The man of St Matthew

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Jesus and the Canaanite Woman: Mt 15,21-28

This story of Jesus' encounter with a pagan woman is told by both Matthew and Mark. Consider why it is not told by Luke.

A comparison between the versions of Mark (7,24-30) and Matthew is important, not so much for what Matthew has left out of Mark but rather for what he has added. We can note how Matthew has changed the style of the encounter with the woman. It will bring out the importance of this story for him.

Beginning with 15,21, Matthew is more vague than Mark about how close Jesus went to Tyre and Sidon. Why should this be so? See 15,24 and 10,6.

How many exchanges are there between Jesus and the woman? Compare Mark.

What is so remarkable about verse 22? How is the woman introduced?
What does the woman call Jesus? What are the implications?
What response does she get from Jesus?

What are we to make of the second encounter in verses 23 and 24 which are special to Matthew? What does the woman do? What does she say?
What response does she get, first from the disciples and then from Jesus? For verse 24 see 10,6, as already mentioned.

What does the woman call Jesus, again, in verse 25?

Who are the children Jesus speaks of in verse 26 (see verse 24)? Who are the dogs?

Yet the woman is not to be put off. What is the significance of her response in verse 27?

How does Jesus finally reply to her in verse 28? Note the contrast with Mark, Mk 7,29-30.

How does this episode contrast with the preceeding episode, 15,1-20?

Look then at my response.

The Sunday Gospel

This encounter of Jesus with the Canaanite women, 15,21-28, is read as the Gospel for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

It is interesting that it is Matthew's account of the Canaanite woman which has been chosen in preference to Mark. It's worth a look at the Gospels of the 22nd and 23rd Sundays in year B to see what I mean. Why might this be an unusual preference by the lectionary editors?

The Old Testament reading accompanying this encounter with the woman is made up of extracts from Isaiah 56,1-8. Read the whole passage in the Bible and see what has been omitted. Look too at Is 56,1 in several translations. The Jerusalem Bible has it right except that "integrity" is not a biblical word. "Justice" would be better.

On translations, note that the Jerusalem Bible has the woman address Jesus as "sir" two out of the three times. "Lord" is correct all three times.

It is only a couple of weeks (18th Sunday) since the OT reading was the beginning of Isaiah 55. What was the setting for that reading? How is there a big change of setting between Is 40-55 and Isaiah 56-66?
With that in mind, how does this opening oracle of Isaiah 56 accompany the Gospel?

Go now to the response.

We now continue with Jesus healing and feeding the crowd, Mt 15,29-39.