The story of the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel is strange. Surely Jesus, who was so loving when people asked for his help, would take pity on a desperate mother. Jesus had just had another confrontation with the Pharisees. He had entered the territory of Tyre and Sidon (roughly modern Lebanon) which had a largely Canaanite population. There was enmity between the Jews and the Canaanites, as the latter worshipped many gods and had abhorrent religious practices such as child sacrifice. The two places had a bad reputation.
The woman who approached Jesus was quite extraordinary. She broke all the rules of protocol in that society, talking to a Jewish man in public and making a nuisance of herself; yet she seemed to know more about him than the leaders of his society. She addressed him as “Son of David” and knelt before him in homage as to a king.
Why did Jesus not answer her? Maybe he was testing her faith. When he did reply to her he said that it was not fair to throw the children’s bread to the house dogs. “Dog” was used as a word for gentile, which indicated a wild dog. The word Jesus used meant “pet dog”. This gave the persistent woman what she wanted, namely the crumbs from the table. Jesus, seeing that her faith was strong, like the Roman Centurion’s, healed her daughter.
Jesus had understood that his mission was to the “lost sheep of Israel.” Before they could become apostles to the gentiles, they would have to undergo conversion themselves. However, at the conclusion of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus commanded his apostles to “...go out and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt .28:19).
Much of the bible is symbolic. Matthew, the most Jewish of the evangelists, writing in about AD 80, knew that the gentiles had indeed received the crumbs from the Jewish table. We should never forget, in this time of growing anti-semitism, that our faith came through the Jewish people in Jesus, our Saviour. The Jews were our first teachers and we share a great deal of their scripture. The Old Testament prophet Zechariah wrote: “In those days, ten men from the different nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say: Let us go with you because we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:23)