Dig Deeper into Sunday’s Gospel: Read Matthew 15:21–28

This Sunday’s gospel has always baffled me. I recall my first time reading this passage about the Canaanite woman who begs Jesus for a miracle for her daughter, and Jesus essentially calls her a dog. I wondered if this woman caught Jesus at a tough moment: perhaps he had low blood sugar. Or maybe He didn’t get enough sleep the night before. But calling this poor woman a dog? Seems pretty heavy-handed, Jesus!

Of course, “Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8) and has never sinned, including during this puzzling interaction. So let’s dive in deeper and see what the Good Shepherd is teaching us.

Matthew tells us that Jesus withdrew to an area near Tyre and Sidon, which are pagan seaside cities, and a woman he identified as a Canaanite calls out to Jesus, begging Him to heal her daughter who is possessed. The fact that this woman is a Canaanite is of key importance, because this means she is a Gentile, and more specifically, from a line of people who stood in direct opposition to the people of Israel. 

By the time Jesus arrived, the Canaanites were no longer a people, having been driven out of the promised land centuries earlier by the Israelites, as ordered by God in Deuteronomy 7. The Canaanites, along with other pagan nations, worshipped and served different gods and were considered an abomination to the Lord, who had commanded the people of Israel to be a nation set apart. In Mark's gospel, the term "Syrophoenician" is used to describe this same woman from that region, as it was the correct contemporary term in the first century. 

So why does Matthew call her a Canaanite? And why does that matter?

Matthew is telling the reader that this woman is not only a non-Israelite, but the very archetype of the outsider. She couldn’t be further from the people whom Jesus came to save. And yet, she recognized something in Jesus and, in all humility, made a scene, begging for the healing of her child. 

When the disciples ask Jesus to send her away, He responds with what the disciples expect to hear, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). 

But the woman persisted.

This next line is the confusing part. Jesus says to her, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). His words may leave us wondering if He really just said that. Seeming unfazed, the Canaanite woman responds with quick wit and humility, telling Him even dogs get scraps from the table (Matthew 15:27). Notice she doesn’t debate whether Jesus’ rebuke is warranted. Instead, she is confident that who she is—or what she has done—doesn’t change who HE is. She may stand outside the covenant, but she still knows who she kneels in front of: Lord of all. 

And He can do all things.

Even heal her daughter, the daughter of an outsider.

How does Jesus respond to the woman’s persistence? He commends her for her faith, and immediately answers her prayer. So why does Jesus seemingly brush her off and insult her, if He intended all along to grant her the healing she asked for? 

Because He is making two points: first, His actions encourage His disciples to broaden their view of salvation. Yes, God made a covenant with Israel, as the people set apart for Him. But His Son, while bringing to fruition all that God promised the people of Israel, is also sent to break down the barriers and offer salvation to all people, even the woman whose very ancestry once stood as the antithesis of God's covenant people. 

Second, Jesus is teaching us all about the power of persistent prayer. His intention was always to grant healing to her daughter, but He chose to delay the answer to allow her the opportunity to grow in faith and perseverance and to be a witness to those watching this scene unfold of true belief in Jesus Christ. She was a witness then, and she remains a witness to us, two thousand years later.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons God often chooses not to answer our prayers right away. He is giving us the space to grow, to persist, and to delight Him with a faith we didn't know we had. To “pray without ceasing, giving thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:17–18) and to love Him even when the giver isn’t giving gifts. God desires to be in relationship with us—not because we're chasing what He gives, but because of the love we choose to give Him without the benefits. We are to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well” (Matthew 6:33). 

We can trust that “the hand of the Lord is not too short to save” (Isaiah 59:1). He can save—and will save—even the most unlikely of us. Those of us who have chapters of our stories we wish we could rewrite, who, like this woman, have felt like outsiders—unseen, unworthy, or unsure we belong at the table at all. He could have healed this woman’s daughter before she had even asked. But our lives are another way for Him to tell the story of who He is and what He’s done, not just for this woman millennia ago, but for you and me today. Jesus is encouraging us to be persistent in prayer, to know who we are and to trust Him to be who He is: the Healer and Savior of all.

Salvation isn’t earned because of what you look like or where you come from. We are all unworthy of the redemption that is on offer. We would do well to remember that we should receive this gift with fear and trembling, in all humility, just as this Canaanite woman did. 

Great faith can be found in the unlikeliest of people, and please Lord, let it be found in me. 

With you in persisting,
Tierney

Food for thought or journaling …

Have you ever felt like an outsider to God’s mercy? What is the Lord trying to tell you through this gospel passage?

Lord Jesus, You are the healer of my soul. Thank You for the gift of salvation, for the ways You encourage me to grow in faith, and for loving me each step of the way. Give me the grace to trust that even in the waiting, You are stretching me and bringing me to a place of fuller healing and wholeness. Amen.