We all live up to our beliefs. Truly, we live according to what we believe to be true. However, that which we profess to believe we rarely live up to. There is a huge difference in what we actually believe and that which we profess to believe.
In the story about the woman from Syrophoenicia recorded in Matthew 15:21-28, Jesus is addressing the true beliefs of his disciples regarding women and Gentiles. Though they might have been honest enough to confess their prejudices, Jesus is using a powerful teaching moment to expose their sinful attitudes. Let’s look carefully at how he does it.
I have often struggled with this passage because in it Jesus seems to be so harsh and cruel to a minority single mom who needs help for her daughter. You would think that Jesus would be very kind and compassionate to her, as he has been to others in the past. He healed the servant of a Centurion. He healed a demoniac on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He raised the synagogue ruler’s daughter who had died. He had just said, “Come until me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” And then a single mom with a terribly sick daughter comes to him and he says and does nothing. This is not the Jesus I know. Why?
As I mentioned, Jesus is exposing the sexism and racism of his disciples. These ran deep in the culture in those days. There was a prayer which men often said which went like this: “Blessed are you Lord God for not making me a Gentile, a slave, or a woman.” This prayer was said every morning by devout men in Israel. Paul addresses this very prayer in his letter to Galatians when he says in 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Even the order of the groups mentioned is exactly the same in the Jewish prayer and in Paul’s teaching against this statement.
Sexism was so rampant in Israel at the time of Jesus that a Rabbi would not speak to a woman in public, not even to his own family members. So when Jesus did not reply to this Syrophoenician woman it was out of his character to remain silent, but it would be the norm of how a rabbi would treat the situation. And unfortunately the disciples seem ok with that. In fact the disciples tell Jesus to send her away because she is annoying them.
Jesus then affirms their belief by saying that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. But he has already healed Gentiles and their children. Why now does he say this? Well, he is engaging in something called reductio ad adserdem. This is when a person takes a position and shows its logical conclusion. This is something people like Gandhi and Martin Luther King were very good at doing.
But this woman is very insistent. She comes to Jesus again on her knees and begs him to help her.
Then, amazingly, Jesus replies with the most insensitive saying imaginable. He says that it is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the little dogs. Now this is hard for me to listen to from the mouth of Jesus. Dogs were just a bit above pigs. They were despised. They were not domesticated or house pets. Jesus is using the term little dogs, but I don’t know if this is any better.
Hopefully the disciples at this time are hearing what their own views about women and Gentiles actually sound like. Jesus is illustrating in a graphic way what their own racism and sexism really look and sound like. He was using this special moment and his gift of teaching to rid them of their prejudices.
Jesus also used this special moment to heal the Syrophoenician woman’s daughter. Jesus blessed her because of her great faith.
Jesus had a great appreciation for the faith of women and elevated them whenever he could. He allowed a sinful woman to anoint his feet. He allowed Mary to hug him after his resurrection. He allowed Mary to sit at his feet and he taught her right along with the rest of his disciples. He was revolutionary when it came to his positive dealings with women, even those who were not Jewish.
The faith of this single minority mom was huge, and her daughter was healed. The disciples, on the other hand, learned an important lesson about how to treat women and minorities. This is a lesson we all need to learn.
