GREAT NT PROFILES PART 8
THE GENTILE MOTHER
Introduction
➢ Related Scriptures:
Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30
• Two Gospels contain the story of a gentile woman who
approaches Jesus on behalf of her demon-possessed
daughter in or around gentile territory.
• Of the many miracles Jesus performs, this exorcism of
a demon-possessed child is the most problematic.
• Only here does Jesus refuse to heal.
• Only here does a person’s insistence reverse his resistance.
• The healing is done at a distance.
• The request is made by a Gentile.
The Setting
• The setting moves Jesus from emphasis on male Jewish leaders in Jewish environs to
a female supplicant in the “region of Tyre and Sidon” (Matt. 15:21).
• Does Jesus enter Gentile territory? In Matthew’s story, the woman “comes out” to him;
thus, the meeting appears to be at the border. In Mark, Jesus withdraws into a house,
although “he could not escape notice” (7:24b).
The Context in Matthew
• In Matthew’s account we begin to see signs of the tide turning against Jesus by the
leaders of the country, and accordingly Jesus turning more to the Gentiles.
• The contrast is striking: in Israel Jesus was trying to convince people He was the
Messiah but in Gentile territory he met a woman who was convinced He was the
Messiah and He could not discourage her efforts.
The Social Status
• Matthew (15:21) calls the woman a “Canaanite”; Mark (7:26) calls her a “Greek, a SyroPhoenician by birth.”
• Neither Gospel mentions the woman’s husband: Was she a single mother, widowed,
divorced?
• Church tradition has named the Canaanite woman “Justa.”
The Comparison
• In comparing the two evangelists’ renditions of the story, it is evident that Matthew
heightens the tensions of this interaction, relative to Mark’s version.
• We should read Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus’s interactions with the Canaanite woman
as a “biblical interpretation” of her.
The Daughter
• In Mark, the woman finds “the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.” In
Matthew, whether the daughter is present or absent throughout the dialogue is never
made clear.
• According to Mark, the daughter is possessed by an “unclean spirit”; in Matthew, she
is “severely demon-possessed.”
The Response of Jesus
• The way Jesus deals with this woman has given way to some strange interpretations.
• Jesus had been a racist and this woman converted him from that view.
• However, if Jesus had been a Jewish racist, he would not have come to
Tyre and Sidon.
• What Jesus is doing is typical of the way He dealt with people – He would put
stumbling blocks, as it were, in their way to see if they had faith to step over them.
The Dialogue
• Matthew heightens the woman’s sympathetic characteristics: She calls Jesus “Lord”
(Kyrie) three times, she hails him as “Son of David,” she kneels (worships). The titles
may indicate that she sees him as something more than a local healer.
The Dogs
• In Mark, the woman responds, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s
crumbs”; in Matthew, she states, “Yes Lord, and even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from the table of their masters.”
• She acquiesces to the role of a “dog” in relation to Israel (she knows the Messiah
came to Israel first).
• She may not be able to sit down at the Messiah’s table and eat with the
“children”, but she should be allowed to pick up some of the crumbs
they drop.
• She will take what the Jews do not want.
The Response
• Mark’s Jesus responds, “For saying that, you may go - the demon has left your
daughter”; in Matthew, he exclaims, “Woman, great is your faith. Let it be done for
you as you wish.”
• Jesus draws out the faith of the Canaanite woman.
Questions to Consider
• Would the story convey a different impression if the woman were male? Jewish? If the
child were a son? A slave?
• What role would this story play in the understanding of overcoming racism?
