The Chanaanitish Woman

II: The Chanaanitish Woman

Matt. xv. 21-28; Mark vii. 24-30.

Places mentioned in the text.

Jesus had not succeeded in discomfiting the Pharisees without embittering their hearts with a fierce dislike for Him.  Very soon they had arrayed such a formidable host of those against the Master that He saw it would be impossible for him to remain longer in Galilee, or even to return thither, except at rare intervals.  Crossing over the frontiers of Zabulon and Nephthali, for the time being He sought an asylum in the Pagan provinces, and stayed there during almost six months, devoting His care and attention to the Apostles, thereby finishing the instructions He had come to bestow; giving them to know more of His Church and tracing out before their eyes its plan defined.

The Evangelists mention but a few of the incidents of this journey.  They merely state that upon leaving Galilee, shortly after the Pasch (April), the Saviour passed from Tyre into the Decapolis, made a brief sojourn on the shores of Genesareth, went back immediately to the valley of the upper Jordan, and did not return to Capharnaum until about the Feast of the Tabernacles (the last of September).  During this voluntary exile the Master for the most part sought solitude, probably changing His place of abode as soon as His presence in any region came to be remarked, for He had not been sent to enlighten the Gentiles in His own person; therefore, faithful to the terms of His Mission, He endeavoured to remain unknown in these wealthy countries.
However, His coming could not continue always entirely unnoticed; for now a long while the renown of His deeds had exceeded the boundaries of Israel; long since, out of Tyre and Sidon, people had journeyed to hear His words and to break the cure of their sick, so that all Syria was now well aware that a Prophet, the Son of David, was once again conferring a heavenly splendour upon the land of Juda.

Now as he was passing along a road not far from either Tyre or Sarepta, a woman who had overheard much talk concerning Him hurried out of the house where her daughter lay struggling in the throes of a furious delirium

"Have mercy upon me," she cried, "my Lord, Thou Son of David.  My daughter is cruelly tormented by the devil."

The Gospel informs us more at length as regards this poor petitioner.  A Greek by language and manners, she belonged to the Phœnician provinces of Syria, and was a descendant of the race of Canaan; hence, it was a disowned and reprobate blood which flowed in her veins.  The Lord answered her not a word.

Without heeding this silence of the Christ, the woman set out to follow Him, never ceasing to implore His mercy.  Jesus entered a dwelling in order to remain in seclusion there, but the Chanaanite begged with no less earnestness, and did but redouble her supplications when the door was shut and she was left outside in company with the Apostles.  Wearying of her cries, and furthermore fearing lest the knots of curious spectators now collecting around her should attract attention to them, and so betray the identity which the Master desired to conceal, coming into Him they said:—

"Send her away, for she keeps calling after us."

At no time had Jesus ever dismissed anyone who thus besought His aid without first granting their prayer, and the Apostles had no idea but that in this instance He would act as usual; yet as it happened, He only vouchsafed the reply:—

"I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel."

Yet, when they repeated His words to her, the Chanaanite was not disheartened one whit by this rebuff.  She determined to renew the strife again with the Lord Himself, trying to wrest the will of Heaven, and so prove herself worthy, Pagan though she was, to be treated as though she were a true child of Abraham.  And so she crossed the threshold of the house, made her way to where Jesus stood, and casting herself at His feet, cried out:—

"Lord, help me."

The Master continued to display the same hardness; nothing seemed to move Him, neither her tears nor the sympathy of the Apostles, now quite amazed at seeing Him for the first time insensible to compassion.

"Let the children be filled first," He said, "for it is not fitting to take the children’s bread and throw it out to the dogs."

Still the mother would not yield.  She bowed beneath this bitter rebuff, which rated her as of less worth than an unclean beast; nay, she would even endeavour to bends this reproach to her own advantage, and so managed to turn His own words against the Christ.
"It is true, my Lord," she answered, "but even the little whelps eat the crumbs of the children's bread which fall beneath the table."

At this Jesus suffered Himself to be overcome; thus far He had resisted only that He might invigorate that faith which He saw burning so steadfastly within her, thereby exhorting it to the point of heroism.  The tender mercies of His heart, now repressed too long, suddenly overflowed in a cry of joy.

"Ah, woman, your faith is great; let it be done unto you as you will."

The Chanaanite hastened back to the home where she had left her child; the demon had disappeared, and the little one was lying upon her bed.

The Gospel makes no mention of other miracles performed in these Pagan lands.  It only adds that Jesus "departed from the borderland of Tyre, returning by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee." The road ran across one of the loveliest provinces of the Roman Empire; for Tyre, Queen of the Seas, had not as yet "become silent in the midst of the waters," and every day the tides came in freighted with rich argosies of the world.  Sarepta still kept alive the memory of Elias and Eliseus; Sidon had still its famous fisheries of Tyrian purple; on every hand, along the wayside, while groves of palm and orange trees, under whose dusky shadow is the mysterious rites of Astarte or of Baal were celebrated.  Hereabouts there was nothing that deserved the notice of Jesus; His thoughts were elsewhere; His soul, lifted above the earth, could not be touched by the beauty which fades away; His glance only sought out those unfortunate ones whom He might still venture to help and comfort, speaking only to those care-worn hearts whose courage He so well knew how to revive; and thereupon He turned aside from this land, too merrily brilliant and careless of aspect to be a fitting abode for the Man of Sorrows.  Making His way through the Valley of the Leontes, He came out at the Jordan near its source, and by this route descended to the Decapolis.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam