What do you think???

In working through the story of the Canaanite woman and Jesus recorded in Matthew 15:21-28 I have found myself with more questions than answers and less understanding and more confusion. I am not keen on those who try to 'clean up' this text to make it more acceptable. There is strength in the story and in the woman and in Jesus, but I am wrestling with exactly where this is all going. Sunday's sermon will be interesting for sure, but in the meantime I place before you my notes and thoughts and questions for your perusal. Enjoy! Think! Share your insights!

v.22…Jesus has gone into the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is her home.
’a Canaanite’…descendents of Noah’s son Ham who was cursed by Noah for his disrepect when seeing his father naked and drunk..this person is one to be despised! Yet her love for her child (a daughter) is so great that she braves this to ask for ‘mercy’. But why ask Jesus???
NOTE: Rahab the prostitute who is named in Jesus’ genealogy at the beginning of Matthew. (Matt. 1: 5) She, too, was a Canaanite who lived in the city of Jericho (Joshua 2).
NOTE: women did not speak to men in public unless related to them via birth or marriage…this woman’s very action of calling out is an affront.
“Son of David”…she identifies him as the rightful king of Israel possibly 'the messiah'..she is asking the King for mercy. Compassion and mercy is the domain of the wealthy and powerful to dispense.

v.23…Jesus ignores her and the disciples beg him to “Send her away!”…so much for compassion.

v.24…Jesus rightly identifies his mission, but….

v.25…Now he can no longer ignore her…she is ‘at his feet’
she impedes his progress…”Stop and listen to me!” is what she is saying by her actions.

v.26…He implies that she is a 'cur'...a dog.
‘children’ obvious reference to ‘children of Israel’.

v.27…the woman accepts her place as a ‘dog’, but identifies her request of Jesus as ‘crumbs’ or ‘scraps’ or ‘leftovers’…Is she saying that this is not a major work or big thing. We would say, “You could do this with your eyes shut and one hand tied behind your back!”

v.28…This is the only time in Matthew's gospel where anyone's faith is termed "great."

Is this what is happening???... "Jesus changes his mind and his attitude toward her, and he relents. This Gentile woman wins the argument, and her daughter is healed. In his capacity to be confronted by others, in his willingness to be forced to listen, and in his openness to change his mind and actions in order to live his mission of love more effectively, Jesus offers us a unique and profound picture of what it means to live with an open heart."

What is this woman’s ‘great faith’? Is it faith in Jesus? Faith in the mercy of God? Faith in Jesus’ power?

The woman in this story doesn’t make any confession of faith.

Did Jesus see and hear a fuller revelation of God in the voice and in the face of the Canaanite woman?

There you have it...more questions than answers. This is what I love about Biblical studies...there are always challenges.