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Dragon Chaser
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Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 70

Posted 8/16/2005 8:53 AM (GMT -6)

^{Matthew 15:22-28}

²²A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

²³Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

²⁴He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

²⁵The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

²⁶He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

²⁷"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

²⁸Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Can someone please tell me why Jesus initially discriminated against this woman?

John R. Heys

Post Edited (Dragon Chaser) : 8/16/2005 8:56:14 AM (GMT-5)

RL
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Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 12

Posted 8/16/2005 9:20 AM (GMT -6)

May I?

I just wonder, would it be good to recognize that this account is written as literature, and the drama of refusal first and then fulfilment lets the author demonstrate more things than if he just reduced the event to the asking and recieving? How much richer this is than that. I think too that this story can have many different classes of hearers/readers, and that those who would at first cheer the refusal get preached to in the fulfilment part.

Jesus came from outside of the Judite camp preaching to it; yet his good news is ultimately to the whole earth. The author caught bits and pieces of all of this in his short drama.

How's that?

be not conformed, but be transformed...

Dragon Chaser
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Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 70

Posted 8/16/2005 9:58 AM (GMT -6)

What?

John R. Heys

RL
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Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 12

Posted 8/16/2005 10:09 AM (GMT -6)

Is the 'what' for me? If so, yes Jesus did discriminate according to one set of goals, and he not-descriminated according to another. And he did so serially: first one and then the other. And the construction of the story helped us to witness both. And each, the discrimination and the not-discrimination had a goal and had a lesson for us to learn.

More can probably be found in a good commentary.

be not conformed, but be transformed...

Dragon Chaser
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Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 70

Posted 8/16/2005 10:23 AM (GMT -6)

RL, thanks for the reply. I thought for some reason he was being difficult with her because she was a Canaanite woman specifically. Why, I don’t know. He was definitely nice to the woman at the well, who was Samarian I believe.

John R. Heys

Sahid
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Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 2013

Posted 8/16/2005 5:37 PM (GMT -6)

He was the Jewish Mesiah. The first chapter of Luke lets us know what Jesus' coming was all about. He was liberating Israel - Resue from enemies, setting captives free, saving them from their sins. Salvation for Israel will result in salvation for the world, but it still starts in Israel. Jesus certainly loved Gentiles but his main work was with Israel.

Watch me fly. Freedom like wings and I will use them. Freedom like wings and I will spread them wide. - Stavesacre

Dragon Chaser
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Date Joined Sep 2004
Total Posts : 70

Posted 8/16/2005 6:27 PM (GMT -6)

Thanks Sahid, that seems to make a lot of sense.

John R. Heys

RL
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Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 12

Posted 8/18/2005 11:56 AM (GMT -6)

Who is a child of Abraham?

be not conformed, but be transformed...

RL
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2005
Total Posts : 12

Posted 8/18/2005 12:03 PM (GMT -6)

Sahid said...
He was the Jewish Mesiah. The first chapter of Luke lets us know what Jesus' coming was all about. He was liberating Israel - Resue from enemies, setting captives free, saving them from their sins. Salvation for Israel will result in salvation for the world, but it still starts in Israel. Jesus certainly loved Gentiles but his main work was with Israel.

In Sahid's post he says "starts IN Israel." That's true. Christ himself was in Israel, and his deified humanity saves humanity (and all those who will be saved). But I wonder about where he says "main work was with Israel. His main work is salvation for all people. And his accomplishing that extended his whole life.

So I'm not certain what Sahid is saying.

be not conformed, but be transformed...

Sahid
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Date Joined Jun 2004
Total Posts : 2013

Posted 8/18/2005 7:09 PM (GMT -6)

I'm just saying it starts in Israel.

Watch me fly. Freedom like wings and I will use them. Freedom like wings and I will spread them wide. - Stavesacre

JEE
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Date Joined Jul 2004
Total Posts : 1466

Posted 8/19/2005 3:27 PM (GMT -6)

Most commentaries I have studied in the past say that the reason Christ spoke to this lady the way He did was because He was at the time sent ONLY to the house of Israel. Some even go so far as to say that had Israel received Him as Messiah, the kingdom of God would have advanced through that means first.

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But, to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

John

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

JohnE

http://www.revivaltheology.net

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