THOSE WOMEN! LESSON 2: ACTS OF INTOLERANCE

AN ACT OF INTOLERANCE

Now he [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?” John 4:4-11

There is an act of intolerance here, which may not be obvious. It is not altogether in the question, “How can you [a Jew] ask me [a Samaritan] for a drink”, even though we are informed that “Jews do not associate with Samaritans”. No, it is in the statement, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get living water?”

This woman must have been eyeing this strange man carefully. First she probably hadn’t expected or wanted to meet anybody when she came to the well. She didn’t come at the usual hour, which would have been early in the day before it got too hot and when one would get a supply of water for their daily need. She came at the sixth hour, around noon since hours were counted from sunrise.

She certainly didn’t expect to find a Jewish man nor did she expect him to speak to her.

Generally Jews traveling between Judah and Galilee would not enter Samaria, but take the long way around just to avoid it.  This brings up an interesting point. Verse 4 says, “Now he had to go through Samaria”.

Why?

Because Jesus had a date with this woman, not that she knew it or the Disciples knew it, but Jesus knew it.

Even if a Jew was in a hurry to get to Galilee and took the short cut through Samaria, he would avoid as much contact with the people there as possible. Speaking to a lone woman would be suspect and might even be dangerous. The name Sychar means either “drunken” or “falsehood”. (Either meaning is appropriate since much of the conversation concerns drinking and the woman has lived a somewhat false life.)

Yet this Jewish man not only has the audacity to speak to this woman, he asks her for a drink when he has no vessel to get the water or to drink from. It may seem a simple request and a simple act of kindness to hand a thirsty person your vessel, but it would not have been for this woman. It would have been intolerable to consider it. If a Jew touched her vessel it would have been considered unclean and she would have to destroy it. (Probably a Jew touching anything belonging to a Samarian was not to be tolerated either.)

This Jew had to know that and certainly if the roles had been reversed would have viewed it the same way. She must have been surprised he would not only ask her for a drink, but also then offer one to her.

I do not know whether she thought he knew of another well nearby or thought he was going to get it from Jacob’s Well. She may have thought he was going to draw it somehow from Jacob’s Well. If so, the term “living water” wouldn’t have changed her mind.

Wells had two natural sources for their water supply. (Collecting rainwater would have been done with a cistern.) One source would be a spring. Jacob’s Well was not one of these. An underground stream fed Jacob’s Well. In wells of this nature, because a stream is moving, it is referred to as “living water”. Therefore the woman did not see anything unusual in the use of this term for what Jesus offered until he explained further.

When we read through John 4 we see much of what Jesus taught. We see the Good Shepherd who left the flock to search out the lost sheep. We see His direct claim to be the Messiah. We see how God seeks us as worshippers and how it is only through Him we gain salvation and eternal life. 

ANOTHER ACT OF INTOLERANCE

[Jesus] leaving that place withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon, went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, a Canaanite woman from that vicinity, whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit, came to him and fell at his feet as soon as she heard about him. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." (Have you ever taken notice how Jesus Disciples always wanted to send people away because they found them annoying?)

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "First let the children eat all they want," he told her  "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." -- Matthew15: 21-26; Mark 7: 24-27

Oh my, what have we here? This seems a different Jesus than the one who met that Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well discussed in the earlier. This sounds like a mean Jesus, an intolerant man.

He met the woman at the well in the fall of 27 BC; this woman approached Him in the summer or fall of 29 BC. Did things happen along the way that changed Jesus’ attitude? I mean to tell you, these two passages look like the contradictions those who discount the Bible like to jump on to destroy its credibility.

Why even in this passage alone someone will surely pounce and say Mark and Matthew disagree. Is the woman a Canaanite, a Phoenician or a Greek?  Come on, which is she, Mark? Which is she, Matthew?

Let’s deal with this non-contradiction of the woman’s ethnicity first, because she is all three.

Matthew called her a Canaanite from the region of Tyre and Sidon. This places the location in what is modern day Lebanon, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea just above Israel, perhaps 20 to 30 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. We think of Canaan as the land the Israelites were to occupy after they left Egypt and crossed the wilderness, and it is. It is named for the youngest son of Ham, who was the youngest son of Noah. Noah cursed Canaan, but we won’t get into that here. The Canaanites were a very reprobate people when the Israelites conquered the land.

However, while the Israelites conquered the southern parts of Canaan, the northern parts were taken over by Arameans. The northern part of Canaan itself was divided into regions, with the southern region being called Syrian Phoenicia. This is the region where Tyre and Sidon were located.  Phoenicia was the Greek name given to this area under Canaanite control and means “purple”, a dye that was famously produced in the area. Although there are varying theories on the meaning of Canaan, one of the most prevalent is that it comes from the term “Kinahhu” referring to the color purple.

Whether or not Canaan means purple is of little matter. Scholars agree that Canaan and Phoenicia were synonymous at one time (World Book Encyclopedia). Therefore calling the woman either Canaanite or Phoenician is not a contradiction and simply means she lived in a certain area.

 “In terms of archaeology, language, and religion, there is little to set the Phoenicians apart as markedly different from other cultures of Canaan. They were Canaanites.” (Wikipedia)

Saying she was Greek is not a contradiction either. It simply implies the woman was of Greek ancestry, who happened to live in Syrian-Phoenicia at the time. My wife’s great grandfather was born in Ireland and came to America. He lived in Brooklyn where he was a police officer. He was an American, but was also Irish. He was an Irish-American as this woman was a Greek-Phoenician.

No contradictions.

But what about this intolerant Christ?

We have the story of His going into Samaria and speaking to a woman, who normally Jews would not speak to or deal with at all. (In fact, Jews wouldn’t even set foot in Samaria if they could help it.) Jesus treated her civilly. He even broke the taboos and asked her for something. Was the difference because Samaritans were part Israelite, but this Greek-Phoenician woman had no linage to Israel or Judah? 

I suppose an argument could be made based on Jesus’ first response, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." We indicated ourselves in that former section that we saw Christ as the Good Shepherd who left the flock to search out the lost sheep. Without getting into the whole complex history of the Samaritans we will say this. Samaria was part of the Northern Tribe territory when the Hebrews split apart after the reigns of David and Solomon. The area was conquered eventually by the Assyrians, who moved populations around. The people of Samaria became a people of mixed blood and carried on a long and bitter feud with the Jews over the practice and place of worship. Certainly people of Samaria could be viewed as lost sheep of Israel.

Jesus does not refer to this Greek-Phoenician woman as a sheep. He refers to her as a dog.

What was meant by calling her a dog? This was a derisive term for a Gentile, someone who was not an Israelite, not a Jew. This woman came pleading for succor, asking for mercy for her daughter and the Lord calls her and her child dogs not even deserving a crust of bread. This is a harsh picture. This is like how we are suppose to picture bankers and Wall Street types today, hoarding the bread and denying the needy.

Man!

What do we do with this?

We look at what happened next, is what we do. 

After Jesus has said, "First let the children eat all they want," he told her  "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs," the lady replied:

 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

And her daughter was healed from that very hour. She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. -- Matthew15: 27-28; Mark 7: 28-30

Yes, in the end Jesus showed her mercy. So what does this all mean and what can we learn from looking at these two acts taken together. What do we learn from both the Samaritan Woman at the well and the Greek-Phoenician Woman with the demon-possessed daughter?

I do not have a source for the illustration except it appears on a Blog: "godsgeography.com"


TWO WOMEN TOGETHER SEPARATED BY TIME

SAMARIAN WOMAN 

FALL 27 BC AT JACOB’S WELL NEAR SYCHAR, SAMARIA

Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" John 4:4-12

Jesus has begun his public ministry. It has been perhaps somewhat more than a half-year since his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. He had spent time with his early disciples in Capernaum, probably teaching and preparing them for what is ahead, and then his little band traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover. He announced his arrival in a big way by chasing the moneychangers out of the temple. 

Jesus has performed some miracles during this visit to Jerusalem and there are people there who begin believing in him, including Nicodemus. However, there is a certain suspicion and mistrust among many about him as well, especially the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders.  This creates a possibly dangerous situation for Jesus.

“But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” (John 2: 24)

Jesus and his men leave the city and begin a ministry of Baptizing in the Judean wilderness. It is a somewhat modest ministry at this point, although he is obviously drawing people. We don’t know the exact nature of the complaint, but one person had some difficulty between the way Jesus was baptizing and how John the Baptist did it. This person goes to John and complains.

John tells the man that, “he must become greater; I must become less”. (John 3:30)

It is not long after this John is arrested by Herod and imprisoned. (Mark 6:17-20; Matthew 14:3-5)  At this time, the Pharisees learned Jesus was Baptizing more than John. *** The Pharisees were never particularly happy with John and probably connecting Jesus and John together might see John’s arrest as an opportunity to bring action again Jesus. Now it says when Jesus learned of this, he left Judea and went back to Galilee.  This is interesting because the context does not imply that Jesus returned to Galilee because he heard of John’s arrest, but because he heard the Pharisees learned he was Baptizing more. (Luke 4:1-3)

The threat was he was now becoming greater than John. Jesus had reason to fear his own arrest and he decided to leave Judea.

“Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria.”

Jesus HAD to go through Samaria, HAD? 

Granted, if you look at the map, Judea and Galilee are separated by Samaria. But he HAD to go through Samaria?

No, he didn’t, not in terms of getting to Galilee. Going through Samaria was not the usual route for a Jew. The normal itinerary was to go around that unclean state called Samaria via Peraea. Yeah, going through Samaria was shorter, but you might come in contact with a Samaritan.

Now if this is about the Samaritan Woman why have we spent so much time on events having nothing to do with her?

I think it is important to understand this is Jesus’ beginning ministry. He isn’t that famous yet. He isn’t a rock star yet. He isn’t Jesus Christ, Superstar, yet. Yes, some people have heard of him. Yes, people have been coming to him for baptism, but there is no indication they are seeing him as much more than performing the same service as John was. And most likely no Samaritans were coming to him or even heard of him.

Yet Scripture says, “Now [Jesus] had to go through Samaria.”

The King James Translation is, “And he must needs go through Samaria,” while Young’s Literal Translation puts it this way: “and it was behooving him to go through Samaria”. The word translated as “had to”, “must needs” and “behooving” is dei, defined as:

Dei  1) it is necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper

a) necessity lying in the nature of the case

b) necessity brought on by circumstances or by the conduct of others toward us.

c) necessity in reference to what is required to attain some end

d) a necessity of law and command, of duty, equity

e) necessity established by the counsel and decree of God, especially by that purpose of his which relates to the salvation of men by the intervention of Christ and which is disclosed in the Old Testament prophesies

1) concerning what Christ was destined finally to undergo, his sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension

One might say item b applies, brought by circumstances or conduct of others: the arrest of John and the concerns about the Pharisees. I believe it is the other definitions, especially e, that behooved him to go through Samaria. He had an appointment with a certain Samaritan women to demonstrate the message he was bringing and to foreshadow the future. 

Jesus arrived at Jacob’s Well when this particular woman came also. The woman came at an unusual hour. If we use the Jewish clock, it was noon; if we go by Roman time, it is 7:00 in the evening. Given the Gospel writers were Jewish, noon makes more sense. Why would the woman come to fetch her daily water so late in the evening?

They were alone. This woman has never heard of Jesus and doesn’t expect him to speak to her or to ask her for a favor. Frankly, his speaking to this woman in such circumstances was a dangerous thing to do. Yet he does speak. In the conversation which ensues we can see a number of points Jesus gave in his messages: seeking the lost sheep, inclusion of all, helping each other, visiting the imprisoned (for the woman is imprisoned by sin), the hope of salvation offered freely by God, loving God and neighbor as the whole of the law, loving your enemies, doing good to those who hate you, reframing from judgment and that God answers prayers.

If we were to get into all that is packed into this little meeting near Sychar we’d end up with a small book. But there is one section I want to emphasize here and for you to remember.

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." John 4:19-26

But what about that Canaanite Woman who Jesus referred to as a dog? What connection does any of this in Samaria have to do with her?

UNEXPECTED KINDNESSES OF STRANGERS

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water." John 4:7-15

Yes, I know, I am supposed to be talking about the Canaanite Woman that Christ called a dog and here is that Samaritan Woman again. “Patience is a virtue.” Be patience, I’m getting there. I want you to see a contrast of actions in a series of events.

The first is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and he isn’t famous yet. He is traveling north and goes through Samaria, where there is a certain woman who certainly has never heard of him. Jesus and this Samaritan Woman meet at Jacob’s Well (not by happenstance I contend) and we have an act of intolerance because the woman was reluctant to give a Jew the drink he requested. 

Normally, the Jew should have scorned the woman; this particular Jew offers her something better in return, Living Water and eternal life. See Jesus practices giving good for evil. The woman asks for physical living water, as opposed to the Spiritual Living Water, because she doesn’t get it yet.

Jesus doesn’t roll his eyes, doesn’t call her stupid or hopeless, doesn’t ask if he has to spell it out. He makes another request of her. He tells her to get her husband and return.

She says she has no husband. 

Jesus then says (paraphrasing), “Yeah, I know, you’re right. You’ve had a bunch of men and you’re living with one who isn’t your husband.” 

What Jesus has done here is focus the woman's mind on her sins. We must recognize we have sinned to seek salvation.

Now how did he know that? Thinks the woman. “You must be a prophet”, she says and then they have a brief religious conversation. At the end of this the woman mentions she believes a Messiah will come and will explain everything.

Jesus says, “I who speak to you am he.”

Now the woman gets it. Can’t you see her eyes widen. She get’s it and is excited, so excited she drops everything to run and tell others. Jesus ended up sticking around for two days with Samaritans, I mean come on, Jews and Samaritans aren’t supposed to be rubbing elbows. Yet, there they are and Jesus is talking to them about Living Water.

And because of his words many more [than just that woman] became believers. They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." John 4:41-42

How are people going to be saved if they never heard of Jesus, and how are they to hear of Jesus unless someone tells them? A modest request for kindness was refused, but a greater kindness was offered in return and people came to faith.

Now when Jesus disciples came upon the scene and discovered Jesus talking to his woman, what was their concern?   

Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”  They went out of the town and were coming to him.

 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”  Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:27-34) 

They are focused on bread for their bellies. 

Let’s skip ahead a couple years. If we assume Jesus met the woman at the well around Autumn of 27 A.D., then let's say it is now somewhere in the summer of 29 A.D. Jesus is nearly through his third tour of Galilee with his disciples. He is well known now. He doesn’t need to go find anyone for people are flocking to him. He is preaching to large crowds and performing a lot of miracles, both large and small. The crowds have gotten so large it is difficult for Jesus to get away and have some privacy.  He tried by going to a solitary place in a boat, but it wasn't long before the crowd found him again.

(Mark 6:31-44; Matthew 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17 & John 6:1-13)

He took pity on the crowd and spent some time preaching to them, until it grew late and evening was upon them His disciples said to him:

“This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”  But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”  And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”  Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties.  And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all.  And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.  And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

So what happened next? The people thanked him and went home?

Not quite.

Again Jesus and his disciples sought some quite time, but the crowds found him again in Gennesaret. I guess they went to the trouble to track him down and thank him, right?

No, they asked him when had he got there. Apparently bread was on their mines, but not salvation.

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

Then they asked him, "What must WE do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work OF God is this: to BELIEVE in the one he has sent."

So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’"

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." (Kind of echoes the Samaritan woman saying give me this living water.)

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.” John 6:26-35

Wow! Me me me me! Give give give give! Remember these are people who just heard Jesus preach. These are thousands of people who were just fed from a couple of loaves until they were full. These were people who did just witness a miracle. These were not Samaritans or Syro-Phoenicians or Greeks. These were Jews. 

What happened next?

A lot of those people refused to believe in him and went away. Even worst, many of his disciples left him as well. He even had to ask the Twelve "You do not want to leave too, do you?" An act of kindness was given in the provision of food, but the gift of salvation was refused from a lack of faith. (John 6:27-71)

Recall that passage I asked you to remember previously? It was that little religious discussion Jesus and the Samaritan Woman had.

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,  for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." John 4:19-26

We can see here the Bread Bridge. Right after this Jesus gets confronted by Pharisees angered that he and the disciples don't wash their hands before eating bread. (Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23) It is right after this confrontation that Jesus goes further north into Syrophoenica.

Let we give you a quotation from Mark 7: "First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

Yeah, that’s right, that is the quote of Jesus from a while back when it looked like Jesus reacted to a plea for kindness with an act of intolerance.

Right, finally, we are getting to that Canaanite Woman with the demon-possessed daughter.

Once more Jesus and his band were on the move, going northwest from Galilee into Syro-Phoenicia near the city of Tyre. But no matter, crowds of people were still pursuing him, 

Jesus leaving that place, went to the vicinity of Tyre. Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, A Canaanite woman from that vicinity whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came to him, and fell at his feet as soon as she heard about him. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "First let the children eat all they want," he told her "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. (Matthew 15: 21-28 and Mark 7: 24-30)

Why did this woman seek Jesus out?

She wasn’t a Jew, what was he to her? Was she demanding a miracle of him to prove who he was? No, even though she asked for a miracle it was because she had already accepted that he could do it. 

Was Jesus being intolerant in what he said? 

His disciples were being intolerant. They wanted the woman sent away, she was a pest and she was a Gentile, a dog in their view, so why should they care about her? Jesus didn’t say what he said because he didn’t know the answers. He elicited the answers from the woman for the benefit of his disciples and others around, and for us. How should we approach Jesus? We approach with faith in him.

But the end of Jesus ministry is getting closer at this point and this instance harks back to what he said to the Samaritan Woman. 

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

It also foreshadows that the Gentiles will approach him with that faith before the Jews. The Samaritan Woman listens to his offer of the Living Water and believed and went and brought other Samaritans. The Jews came and wanted bread to eat. He offered himself as the Bread of Life, and they rejected him. The Canaanite Woman came in faith willing to except any crumbs there might be and her daughter was restored.

An act of kindness was requested where it wasn’t deserved and an act of kindness was done in response because of faith.

There were two apparent acts of intolerance, which resulted in great kindness. There was a great act of kindness that resulted in intolerance and rejection.

In Sum

First: A modest request for kindness was refused, but a greater kindness was offered in return and people came to faith.

Second: An act of kindness was given in the provision of food, but the gift of salvation was refused from a lack of faith.

Third: An act of kindness was requested where it wasn’t deserved and an act of kindness was done in response because of faith.

Is there something else to be considered? Is there another woman to meet, perhaps a Jewish Woman this time? Maybe. Just maybe one awaits ahead .

Illustration: Christ and the Canaanite Woman 1783 Artist: Jean-Germain Drouais