the honor bar gets
smaller.
The other person they get morehonor.
And it's the crowd, the peoplewho's watching the
(15:10):
challenge-repost that typicallydeclares the victor and they are
looking to gain greater honorin eyes of the crowd.
So in Matthew 15, that's what wehave going on here is a
challenge-repost situation withJesus and the Pharisees again,
because the Pharisees areconstantly doing this to Jesus.
(15:30):
So they come up to him and theychallenge him.
They say in verse 2, why doyour disciples break the
tradition of the elders?
They don't wash their handsbefore they eat.
That's a challenge.
They're trying to attack thedisciples with the subtle
implication that if thedisciples are doing wrong
because Jesus is a bad teacher,with the implication to the
crowd that if Jesus is a badteacher because he can't even
(15:51):
keep his disciples clean, whyare you listening to him?
That's everything kind ofwrapped up in the Pharisees'
challenge and it's about purityand defilement.
Jesus doesn't even understandpurity, he doesn't understand
defilement, he doesn't know whatkeeps people clean, he doesn't
follow the tradition.
So that is the challenge.
Jesus replies with a lengthyriposte that just rips them to
(16:15):
shreds.
I'll just read verses threethrough nine briefly.
Jesus replies with his riposteand he says but why do you,
pharisees, break the command ofGod?
For the sake of your tradition?
For God said honor your fatherand mother, and anyone who
curses their father and motheris to be put to death.
But you say that if anyonedeclares what might have been
(16:37):
used to help their father ormother is devoted to God, they
are not to honor their fatherand mother with it.
Thus, you Pharisees, nullifythe word of God for the sake of
your tradition.
You hypocrites.
Isaiah was right when heprophesied about you.
These people honor me withtheir lips, but their hearts are
far from me.
They worship me in vain.
Their teachings are merelyhuman rules.
(16:58):
So, challenge proposed, thePharisees want to gain honor by
shaming Jesus.
So they come saying you are abad teacher because you let your
disciples become unclean by notwashing their hands.
The traditions of the elderssays they need to wash hands,
defiled, unclean.
You're a bad teacher.
Jesus turns around with a veryquick reposte and just reams
(17:22):
them out and he says you'rechallenging me on breaking the
traditions of the elders.
You can't obey God.
Here is a very serious deathpenalty way.
You're not obeying God.
Who's the bad teacher Actually?
Isaiah, your prophet, talksabout you and how unqualified
(17:42):
you are.
Well, the Pharisees don't havea reply to that, which is a way
of admitting defeat in achallenge-repost situation.
So the Pharisees back off thescene and the crowd continues
listening to Jesus which, whenhis teaching authority is what
was being challenged, that is,the crowd continues listening to
Jesus which, when his teachingauthority is what was being
challenged, that is the crowd'sway of acknowledging Jesus wins
(18:05):
the challenge reposed discussion.
Jesus continues to showcasethat he does indeed understand
purity and defilement.
You may be sitting here going,jessica.
I thought we were going to betalking about the Serafinitian
Canaanite woman.
We are.
This is all Leda.
So Jesus then moves into a setof teachings about what makes
(18:28):
someone defiled or not.
The crowd is listening.
They're on the edges of theirseat.
He just won a public challengeor post argument with the
Pharisees.
He has earned greater honor intheir eyes.
The original audience of thebook of Matthew is reading
through this, listening, payingattention.
They are recognizing thepatterns of their culture.
(18:50):
Challenge or post isexceptionally common.
They would all immediately pickup on what's going on here,
even though we miss it.
And so Jesus calls the crowd tothem in verse 10.
He says listen and understand.
What goes into someone's mouthdoes not defile them, but what
comes out of their mouth defilesthem.
And then he teaches a littlebit more and he reiterates that
(19:15):
statement about the essence ofwhat makes someone defiled In
verse 17,.
He says don't you see thatwhatever enters the mouth goes
into the stomach, then out ofthe body, but the things that
come out of a person's mouth,from the heart, defile them?
Subtly pointing fingers againat the Pharisees, but setting a
(19:37):
foundation for what is it thatactually defiles a person?
It's not these outward laws onwhether you wash your hands
properly, it's your heart, whichis what the Pharisees have been
missing since the exile.
They haven't got that since theexile.
So he says, what comes out ofthe heart defiles them.
(19:58):
For out of the heart come evilthoughts.
Murder, adultery, sexualimmorality, theft, false
testimony, slander these arewhat defile a person.
But eating with unwashed handsdoes not defile them.
A quick recap we see an exampleof a challenger post where
Jesus wins.
We see an example of achallenger post where Jesus wins
(20:18):
.
He then moves into teachingabout what he was challenged on,
which is the essence ofdefilement, and whether he's a
qualified teacher.
Then the text shifts, and thisshift is really important
because the very next verse,after he finishes teaching,
these are what defile a person,but eating with unwashed hands
(20:40):
does not defile them.
Verse 20, verse 21 shifts tothe narrative section about the
Canaanite Syrophoenician woman.
Verse 21 says leaving thatplace, jesus withdrew to the
region of Tyre and Sidon.
Let's pause for a minute.
Imagine a map of Israel in yourmind, if you can.
You have the Dead Sea, you havethe Sea of Galilee.
Syrophoenicia is above the Seaof Galilee by the Mediterranean
(21:05):
Sea.
Okay, you can kind of pictureit.
It's up that region.
So Jesus is moving north westand further into Gentile
territory.
One part of purity that I didn'ttalk about earlier is for the
ancient peoples, but especiallyIsrael, purity is not only
common, holy, clean, unclean, itis also geographic.
(21:27):
They viewed purity kind of inconcentric circles.
So the Holy of Holies in thetemple is the most pure place
geographically for them on theplanet.
You move a little, you know.
The next circle outside theHoly of Holies would be the
temple itself.
The next circle is the templecomplex.
Then you have the city ofJerusalem.
Then you have the nation ofIsrael, where the Jewish people
(21:49):
live, the areas they are livingin.
Then outside that you have theGentile lands.
Okay, so Jerusalem, the city isa holy city.
So everything from theJerusalem circle down to the
Holy of Holies, that's more holyspace.
Common space would be more justwhere all the Jewish people
(22:09):
live, and then unclean, defiled,profane space would be more
where the Gentile people live intheir mindset.
So you have Jesus, who justdelivered the stunning teaching
on what is purity and impurity.
Move outside of, not onlyoutside of holy, physical
geographic space, but outside ofthe common physical geographic
(22:32):
space, into Gentile territoriesof Tyre and Sidon.
Both the original audience andthose walking with Jesus are
well aware of what has justhappened.
We missed it.
We're just like more cities.
He's going somewhere.
I don't know what's going on,not all of us, but some of us.
You might be like I know what'sgoing on, that's okay, but he's
(22:53):
moving outside.
So Jesus has just put himselfin danger, purity-wise, by
exiting the Jewish lands andmoving to Gentile lands.
Okay, all of these purity mapsare in the minds of the original
hearers and those travelingwith Jesus in the text, the
original hearers being thechurch, because the Gospel of
(23:16):
Matthew was written and composedfor the early church.
So we have the early churchreading, listening or reading
about Jesus.
So we consider how they thoughtabout this passage.
Then we have the people who areactually physically on the
ground with Jesus.
When this event happened sowe're considering both of those
(23:36):
audiences simultaneouslyhappened, so we're considering
both of those audiencessimultaneously.
So back to our story that wereally want to get into Leaving
that place, jesus withdrew tothe region of Tyre and Sidon.
He's now in impure territory,unclean, impure territory, and a
Canaanite woman from thevicinity came to him.
The Canaanite Mark calls herSyrophoenician, which fits
(24:00):
ethnically, geographically,where she's from Tyre, sidon,
syrophoenicia that's thephysical, geographic titles for
the region.
Canaanite is an emotive term.
A lot of the Greek people fromthat to the Jewish early church
(24:22):
in the Jewish people who wouldbe traveling with Jesus.
The Canaanite term brings upall of the Old Testament issues
with the Canaanite people whowere a thorn in their side, the
entire Old Testament Againbringing back purity concerns
from all the way back in the OldTestament.
(24:42):
So they've moved to impurespace geographically.
And a Canaanite woman from thevicinity came to Jesus crying
out.
Everybody's a little on edgenow.
It's one thing when aGod-fearing Gentile in a Jewish
city or near a Jewish city callsout, but now we're in an impure
space and a Canaanite womancalls out to Jesus.
(25:07):
But what she says isfascinating and, I think,
precipitates a lot of theinteraction.
She comes to Jesus crying outand she says in verse 22, lord,
son of David, have mercy on me.
My daughter is demon-possessedand suffering terribly.
We are used to, as the modernreader of the text, seeing Lord,
(25:31):
son of David.
Everybody's calling Jesus LordSon of David.
But what we might miss is thatfor a Gentile who doesn't even
live in Israel they live in adifferent geographic region to
call Jesus by his messianictitle is very odd.
She's coming to Jesus as thoughshe's Jewish, as though she has
(25:59):
rights to the Jewish Messiah.
She's not coming to him as Godomnipotent.
She's not coming to him as holyteacher.
She's coming to him as Lord sonof David, aka Jewish Messiah.
Have mercy on me.
She's echoing language of thePsalms have mercy on me.
(26:21):
She's echoing language of thePsalms.
We don't know how she came upwith this language.
My hunch is that she's a veryintelligent woman, which we will
see throughout the rest of thepassage.
She is very smart, she knowsenough and she's like.
I need to make an appeal.
I am advocating for my daughter.
I'm going to do it the bestpossible way.
I'm going to use the mostformal title I can for this
teacher.
And so she comes crying outLord, son of David, have mercy
(26:46):
on me.
My daughter is demon-possessedand suffering terribly.
But what is shocking more sothan a Gentile Greek woman
outside of Israel calling Jesusa messianic title, because that
would be shocking is that Jesusignores her.
Very rarely do we see Jesusignore anybody in the gospel.
(27:07):
He is usually very quick toheal, to engage, to care for
people.
But verse 23 says Jesus did notanswer a word.
This Gentile woman is screaminghis messianic title, begging
for his help as her heart isbroken and he doesn't say a word
(27:30):
.
Her daughter is demon-possessed.
This passage does not specifythat it's an unclean spirit, but
all demons were consideredunclean spirits.
So this goes back to our themeof defilement.
She is in a defiled land, sheis of an unclean people group
(27:51):
and her daughter isn't just sick, she's possessed by an unclean
spirit.
She's possessed by an uncleanspirit.
So, with all this going on,with her rampant defilement in
the eyes of a Jewish audience,she's coming to Jesus begging
for his help as the JewishMessiah and he doesn't say
(28:13):
anything.
Mark says they're in a house.
It says he leaves Israel.
He goes to the Syrophoeniciaregion, he goes into our house
and he's trying to hunker downand hide a little bit.
He may be trying to rest andeven mourn John the Baptist's
death, because all of thishappens fairly quickly after
John the Baptist died, who wasJesus' cousin, and Jesus may be
(28:33):
trying to get some space topersonally deal with this.
And so he's left Galilee, maybehoping crowds don't follow him,
so he can get some space, so hecan mourn.
And this Syrophoenician womanstarts banging down the door and
screaming through the windowsson of David, messiah, have
mercy on me.
So he doesn't answer.
(28:54):
Finally his disciples get tiredof it and they come to him and
they urge him and they say sendher away, for she keeps crying
after us.
Now they're not asking Jesus tohelp her, they want him to tell
her to leave.
Again, the disciples low onfaith, low on compassion, and
Jesus answered and says I wasonly sent to the lost sheep of
(29:14):
Israel.
So he is playing off of hercall as using the Messianic
terms.
She says son of David.
He says I was sent to Israel.
He's not addressing her yet.
He's talking to the disciples.
She's within earshot, sayingthis is what people believe the
Messiah is here for the lostsheep of Israel.
(29:38):
She is outside Now.
He's just given teaching ondefilement in 1920.
What defiles a person?
What comes out of their heart?
What is coming out of her heart?
Messianic faith.
Jesus here is allowing tensionto rise.
His disciples are rattled.
(29:59):
This woman, it says, she'scrying out.
She keeps crying out.
She is not giving up.
She's like the persistent widow.
She's just outside this house,or maybe she's gotten into this
house and she's just yellinghave mercy, have mercy, have
mercy.
And Jesus is allowing thetension to rise.
(30:19):
He's allowing everybody to feelall of the nuances and all of
the ah of this situation.
Jesus is the same as he was inMatthew 8, where he's healing,
in Matthew 9, where he raisesJairus' daughter and he heals
the woman with the issue ofblood.
Jesus has not changed.
(30:40):
We sometimes miss howincredibly brilliant Jesus is as
a social strategist, and Ibelieve that's what's going on
here and what actually makesthis passage incredibly
beautiful.
So Jesus replies to hisdisciples and he says I was only
sent to the lost sheep ofIsrael.
(31:01):
And you cut I kind of imaginethat almost with a right wink,
wink, nudge, nudge, like she'sout, you're in.
Why are you asking me to dealwith this.
Well, somehow the woman managesto get in the house, or Jesus
has walked out of the house.
Matthew doesn't tell us wherethey're at physically now, but
the woman comes and she kneelsbefore him.
(31:22):
She drops all pretense.
She drops her carefully craftedappeal and her language that
she had probably thought throughas soon as she heard Jesus was
in the region.
She drops all of that andinstead she just cries out to
him, an anguished mother, awoman in desperate need of
(31:42):
assistance, and she says Lord,help me, help me, lord Jesus,
after pressing the boundaries ofwhat is my calling, what am I
here for?
After allowing the tensions torise, so that everybody's paying
(32:09):
attention to what's going on.
Her screaming has brought acrowd.
If he had dealt with herimmediately, just a couple
people.
Jesus has allowed a crowd togather.
He has allowed the tensions torise.
Everybody is wondering what isthe celebrated teacher from
Galilee going to do?
(32:29):
The woman comes and falls athis feet.
Lord, help me.
The anguished cry of adesperate mother.
And here is where the passagecan take a really rough turn,
because he replies and says toher it is not right to take the
children's bread and toss it tothe dogs.
(32:56):
The term dog often is used as aslur in the New Testament and
I'm not going to lighten that.
Some people say, oh, it's thelittle pets under the table.
It may have been, but eventoday and we love our dogs today
we spend so much money on ourdogs today Even today, if you
call a man a dog, that guy is adog.
(33:17):
Stay away.
It's an insult.
He is leveling an insult, butit's not a racist slur.
It is not.
I do not believe he is purpose.
He is putting her down what Ibelieve Jesus doing here.
(33:38):
In his social brilliance.
He has picked up, of course,that this is an exceptionally
sharp, aware woman.
And Jesus is now doing what hevery rarely does.
He is the one startingsomething like a
challenge-repost scenario.
In the beginning of the chapterwe saw the Pharisees challenge
(34:01):
Jesus your disciples eat withunwashed hands.
How could you do this?
So now Jesus issues a challengeto this woman.
She's come, she's at his feet.
It's abnormal.
Normally Jesus just heals thosewho beg for help, who show
faith, and she has shown that byscreaming after him.
Show faith, and she has shownthat by screaming after him.
But he challenges her and hesays it is not right to take the
(34:28):
children's bread and toss it tothe dogs.
The children would be the lostsheep of Israel.
The dogs are the outside, theGentiles.
He challenges her.
I almost see a twinkle in hiseye a little bit as he lays this
out.
He's like dogs.
That's what they think of you.
I'm the Messiah for Israel.
You're asking me for somethingthat you know you don't have
(34:51):
rights to.
He challenges her.
She replies yes, it is Lord.
She replies yes, it is Lord.
She said even the dogs eat thecrumbs that fall from their
master's table.
Her riposte, her reply bringsJesus joy.
(35:13):
She exemplifies humility.
She exemplifies understandingof the purity boundaries that
she was in some ways trying totransgress and she recognizes
who he is.
She also and I love this findsa loophole in Jesus' argument
(35:37):
that he can't escape from.
I need to do a full study onJesus' interactions with women,
especially in contrast to someof his interactions with men.
But the only times I can thinkof where Jesus in some way,
shape or form loses an argument,a challenge or repost or a
(36:01):
disagreement, is generally to awoman.
You see it in John 4.
Mary's like they need wine,solve the problem.
And he's like what am Isupposed to do?
My time has not come?
And his mom's like he'll takecare of it.
Jesus is like yeah, I will.
Again.
Here, jesus says he allows thewoman to have the upper hand, he
(36:26):
allows her to win the challengeriposte.
He set up the entire situation,playing off the prejudices of
the crowd, playing off of theirheightened sensitivities, their
understanding of purity, ofhonor, of shame.
You have a woman who is coming.
(36:48):
She is a daughter who's unclean.
She's perhaps wealthy, perhapsnot, but she's also a woman.
She's not coming through abroker or a man to present her
request before Jesus.
In one of the Gospels, when thecenturion asked for his servant
to be healed, he sent thesynagogue leaders as brokers to
(37:11):
talk to Jesus.
In Matthew he talks directly,but in other passages it's the
brokers he sent.
They just cut them out in theMatthew account because it
wasn't necessary for the story.
But she's going against culturalconventions on how you approach
a celebrated teacher in herdesperation, lifts her up, lifts
(37:45):
her up.
He issues a very specific,nuanced challenge that
challenges her use of themessianic title and whether or
not she can exist in the spaceshe is trying to occupy, and he
says it's not right to take thechildren's bread which he was
just feeding everybody when hefed the 5,000, and now he's
going to feed bread to the 4,000almost directly after this.
So he's like feeding everybodyalready.
He's just like tossing bread tothe wind and he says it's not
(38:06):
right.
And there's Gentiles in thatcrowd, it's not like he's just
feeding Jewish people with the4,000 and 5,000.
So that's part of what's goingon here.
You see Jesus making a point toeveryone, to the crowd that has
gathered, to his disciples.
It's not right to take thechildren's bread and toss it to
(38:27):
the dogs.
They think you're a dog.
They think you're a dog, theydon't think you belong here and
she's able to be like even thedogs.
Get the crumbs that fall fromtheir master's table and the
word master their master's tableand the word master the
master's table.
I do belong here.
(38:49):
I may not be a quote child, butI have a right to the crumbs.
She finds a loophole not only inJesus' argument, which I
believe he left wide open forher to walk through, but in the
mindset of the Jewish people andthe crowds in the early church.
Because again, the early churchis concerned.
How do Gentiles fit into thekingdom of God.
(39:11):
That's why Paul was constantlyrunning into the circumcision
party who believed that in orderto be part of the church you
needed to be circumcised.
And the book of Matthew iswritten to the church.
So again, this is creating anunderstanding of defilement and
it's rewriting the purityboundaries, while Jesus is
(39:37):
creating a way for this woman toearn honor.
In a challenged riposte, theloser gets shamed and the winner
gains honor.
Here, jesus challenges thewoman who is coming after him.
(39:58):
She responds with a brilliantriposte and Jesus declares her
the winner, which normally thecrowd does that, but Jesus does
it.
In this instance, jesusdeclares her the winner and says
woman, you have great faith,you win, your request is granted
(40:19):
and her daughter was healed atthat moment.
So you have a situation whereJesus challenges her honor.
He tries to shame her in thecultural convention.
Is he really trying to shameher?
No, he's creating a situationin which her honor is going to
be elevated in that crowdforever the Jewish people
(40:44):
traveling with him.
She is called great faith.
Peter was just told he hadlittle faith.
This Syrophoenician, canaanitewoman has great faith.
So in his disciple group she ishonored.
She is honored In herSyrophoenician village.
She is going to be known as theone who beats the celebrated
teacher in a challenge ripostewhen nobody, even the most
(41:07):
dedicated scholars, can do this.
Nobody beats Jesus in achallenge riposte Ever.
That's part of the reason thePharisees are so mad, because
they keep trying and they keepfailing, because Jesus always
wins.
Now he challenges her and shewins, but Jesus doesn't get
shamed because now he heals.
So both of them increase inhonor through this interaction.
(41:33):
She walks off, not slurred off,not slurred, but honored.
He calls out her great faith.
I don't know.
The text doesn't tell us thiswoman's story.
It's possible she's a widow,since she didn't have a husband
to advocate, or maybe herhusband didn't believe.
(41:53):
We're not sure her wholesituation.
We don't know if she is rich orpoor.
A rich person would probablytry to hire an exorcist of some
kind for the demon.
Maybe she's done that already.
It doesn't tell us.
She is going to be shamed to adegree by both Greco-Roman
culture and Jewish culture,because her daughter has a demon
, an unclean spirit.
(42:13):
This is going to bring hershame in the eyes of her
community.
Often the ancient worldconsidered that if you were sick
or you had a demon or your kidhad a demon.
There was a sin or an impurity.
Even the Gentiles had puritymaps that are a little bit
different than Israel, than theJewish peoples, but they had
them as well.
These purity ideas are commonthroughout the ancient Near East
(42:37):
.
They're just applieddifferently in Judaism than the
Gentile pagan religions.
I see that.
I see the slurs.
(43:06):
You might be called by yourcommunity, definitely by my
people.
I'm going to bring that to theforefront to challenge you so
that you can win, to increaseyour honor and thereby not just
heal your daughter but heal yourrelationships in your community
and leave you better than Ifound you.
(43:26):
When Jesus heals in the gospel,he never just heals.
He never just heals.
Jesus repairs relationships andsocial dynamics through that
(43:48):
healing.
When Jesus heals, he bringspeace, he brings shalom, he
brings wholeness.
This woman, this narrativestarts in verse 21 in an impure
place with a unclean Gentilewoman with an especially defiled
(44:11):
daughter, and it ends with awoman whose honor in her
community has not only beenrestored but expanded, a
daughter who is clean and herfaith.
Jesus said in verse 19, orverse 18, excuse me, out of a
(44:37):
person's mouth.
That is what defiles a person,what came out of her mouth, that
which showed her faith.
When we look at the story ofthe Syrophoenician woman in its
historical context understandingpurity, understanding,
challenger, post, understanding,honor, shame seeing the lead up
(45:01):
to this passage.
And then what happens rightafter?
After he leaves her, he goes onback down to the Sea of Galilee
and feeds a crowd of 4,000.
Was she in that crowd?
Did she follow?
We don't know?
Maybe, but this idea of Jesusas the bread of life, giving
bread freely while repairingsocial relationships and honor
(45:28):
and healing those who come tohim, it gives a very different
feel of the passage.
Jesus isn't just testing herfaith here.
I'm going to be kind of mean toyou to see if you really have
faith.
Do you, do you?
I don't know.
No, jesus is setting her upbrilliantly because he knows
(45:52):
from her words Lord son of David, have mercy on me.
Messianic psalmistic title.
He's like ah, I mean, jesus isall-knowing, so he would have
known anyway.
But he's like ah, you'rebrilliant, you're up for the
challenge.
I'm going to challenge youbecause I'm not just going to
heal your daughter, I'm going tomake you a celebrity in your
(46:13):
town.
You are going to be knownforever as the woman who bested
me, who won my favor through abattle of wits.
I'm going to challenge you sothat you gain what you need.
(46:37):
Physically, your daughter ishealed, socially, repair in your
community, and I'm going toleave you better than I found
you.
Your honor will increase, whichenables opportunities for
employment or marriage orwhatever her physical needs are.
Having greater honor takes careof a lot of the other needs she
(46:59):
could have that the textdoesn't mention.
I love the story of theSyrophoenician woman because,
though it seems really odd andawkward, it allows us to see
Jesus' heart play out in socialways that would make sense to
the original audience that wemiss.
(47:22):
So we can see the situation andgo.
What is Jesus doing?
Jesus is doing what he alwaysdoes in a tailored way, specific
to the people he's working with, according to their
personalities and theirgiftedness.
Not everybody does Jesuschallenge.
Not everybody's up for that.
(47:44):
This woman was, and he knew it.
He uses who she is as a personto set forth a message that the
kingdom of God is for theGentiles as well.
God is for the Gentiles as well.
That, yes, he's the JewishMessiah, but he's not ignoring
(48:07):
the Gentiles.
That she is worthy as a woman,as a person of faith.
Jesus is creating a newhousehold of faith that includes
Gentile women that were oftenconsidered dogs, and it's
(48:28):
beautiful, because God's heartfor women doesn't change.
His heart for women is revealedin the Old Testament.
It's revealed in the Gospels,it's revealed in the Old
Testament, it's revealed in theGospels and it's revealed
through the account of theSyrophoenician woman, as Jesus
looks at her and lifts her up asone of the few models of great
(48:50):
faith in the Gospels.
Thank you so much for coming onthis journey today to look at
this Canaanite woman.
I can't wait to hear yourthoughts on the episodes and
what you have learned from this.
I look forward to being withyou next time.
Have a great day.
Welcome back to we who Thirst podcast.
We are continuing our series onwomen in context, where we look
at specific accounts dealingwith women of the Bible and look
at them in their historical andtextual contexts to understand
these women better and to seewhat's going on in the account
(00:22):
and to see how God cares forwomen and how that's revealed
through this passage.
Today we are dialing in to theaccount in Matthew 15 of the
Syrophoenician woman who Jesuscalls a dog.
This at first blush, seems likehe's calling her a slur and
(00:45):
therefore this can be a verydifficult passage to work
through sometimes.
How do we understand Jesus, godin the flesh, celebrated
teacher, kind, gentle man, wholifts up women in so many ways?
How do we comprehend himturning around and calling a
(01:07):
supplicant woman who's justasking for help for her child, a
needy mother, a dog, a slur?
We need to make sense of this.
Lots of explanations have beengiven.
Some people say he's providinga test of faith.
We'll have to see if we thinkthat's what's going on.
Some people even go as far tosay he's allowing his human side
(01:30):
.
Jesus is fully God and fullyman, but he's leaning into his
fully man side here and some ofthe inherent classism, racism of
his Jewish heritage, is leakingout.
And then she teaches Jesussomething about his mission and
his ministry.
I do want to start off sayingthat second idea I definitely
(01:53):
disagree with.
Jesus is always fully God andfully man.
You can't separate the two.
He is perfect and without sin,so racism cannot be what's going
on here.
Also, as he's dealing with thisSyrophoenician woman, this is
not the first time where heinteracts with Gentiles and
(02:16):
heals for them.
This account of Jesus and theSyrophoenician woman occurs in
Matthew 15 and Mark 7.
We are going to focus on theMatthew 15 account because it's
a little longer, a little moredetailed, a little more to
unpack.
But you can also read theparallel passage in Mark 7.
But in the Gospel of Matthew,since that's the passage we're
(02:38):
focusing on, Jesus heals thecenturion's servant in Matthew,
chapter 8.
So dealing with Gentiles andhealing them, obviously not a
problem.
Later on in chapter 8, he's inGentile territory in Roman
Palestine, near the Sea ofGalilee, but it's the Decapolis.
These are Gentile Greek cities,and he healed two
(03:00):
demon-possessed Gentile men inMatthew 8.
And so Jesus healing Gentiles,casting demons out of Gentiles
these are not uncommon.
Jesus has done this before.
We've seen Jesus dealexceptionally kindly with women.
In chapter 9 of Matthew heheals the woman with the issue
of blood, which I hope to do anepisode on soon and he raises
(03:24):
Jairus' daughter from the dead.
So Jesus dealing with women andhealing them contextually in
the text has not been a problem.
So why in this passage doesJesus look at this woman who's
coming to him with a request forhealing of her demon-possessed
(03:44):
daughter?
Why does he turn to her first,ignoring her and then calling
her a dog?
Let's back up and look at thechapters surrounding this
passage before we walk throughthe verses.
So Jesus and the Syrophoenicianwoman or in Matthew Mark calls
(04:06):
her the Syrophoenician woman,matthew calls her a Canaanite
woman and we'll talk about thatin a moment.
But this passage occurs inMatthew 15, 21 through 28.
So let's back up in chapter 14.
Just I'm going to give highlevel overview context here.
Chapter 14, john the Baptist isbeheaded by Herod.
(04:29):
Then Jesus feeds the 5,000.
Then he walks on water.
Peter walks on water, with himsinks, and Jesus tells Peter
calls Peter, oh ye of littlefaith because of Peter's lack of
faith during that instance.
Then we move into chapter 15,where Jesus has an interaction
(04:51):
with the Pharisees.
Then he has his interactionwith the Canaanite Seraphim
nation woman.
Then he feeds the 4,000.
And then he has more conflictswith the Pharisees.
I mention all this because Ithink it's important to consider
that the feeding of the 5,000and the 4,000 bookend three
(05:13):
accounts that I think are kindof tied together.
You have the feeding of the5,000.
Jesus is feeding people, he'scaring for people.
The theme of bread and feedingand banquets are really
important to understand hisinteraction with the Canaanite
woman.
So he feeds the 5,000.
Then he's interacting with hismale disciples on a boat in the
(05:36):
middle of the Sea of Galilee.
Peter walks on water and thenloses sight of Jesus and Jesus
calls Peter, who later orearlier is called the rock on
whom I will build my church.
I forget exactly where thatpassage is in the flow.
But Peter, who will be the rock?
Jesus tells him he has littlefaith.
(05:58):
So Jesus' disciples arestruggling with faith.
They push back at the feeding.
How are we going to feed allthese people?
And Jesus is like hold on y'all, I got this.
And then he walks on waterBrilliant faith.
That then falls flat as hesinks down below and Jesus says
oh, you of little faith.
So we have faith struggleshappening in Jesus' disciple
(06:21):
group and that is how we enterinto chapter 15.
So in chapter 15, I'm going tostart talking through the
beginning of the chapter beforewe get to the Canaanite woman,
because it sets up the Canaanitewoman.
The beginning of chapter 15 isa key contrast for what I
believe is going on in Jesus'interactions with the Canaanite
(06:43):
woman.
So 15 starts.
Matthew doesn't give us the fullcontext that Mark does.
In Mark it says that in thisbeginning of the chapter, jesus
and his disciples are walkingthrough a field and they're just
picking ears of grain andeating them.
Matthew doesn't specify that,but that's the context of what's
(07:05):
going on.
So Matthew 15 starts verse 1,.
And then some Pharisees andteachers of the law came to
Jesus from Jerusalem.
Now, these are the Pharisees ofthe Pharisees.
These are like the bigmucky-muck Pharisees.
These are the really smart, thesuper educated, the best of the
best Pharisees, and they'recoming to Jesus from Jerusalem.
That's how we know educated,the best of the best Pharisees,
(07:25):
and they're coming to Jesus fromJerusalem.
That's how we know they're thebest of the best, because
they're not your neighborhoodPharisee, they are the Jerusalem
Pharisees.
This is important.
So they come to Jesus fromJerusalem and they ask Jesus why
do your disciples break thetradition of the elders?
They don't wash their handsbefore they eat.
(07:46):
What is going on here is thePharisees are accusing Jesus of
allowing his disciples and Marksays it very directly that Jesus
is allowing his disciples toeat with unwashed hands.
They are defiling themselves bynot washing hands because the
(08:09):
tradition of the elders says youhave to wash your hands before
you eat.
In this very ritualistic way.
It's not germs that they'reconcerned about, it's not soap
and water, it's ritual purity.
So let's pause for a moment andtalk about purity in the Bible.
This is something I think a lotof people don't fully
understand.
(08:29):
My explanation right now isgoing to be really short.
I hope to do a full episode onhistorical context and purity at
some point, but for now let'sjust talk about purity in brief.
Purity doesn't necessarilyindicate one's sin or sinfulness
.
I want to state that outright.
(08:50):
Your purity status doesn'tnecessarily match your
sinfulness status.
So we need to separate purityand sinfulness.
Though they're related, theyare separate concepts.
In the Bible, purity isconcerned with ordering the
world and making one's sense ofone's everyday experiences in
(09:13):
light of the order that Godcreated.
David Da Silva, in his bookHonor, patronage, kinship and
Purity, really talks about thisin detail.
I recommend that book all thetime.
It is excellent forunderstanding the historical
context of the New Testament.
But that's his definition thatI just mentioned.
(09:33):
Purity is concerned with theordering of the world and making
sense of one's everydayexperiences in light of that
order, the order which Godcreated.
And so you have a couple ofdifferent status markers of one
purity, and purity can be of aperson or an object.
So you have status markers.
(09:55):
First, status marker issomething can be either common
or holy.
Common is just the everydaythings.
It doesn't mean they're bad,they're not bad, they're just
the normal everyday stuff.
Then you have holy.
These are the special thingsthat are set aside for God.
So your house would be a commonplace.
The temple would be a holyplace.
(10:18):
It doesn't make your house bad,sinful or gross, it's just
common, it's normal.
Then you have holy, which wouldbe the temple.
That's the special set-apartplace.
Okay, so that's oneconsideration.
The second consideration iswhether something is clean or
unclean.
According to De Silva, clean isa natural term referring
(10:39):
generally to a person or thingin its normal state, the way God
created it, to a person orthing, in its normal state, the
way God created it, the way it'sdesigned to be, that is clean.
Unclean, again, according to DeSilva, is the corresponding
marked term denoting thatsomething has crossed the line
from their normal state into adangerous state of pollution.
So clean and unclean are verybig concerns to the Pharisees
(11:04):
and the Sadducees.
Why?
Why is this a concern?
You have a lot of generationaltrauma going on, partly going
back to the exile in the OldTestament.
Pre-exile Israel was notfollowing God's commands.
They were not following God'slaws.
They became unclean, bothsinfully and purity-wise, and
(11:28):
God cast them out.
The Pharisees and the rabbinictraditions kind of started while
they were in exile in Babylonand then they brought those
traditions back when theyresettled the land.
But these purity traditionsbecame, rather than a
wholehearted love for God.
A fear of supernatural angeragainst them took root in some
(11:52):
of these people's hearts.
That became an obsession withpurity laws and legalism,
because they are afraid if weare impure God will be angry
with us.
And so, rather than, as Godsaid in the Old Testament, I
care more about mercy and carefor one another than your
(12:13):
sacrifices, god was even tellingthem.
I'm not looking for thespecifics of the purity laws.
I'm concerned about your heart,but they're like no, you have
to be concerned about specificsof purity laws and we have to
stay pure so that you're not madat us and God's like I want
your hearts and they're like ithas to be the purity laws.
Anyway, that's a very quickoverview, but the Pharisees are
very concerned about the puritylaws because we have
(12:33):
generational trauma way backfrom the exile, but also from
the Romans, and a lot of warsand things going on.
So the Pharisees want purityfor their own safety personally,
but also to protect their power.
(12:53):
So the Pharisees, in verse 1 ofchapter 15, come to Jesus and
say basically, you are allowingyour disciples to be defiled, to
become unclean because they'renot following our ritual rules
to protect purity.
Okay, to further understandthis interaction, we also need
(13:17):
to understand something that wasvery common in this honor-shame
culture called challenge andriposte.
Now, in an honor-shame culture,you are exceptionally concerned
with how the people around youperceive you.
An honor-shame culture isoriented towards the approval or
(13:43):
the disapproval of others.
An honor or shame?
Honor, specifically, is yoursocial currency.
Those with higher status havemore honor.
You want to gain honor, somehonor you kind of have innately
because of your given socialstatus.
It could be the family you'reborn in, the amount of wealth
you have, perhaps your gender,whether you were a slave or a
(14:03):
freeborn person.
These sorts of things give youa kind of base level honor.
Everybody kind of comes intothe world with a base level of
honor because of their family,gender, social status, wealth.
There's a whole list of thingsthat impact social status and
honor.
But you kind of come in with abase level.
But this culture had a way ofgaining more honor at the
(14:26):
expense of others through whatis called a challenge and
riposte system.
And once you learn about thechallenge and riposte system, a
lot of Jesus' interactions withthe Pharisees make a ton of
sense.
Because the Pharisees areconstantly trying to shame Jesus
.
That means bring his honorlevels down.
(14:48):
If you think of it like a videogame where they have the health
bar, they want to make Jesus'honor bar lower and they want to
make their honor bar bigger.
And so challenge-repostinteractions do that.
They make one person they getmore shame, the honor bar gets
smaller.
The other person they get morehonor.
And it's the crowd, the peoplewho's watching the
(15:10):
challenge-repost that typicallydeclares the victor and they are
looking to gain greater honorin eyes of the crowd.
So in Matthew 15, that's what wehave going on here is a
challenge-repost situation withJesus and the Pharisees again,
because the Pharisees areconstantly doing this to Jesus.
(15:30):
So they come up to him and theychallenge him.
They say in verse 2, why doyour disciples break the
tradition of the elders?
They don't wash their handsbefore they eat.
That's a challenge.
They're trying to attack thedisciples with the subtle
implication that if thedisciples are doing wrong
because Jesus is a bad teacher,with the implication to the
crowd that if Jesus is a badteacher because he can't even
(15:51):
keep his disciples clean, whyare you listening to him?
That's everything kind ofwrapped up in the Pharisees'
challenge and it's about purityand defilement.
Jesus doesn't even understandpurity, he doesn't understand
defilement, he doesn't know whatkeeps people clean, he doesn't
follow the tradition.
So that is the challenge.
Jesus replies with a lengthyriposte that just rips them to
(16:15):
shreds.
I'll just read verses threethrough nine briefly.
Jesus replies with his riposteand he says but why do you,
pharisees, break the command ofGod?
For the sake of your tradition?
For God said honor your fatherand mother, and anyone who
curses their father and motheris to be put to death.
But you say that if anyonedeclares what might have been
(16:37):
used to help their father ormother is devoted to God, they
are not to honor their fatherand mother with it.
Thus, you Pharisees, nullifythe word of God for the sake of
your tradition.
You hypocrites.
Isaiah was right when heprophesied about you.
These people honor me withtheir lips, but their hearts are
far from me.
They worship me in vain.
Their teachings are merelyhuman rules.
(16:58):
So, challenge proposed, thePharisees want to gain honor by
shaming Jesus.
So they come saying you are abad teacher because you let your
disciples become unclean by notwashing their hands.
The traditions of the elderssays they need to wash hands,
defiled, unclean.
You're a bad teacher.
Jesus turns around with a veryquick reposte and just reams
(17:22):
them out and he says you'rechallenging me on breaking the
traditions of the elders.
You can't obey God.
Here is a very serious deathpenalty way.
You're not obeying God.
Who's the bad teacher Actually?
Isaiah, your prophet, talksabout you and how unqualified
(17:42):
you are.
Well, the Pharisees don't havea reply to that, which is a way
of admitting defeat in achallenge-repost situation.
So the Pharisees back off thescene and the crowd continues
listening to Jesus which, whenhis teaching authority is what
was being challenged, that is,the crowd continues listening to
Jesus which, when his teachingauthority is what was being
challenged, that is the crowd'sway of acknowledging Jesus wins
(18:05):
the challenge reposed discussion.
Jesus continues to showcasethat he does indeed understand
purity and defilement.
You may be sitting here going,jessica.
I thought we were going to betalking about the Serafinitian
Canaanite woman.
We are.
This is all Leda.
So Jesus then moves into a setof teachings about what makes
(18:28):
someone defiled or not.
The crowd is listening.
They're on the edges of theirseat.
He just won a public challengeor post argument with the
Pharisees.
He has earned greater honor intheir eyes.
The original audience of thebook of Matthew is reading
through this, listening, payingattention.
They are recognizing thepatterns of their culture.
(18:50):
Challenge or post isexceptionally common.
They would all immediately pickup on what's going on here,
even though we miss it.
And so Jesus calls the crowd tothem in verse 10.
He says listen and understand.
What goes into someone's mouthdoes not defile them, but what
comes out of their mouth defilesthem.
And then he teaches a littlebit more and he reiterates that
(19:15):
statement about the essence ofwhat makes someone defiled In
verse 17,.
He says don't you see thatwhatever enters the mouth goes
into the stomach, then out ofthe body, but the things that
come out of a person's mouth,from the heart, defile them?
Subtly pointing fingers againat the Pharisees, but setting a
(19:37):
foundation for what is it thatactually defiles a person?
It's not these outward laws onwhether you wash your hands
properly, it's your heart, whichis what the Pharisees have been
missing since the exile.
They haven't got that since theexile.
So he says, what comes out ofthe heart defiles them.
(19:58):
For out of the heart come evilthoughts.
Murder, adultery, sexualimmorality, theft, false
testimony, slander these arewhat defile a person.
But eating with unwashed handsdoes not defile them.
A quick recap we see an exampleof a challenger post where
Jesus wins.
We see an example of achallenger post where Jesus wins
(20:18):
.
He then moves into teachingabout what he was challenged on,
which is the essence ofdefilement, and whether he's a
qualified teacher.
Then the text shifts, and thisshift is really important
because the very next verse,after he finishes teaching,
these are what defile a person,but eating with unwashed hands
(20:40):
does not defile them.
Verse 20, verse 21 shifts tothe narrative section about the
Canaanite Syrophoenician woman.
Verse 21 says leaving thatplace, jesus withdrew to the
region of Tyre and Sidon.
Let's pause for a minute.
Imagine a map of Israel in yourmind, if you can.
You have the Dead Sea, you havethe Sea of Galilee.
Syrophoenicia is above the Seaof Galilee by the Mediterranean
(21:05):
Sea.
Okay, you can kind of pictureit.
It's up that region.
So Jesus is moving north westand further into Gentile
territory.
One part of purity that I didn'ttalk about earlier is for the
ancient peoples, but especiallyIsrael, purity is not only
common, holy, clean, unclean, itis also geographic.
(21:27):
They viewed purity kind of inconcentric circles.
So the Holy of Holies in thetemple is the most pure place
geographically for them on theplanet.
You move a little, you know.
The next circle outside theHoly of Holies would be the
temple itself.
The next circle is the templecomplex.
Then you have the city ofJerusalem.
Then you have the nation ofIsrael, where the Jewish people
(21:49):
live, the areas they are livingin.
Then outside that you have theGentile lands.
Okay, so Jerusalem, the city isa holy city.
So everything from theJerusalem circle down to the
Holy of Holies, that's more holyspace.
Common space would be more justwhere all the Jewish people
(22:09):
live, and then unclean, defiled,profane space would be more
where the Gentile people live intheir mindset.
So you have Jesus, who justdelivered the stunning teaching
on what is purity and impurity.
Move outside of, not onlyoutside of holy, physical
geographic space, but outside ofthe common physical geographic
(22:32):
space, into Gentile territoriesof Tyre and Sidon.
Both the original audience andthose walking with Jesus are
well aware of what has justhappened.
We missed it.
We're just like more cities.
He's going somewhere.
I don't know what's going on,not all of us, but some of us.
You might be like I know what'sgoing on, that's okay, but he's
(22:53):
moving outside.
So Jesus has just put himselfin danger, purity-wise, by
exiting the Jewish lands andmoving to Gentile lands.
Okay, all of these purity mapsare in the minds of the original
hearers and those travelingwith Jesus in the text, the
original hearers being thechurch, because the Gospel of
(23:16):
Matthew was written and composedfor the early church.
So we have the early churchreading, listening or reading
about Jesus.
So we consider how they thoughtabout this passage.
Then we have the people who areactually physically on the
ground with Jesus.
When this event happened sowe're considering both of those
(23:36):
audiences simultaneouslyhappened, so we're considering
both of those audiencessimultaneously.
So back to our story that wereally want to get into Leaving
that place, jesus withdrew tothe region of Tyre and Sidon.
He's now in impure territory,unclean, impure territory, and a
Canaanite woman from thevicinity came to him.
The Canaanite Mark calls herSyrophoenician, which fits
(24:00):
ethnically, geographically,where she's from Tyre, sidon,
syrophoenicia that's thephysical, geographic titles for
the region.
Canaanite is an emotive term.
A lot of the Greek people fromthat to the Jewish early church
(24:22):
in the Jewish people who wouldbe traveling with Jesus.
The Canaanite term brings upall of the Old Testament issues
with the Canaanite people whowere a thorn in their side, the
entire Old Testament Againbringing back purity concerns
from all the way back in the OldTestament.
(24:42):
So they've moved to impurespace geographically.
And a Canaanite woman from thevicinity came to Jesus crying
out.
Everybody's a little on edgenow.
It's one thing when aGod-fearing Gentile in a Jewish
city or near a Jewish city callsout, but now we're in an impure
space and a Canaanite womancalls out to Jesus.
(25:07):
But what she says isfascinating and, I think,
precipitates a lot of theinteraction.
She comes to Jesus crying outand she says in verse 22, lord,
son of David, have mercy on me.
My daughter is demon-possessedand suffering terribly.
We are used to, as the modernreader of the text, seeing Lord,
(25:31):
son of David.
Everybody's calling Jesus LordSon of David.
But what we might miss is thatfor a Gentile who doesn't even
live in Israel they live in adifferent geographic region to
call Jesus by his messianictitle is very odd.
She's coming to Jesus as thoughshe's Jewish, as though she has
(25:59):
rights to the Jewish Messiah.
She's not coming to him as Godomnipotent.
She's not coming to him as holyteacher.
She's coming to him as Lord sonof David, aka Jewish Messiah.
Have mercy on me.
She's echoing language of thePsalms have mercy on me.
(26:21):
She's echoing language of thePsalms.
We don't know how she came upwith this language.
My hunch is that she's a veryintelligent woman, which we will
see throughout the rest of thepassage.
She is very smart, she knowsenough and she's like.
I need to make an appeal.
I am advocating for my daughter.
I'm going to do it the bestpossible way.
I'm going to use the mostformal title I can for this
teacher.
And so she comes crying outLord, son of David, have mercy
(26:46):
on me.
My daughter is demon-possessedand suffering terribly.
But what is shocking more sothan a Gentile Greek woman
outside of Israel calling Jesusa messianic title, because that
would be shocking is that Jesusignores her.
Very rarely do we see Jesusignore anybody in the gospel.
(27:07):
He is usually very quick toheal, to engage, to care for
people.
But verse 23 says Jesus did notanswer a word.
This Gentile woman is screaminghis messianic title, begging
for his help as her heart isbroken and he doesn't say a word
(27:30):
.
Her daughter is demon-possessed.
This passage does not specifythat it's an unclean spirit, but
all demons were consideredunclean spirits.
So this goes back to our themeof defilement.
She is in a defiled land, sheis of an unclean people group
(27:51):
and her daughter isn't just sick, she's possessed by an unclean
spirit.
She's possessed by an uncleanspirit.
So, with all this going on,with her rampant defilement in
the eyes of a Jewish audience,she's coming to Jesus begging
for his help as the JewishMessiah and he doesn't say
(28:13):
anything.
Mark says they're in a house.
It says he leaves Israel.
He goes to the Syrophoeniciaregion, he goes into our house
and he's trying to hunker downand hide a little bit.
He may be trying to rest andeven mourn John the Baptist's
death, because all of thishappens fairly quickly after
John the Baptist died, who wasJesus' cousin, and Jesus may be
(28:33):
trying to get some space topersonally deal with this.
And so he's left Galilee, maybehoping crowds don't follow him,
so he can get some space, so hecan mourn.
And this Syrophoenician womanstarts banging down the door and
screaming through the windowsson of David, messiah, have
mercy on me.
So he doesn't answer.
(28:54):
Finally his disciples get tiredof it and they come to him and
they urge him and they say sendher away, for she keeps crying
after us.
Now they're not asking Jesus tohelp her, they want him to tell
her to leave.
Again, the disciples low onfaith, low on compassion, and
Jesus answered and says I wasonly sent to the lost sheep of
(29:14):
Israel.
So he is playing off of hercall as using the Messianic
terms.
She says son of David.
He says I was sent to Israel.
He's not addressing her yet.
He's talking to the disciples.
She's within earshot, sayingthis is what people believe the
Messiah is here for the lostsheep of Israel.
(29:38):
She is outside Now.
He's just given teaching ondefilement in 1920.
What defiles a person?
What comes out of their heart?
What is coming out of her heart?
Messianic faith.
Jesus here is allowing tensionto rise.
His disciples are rattled.
(29:59):
This woman, it says, she'scrying out.
She keeps crying out.
She is not giving up.
She's like the persistent widow.
She's just outside this house,or maybe she's gotten into this
house and she's just yellinghave mercy, have mercy, have
mercy.
And Jesus is allowing thetension to rise.
(30:19):
He's allowing everybody to feelall of the nuances and all of
the ah of this situation.
Jesus is the same as he was inMatthew 8, where he's healing,
in Matthew 9, where he raisesJairus' daughter and he heals
the woman with the issue ofblood.
Jesus has not changed.
(30:40):
We sometimes miss howincredibly brilliant Jesus is as
a social strategist, and Ibelieve that's what's going on
here and what actually makesthis passage incredibly
beautiful.
So Jesus replies to hisdisciples and he says I was only
sent to the lost sheep ofIsrael.
(31:01):
And you cut I kind of imaginethat almost with a right wink,
wink, nudge, nudge, like she'sout, you're in.
Why are you asking me to dealwith this.
Well, somehow the woman managesto get in the house, or Jesus
has walked out of the house.
Matthew doesn't tell us wherethey're at physically now, but
the woman comes and she kneelsbefore him.
(31:22):
She drops all pretense.
She drops her carefully craftedappeal and her language that
she had probably thought throughas soon as she heard Jesus was
in the region.
She drops all of that andinstead she just cries out to
him, an anguished mother, awoman in desperate need of
(31:42):
assistance, and she says Lord,help me, help me, lord Jesus,
after pressing the boundaries ofwhat is my calling, what am I
here for?
After allowing the tensions torise, so that everybody's paying
(32:09):
attention to what's going on.
Her screaming has brought acrowd.
If he had dealt with herimmediately, just a couple
people.
Jesus has allowed a crowd togather.
He has allowed the tensions torise.
Everybody is wondering what isthe celebrated teacher from
Galilee going to do?
(32:29):
The woman comes and falls athis feet.
Lord, help me.
The anguished cry of adesperate mother.
And here is where the passagecan take a really rough turn,
because he replies and says toher it is not right to take the
children's bread and toss it tothe dogs.
(32:56):
The term dog often is used as aslur in the New Testament and
I'm not going to lighten that.
Some people say, oh, it's thelittle pets under the table.
It may have been, but eventoday and we love our dogs today
we spend so much money on ourdogs today Even today, if you
call a man a dog, that guy is adog.
(33:17):
Stay away.
It's an insult.
He is leveling an insult, butit's not a racist slur.
It is not.
I do not believe he is purpose.
He is putting her down what Ibelieve Jesus doing here.
(33:38):
In his social brilliance.
He has picked up, of course,that this is an exceptionally
sharp, aware woman.
And Jesus is now doing what hevery rarely does.
He is the one startingsomething like a
challenge-repost scenario.
In the beginning of the chapterwe saw the Pharisees challenge
(34:01):
Jesus your disciples eat withunwashed hands.
How could you do this?
So now Jesus issues a challengeto this woman.
She's come, she's at his feet.
It's abnormal.
Normally Jesus just heals thosewho beg for help, who show
faith, and she has shown that byscreaming after him.
Show faith, and she has shownthat by screaming after him.
But he challenges her and hesays it is not right to take the
(34:28):
children's bread and toss it tothe dogs.
The children would be the lostsheep of Israel.
The dogs are the outside, theGentiles.
He challenges her.
I almost see a twinkle in hiseye a little bit as he lays this
out.
He's like dogs.
That's what they think of you.
I'm the Messiah for Israel.
You're asking me for somethingthat you know you don't have
(34:51):
rights to.
He challenges her.
She replies yes, it is Lord.
She replies yes, it is Lord.
She said even the dogs eat thecrumbs that fall from their
master's table.
Her riposte, her reply bringsJesus joy.
(35:13):
She exemplifies humility.
She exemplifies understandingof the purity boundaries that
she was in some ways trying totransgress and she recognizes
who he is.
She also and I love this findsa loophole in Jesus' argument
(35:37):
that he can't escape from.
I need to do a full study onJesus' interactions with women,
especially in contrast to someof his interactions with men.
But the only times I can thinkof where Jesus in some way,
shape or form loses an argument,a challenge or repost or a
(36:01):
disagreement, is generally to awoman.
You see it in John 4.
Mary's like they need wine,solve the problem.
And he's like what am Isupposed to do?
My time has not come?
And his mom's like he'll takecare of it.
Jesus is like yeah, I will.
Again.
Here, jesus says he allows thewoman to have the upper hand, he
(36:26):
allows her to win the challengeriposte.
He set up the entire situation,playing off the prejudices of
the crowd, playing off of theirheightened sensitivities, their
understanding of purity, ofhonor, of shame.
You have a woman who is coming.
(36:48):
She is a daughter who's unclean.
She's perhaps wealthy, perhapsnot, but she's also a woman.
She's not coming through abroker or a man to present her
request before Jesus.
In one of the Gospels, when thecenturion asked for his servant
to be healed, he sent thesynagogue leaders as brokers to
(37:11):
talk to Jesus.
In Matthew he talks directly,but in other passages it's the
brokers he sent.
They just cut them out in theMatthew account because it
wasn't necessary for the story.
But she's going against culturalconventions on how you approach
a celebrated teacher in herdesperation, lifts her up, lifts
(37:45):
her up.
He issues a very specific,nuanced challenge that
challenges her use of themessianic title and whether or
not she can exist in the spaceshe is trying to occupy, and he
says it's not right to take thechildren's bread which he was
just feeding everybody when hefed the 5,000, and now he's
going to feed bread to the 4,000almost directly after this.
So he's like feeding everybodyalready.
He's just like tossing bread tothe wind and he says it's not
(38:06):
right.
And there's Gentiles in thatcrowd, it's not like he's just
feeding Jewish people with the4,000 and 5,000.
So that's part of what's goingon here.
You see Jesus making a point toeveryone, to the crowd that has
gathered, to his disciples.
It's not right to take thechildren's bread and toss it to
(38:27):
the dogs.
They think you're a dog.
They think you're a dog, theydon't think you belong here and
she's able to be like even thedogs.
Get the crumbs that fall fromtheir master's table and the
word master their master's tableand the word master the
master's table.
I do belong here.
(38:49):
I may not be a quote child, butI have a right to the crumbs.
She finds a loophole not only inJesus' argument, which I
believe he left wide open forher to walk through, but in the
mindset of the Jewish people andthe crowds in the early church.
Because again, the early churchis concerned.
How do Gentiles fit into thekingdom of God.
(39:11):
That's why Paul was constantlyrunning into the circumcision
party who believed that in orderto be part of the church you
needed to be circumcised.
And the book of Matthew iswritten to the church.
So again, this is creating anunderstanding of defilement and
it's rewriting the purityboundaries, while Jesus is
(39:37):
creating a way for this woman toearn honor.
In a challenged riposte, theloser gets shamed and the winner
gains honor.
Here, jesus challenges thewoman who is coming after him.
(39:58):
She responds with a brilliantriposte and Jesus declares her
the winner, which normally thecrowd does that, but Jesus does
it.
In this instance, jesusdeclares her the winner and says
woman, you have great faith,you win, your request is granted
(40:19):
and her daughter was healed atthat moment.
So you have a situation whereJesus challenges her honor.
He tries to shame her in thecultural convention.
Is he really trying to shameher?
No, he's creating a situationin which her honor is going to
be elevated in that crowdforever the Jewish people
(40:44):
traveling with him.
She is called great faith.
Peter was just told he hadlittle faith.
This Syrophoenician, canaanitewoman has great faith.
So in his disciple group she ishonored.
She is honored In herSyrophoenician village.
She is going to be known as theone who beats the celebrated
teacher in a challenge ripostewhen nobody, even the most
(41:07):
dedicated scholars, can do this.
Nobody beats Jesus in achallenge riposte Ever.
That's part of the reason thePharisees are so mad, because
they keep trying and they keepfailing, because Jesus always
wins.
Now he challenges her and shewins, but Jesus doesn't get
shamed because now he heals.
So both of them increase inhonor through this interaction.
(41:33):
She walks off, not slurred off,not slurred, but honored.
He calls out her great faith.
I don't know.
The text doesn't tell us thiswoman's story.
It's possible she's a widow,since she didn't have a husband
to advocate, or maybe herhusband didn't believe.
(41:53):
We're not sure her wholesituation.
We don't know if she is rich orpoor.
A rich person would probablytry to hire an exorcist of some
kind for the demon.
Maybe she's done that already.
It doesn't tell us.
She is going to be shamed to adegree by both Greco-Roman
culture and Jewish culture,because her daughter has a demon
, an unclean spirit.
(42:13):
This is going to bring hershame in the eyes of her
community.
Often the ancient worldconsidered that if you were sick
or you had a demon or your kidhad a demon.
There was a sin or an impurity.
Even the Gentiles had puritymaps that are a little bit
different than Israel, than theJewish peoples, but they had
them as well.
These purity ideas are commonthroughout the ancient Near East
(42:37):
.
They're just applieddifferently in Judaism than the
Gentile pagan religions.
I see that.
I see the slurs.
(43:06):
You might be called by yourcommunity, definitely by my
people.
I'm going to bring that to theforefront to challenge you so
that you can win, to increaseyour honor and thereby not just
heal your daughter but heal yourrelationships in your community
and leave you better than Ifound you.
(43:26):
When Jesus heals in the gospel,he never just heals.
He never just heals.
Jesus repairs relationships andsocial dynamics through that
(43:48):
healing.
When Jesus heals, he bringspeace, he brings shalom, he
brings wholeness.
This woman, this narrativestarts in verse 21 in an impure
place with a unclean Gentilewoman with an especially defiled
(44:11):
daughter, and it ends with awoman whose honor in her
community has not only beenrestored but expanded, a
daughter who is clean and herfaith.
Jesus said in verse 19, orverse 18, excuse me, out of a
(44:37):
person's mouth.
That is what defiles a person,what came out of her mouth, that
which showed her faith.
When we look at the story ofthe Syrophoenician woman in its
historical context understandingpurity, understanding,
challenger, post, understanding,honor, shame seeing the lead up
(45:01):
to this passage.
And then what happens rightafter?
After he leaves her, he goes onback down to the Sea of Galilee
and feeds a crowd of 4,000.
Was she in that crowd?
Did she follow?
We don't know?
Maybe, but this idea of Jesusas the bread of life, giving
bread freely while repairingsocial relationships and honor
(45:28):
and healing those who come tohim, it gives a very different
feel of the passage.
Jesus isn't just testing herfaith here.
I'm going to be kind of mean toyou to see if you really have
faith.
Do you, do you?
I don't know.
No, jesus is setting her upbrilliantly because he knows
(45:52):
from her words Lord son of David, have mercy on me.
Messianic psalmistic title.
He's like ah, I mean, jesus isall-knowing, so he would have
known anyway.
But he's like ah, you'rebrilliant, you're up for the
challenge.
I'm going to challenge youbecause I'm not just going to
heal your daughter, I'm going tomake you a celebrity in your
(46:13):
town.
You are going to be knownforever as the woman who bested
me, who won my favor through abattle of wits.
I'm going to challenge you sothat you gain what you need.
(46:37):
Physically, your daughter ishealed, socially, repair in your
community, and I'm going toleave you better than I found
you.
Your honor will increase, whichenables opportunities for
employment or marriage orwhatever her physical needs are.
Having greater honor takes careof a lot of the other needs she
(46:59):
could have that the textdoesn't mention.
I love the story of theSyrophoenician woman because,
though it seems really odd andawkward, it allows us to see
Jesus' heart play out in socialways that would make sense to
the original audience that wemiss.
(47:22):
So we can see the situation andgo.
What is Jesus doing?
Jesus is doing what he alwaysdoes in a tailored way, specific
to the people he's working with, according to their
personalities and theirgiftedness.
Not everybody does Jesuschallenge.
Not everybody's up for that.
(47:44):
This woman was, and he knew it.
He uses who she is as a personto set forth a message that the
kingdom of God is for theGentiles as well.
God is for the Gentiles as well.
That, yes, he's the JewishMessiah, but he's not ignoring
(48:07):
the Gentiles.
That she is worthy as a woman,as a person of faith.
Jesus is creating a newhousehold of faith that includes
Gentile women that were oftenconsidered dogs, and it's
(48:28):
beautiful, because God's heartfor women doesn't change.
His heart for women is revealedin the Old Testament.
It's revealed in the Gospels,it's revealed in the Old
Testament, it's revealed in theGospels and it's revealed
through the account of theSyrophoenician woman, as Jesus
looks at her and lifts her up asone of the few models of great
(48:50):
faith in the Gospels.
Thank you so much for coming onthis journey today to look at
this Canaanite woman.
I can't wait to hear yourthoughts on the episodes and
what you have learned from this.
I look forward to being withyou next time.
Have a great day.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.