Canaanite Woman Fr. James Jorgenson

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

The miracle and story that we have heard this

morning comes from St. Matthew's Gospel, and

substantially the same miracle is related in

St. Mark's Gospel. But there are two small differences.

in a way, small, that you might not catch, we

might not catch the first time. In St. Matthew's

Gospel, she is described as a Canaanite woman.

St. Mark's Gospel, she's described as a Syrophoenician

woman. So, well, what's the difference? In a

way, not that much. But the Syrophoenician, that's

an adjective. that a geographical adjective,

what part of the country she comes from. However,

Canaanite woman is more of a description of her

ethnic, religious, and cultural background. Canaanite.

And remember, throughout the Old Testament, the

Canaanites were the nemesis for the Jewish people.

St. Matthew, who writes to a predominantly Jewish

audience, he knows that the people are aware

of this. The Canaanites, when the Israelites

came in, took over the territory, the Canaanites

were there, and they were a constant temptation

for the Jewish people, the chosen people, to

intermarry with them, to adopt their cultural,

and sometimes even religious practices. And this

is why so many of the prophets, when they came,

they would berate the Jewish people for not being

completely loyal and exclusively loyal to the

God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So here we

see a Canaanite woman who was the embodiment

The Canaanites is a sinful race that embodied

everything that was wicked and godless and was

to be resisted in the promised land. Here you

have a Canaanite woman who comes and asks help

from Jesus. At first, he doesn't respond to her.

And the other interesting variant is that in

St. Matthew's Gospel, In St. Mark's Gospel, she

says, Lord, have mercy on me. Help me. My daughter

is vexed by a demon. St. Matthew's Gospel, she

comes up and she says, Jesus, son of David, Lord,

help me. My daughter is vexed. This Canaanite

woman uses a messianic title. She knows and she

affirms that Jesus is that promised Messiah who

came to the Jewish people. Now, knowing this,

also, Jewish people who were around and heard

this would be utterly amazed that here you have

a secular woman. The comparison would probably

be nowadays. We don't have Canaanites as people

that are troublesome for us. Our Canaanite temptation

is secularism. But here you have this Canaanite

woman who embodied opposition to the exclusive

worship of the God of Israel. She affirms that

Jesus is the Messiah by calling him son of David.

This is much like, this I think should be seen

in connection with an event which happened a

few chapters earlier in St. Matthew's Gospel.

Remember, the centurion comes and asks Jesus'

help for his suffering servant or son. And here

you have a Roman soldier. who asks help from

Jesus. And the Roman soldier says, Lord, it's

not even necessary for you to come to my house.

I'm not worthy to have you come to my house.

Just say the word. And here you have a Roman

soldier and a few chapters later, a Canaanite

woman that asks help from Jesus. And then Jesus'

response finally doesn't say anything at first.

He says to her, it's not good to take the children's

food and throw it to the dogs, because he said

first that I've come to the house of Israel,

so that's my mission, to present the gospel,

the good news, to the Israelis, to the Jewish

people. That's my primary focus of attention.

And that's when she says, he says, that's why...

I cannot take the children's food and throw it

to the dogs. Now this sounds much more insulting,

I think, to us nowadays. It certainly wasn't

complimentary at that time. But it was a duel.

A lot of the commentators say Jesus engaged in

a duel of wits with her because he knew what

her response was going to be. And when he said

that, he says, O Lord, even the tiny dogs, the

whelps, eat food that falls from their master's

table. And Jesus says, O woman, great is your

faith, be it done to you. So this affirmation

of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus grants her request,

just as he granted the request of the centurion.

What does this mean to us? To us as Christians,

and even more specifically as Orthodox Christians,

much has been given. We are the recipients of

the gospel message of Jesus, of the apostolic

preaching that has come down to us for 2 ,000

years. Much has been given to us. And as our

Lord says elsewhere in the Gospels, to whom much

has been given, much will be expected. So we

ask ourselves, myself and yourself, do our thoughts,

words, and deeds, especially in our dealings

with other people, do we reflect the teaching

and love of Jesus? in our words and deeds and

thoughts. Much has been given to us. Much will

be expected. A fitting conclusion would be to

remind you that this Canaanite woman is mentioned

in one of the pre -communion prayers, the collection

of prayers that we recite before we receive Holy

Communion. And in one of the prayers attributed

to St. John of Damascus in the 700s A .D., this

prayer says, O Christ my God, who did justify

the publican and had mercy on the Canaanite woman

and opened the gates of paradise to the thief,

open the compassion of thy love to us. Receive

me, and may I dare to approach to receive your

holy body and blood. A few minutes from now,

we will receive the body and blood of Christ

in Holy Communion. This is a pledge of our commitment

to Jesus in our thought, words, and deeds, which

we reflect in our life and our dealings with

other people. Amen.