Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 (The faith of the Canaanite woman.)

Then he [Jesus] called the crowd to him and said to them, "Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Then the disciples approached and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?" He answered, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit." But Peter said to him, "Explain this parable to us." Then he said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile."

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon." But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, "Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." She said, 

"Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Poor old Peter. Last week he was in trouble on the lake, being chided for having little faith. This week he asks Jesus to explain himself and he gets the reply, ‘Are you also still without understanding?’. If only we had a video of this conversation we could see what facial expressions accompanied the words. Was Jesus annoyed or was he goading Peter in a friendly way? A video would certainly come in handy for what happened next. 

Jesus has a strange conversation with a ‘foreigner’ – a Canaanite woman. She comes to Jesus for help, but Jesus replies, ‘It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs’. Hardly polite, let alone compassionate. If I had overheard this conversation, I would have swung round to look quizzically at Jesus. My initial reaction would have been shock at hearing such an uncharacteristic comment from him. Well, I wasn’t there, and no video was taken, but the rest of the conversation suggests things weren’t that bad. Again, as with Peter, the exchange between Jesus and the woman could well have been friendly goading. I justify this view for a number of reasons: firstly, it seems that Jesus is setting up a situation through which he is going to teach his disciples a lesion. Secondly, the woman is not put off by Jesus’ comment. Instead she engages in the banter. This is reminiscent of another conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). Thirdly, the outcome is very positive for the woman. Fourthly, Jesus never has a sharp word for anyone unless they are abusing their authority. Finally, Matthew links this encounter to a conversation about what is clean and unclean. (The bit that Peter hadn’t understood.)

Jesus had been angered by the hypocrisy of those who treated others in a foul way whilst putting on a pretence of being devout law-abiding believers. In that episode Jesus had clarified what was, and what was not, dirty. His encounter with the Canaanite woman took that teaching to a new level. Don’t let anyone ever treat another person as though they were dirt. The person who is less intelligent, less sophisticated, less educated, less entertaining,…the person who is of a different background, race or religion than you and me…they are our brother, our sister.