The Faith of the Canaanite woman (Syro-Phoenician)

See also: The Canaanite woman (Syro-Phoenician).

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The Faith of the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28 - Mark 7:24-30) interpreted by ChatGPT

The episode of the Canaanite mother Salton Matthew or the Syro-Phoenician Salton Mark depicts a Jesus far from the figure of goodness he is known for in the rest of the Gospel. It is among the most commented passages of the New Testament due to the questions it raises about Jesus' behavior, the Woman's faith, and the theological implications.

For Maria Valtorta, this episode completes the turbulent announcement of the universality of Salvation that Jesus made three days earlier at Alexandroscene and the preparation for the future sending of the Apostles into pagan lands.

The Gospel Narrative

Jesus and the Apostles are in a pagan territory, which is rare in the gospels. Jesus usually travels through the lands of Israel. A mother in distress comes to beg Jesus to deliver her daughter from the demon who possesses her. Jesus passes by without answering her. The Disciples catch up to him to beg him not to grant her wish, but to send her away because she is disturbing them with her cries. Jesus does so, dismissing her in a haughty manner: He has come only for the lost sheep of Israel!

The distressed mother, far from becoming discouraged, blocks his path by throwing herself at his feet. Jesus then compares her to a dog. Yesterday as today, the comparison is contemptuous, although Jesus softens it: "little dogs." Undeterred, the Syro-Phoenician woman, whose name is unknown, humbles herself to only ask for the crumbs fallen from the table. Jesus then fills her wishes.

The Exegesis Questioning

This episode of the Canaanite mother is always a challenging exercise for the priest who must comment on it: Jesus is unrecognizable. He who is "gentle and humble of Heart" passes by comparing the Woman to a dog. Certainly, the Greek term kynaria (little house dogs) Jesus uses is sometimes less pejorative than kuon (dogs), but the depreciating comparison remains.

Some say he is a prisoner of the prejudices of his time, as suggested by the dismissal of the distressed mother's request. But in the sermon on the mount, he shows quite the opposite: mercy is the fulfillment of the Law.

Others think that he discovers on this occasion his vocation as universal Messiah. Yet he knew the Scriptures so perfectly that at 13 years old, he held a conversation with the greatest doctors of his time on this subject.

Furthermore, what would he be doing in this pagan country if he had been sent only to the "lost sheep of Israel" as he says in the Gospel?

Finally, if two evangelists (Matthew and Mark) report this episode even down to the dialogues, it can be deduced that it is part of the essential that the Gospel selects to strengthen our faith.

In Maria Valtorta

The Context

This passage of the Gospel, which seems a shadowy zone, is clarified in Maria Valtorta. The episode takes place on Friday, January 19, 29 (18 Shebat 3789) near Kedesh. It is winter. The Apostles walk in cold and mud: they grumble as anyone in their place would. They are in a pagan land, horror for the Israelites. The inhabitants return their hostility, however. But why does Jesus take them to this lost country, instead of attending to the lost sheep of Israel, as he clearly said when sending them on Mission for the first time?

A supreme failure, they are forcibly expelled from the city of Alexandroscene where Jesus was preaching God's tenderness for all men with the parable of the Workers of the eleventh hour. James, son of Zebedee, begins to doubt openly, which deeply wounds Jesus. John, the apostle Jesus loved, soon joins his brother in Revolt. They are tempted by Violence. It disfigures them Jesus warns them: they are, at the moment, more sons of thunder than sons of God. They will earn their nickname Boanerges which is both a friendly nickname given to their fervor and a warning.

The Syro-Phoenician Woman

This Phoenician woman had heard about Jesus and had made the special journey. In the cold of this January morning, she waits for him at Jonas and Sara's home: they welcome him; he has gone to pray. When he arrives, he is in a hurry and wants to reach Aczib before the Sabbath. He does not have time to receive the Phoenician woman But she appears: "a poor Woman in tears, ashamed... She walks all stooped, almost crawling." She pleads: "Have pity, Lord, you who can do all. Raise your voice and your hand, and order the unclean Spirit to come out of Palma. I have only this child and I am a widow... Oh! do not go away! Pity!...". But Jesus "shows an inexplicable hardness towards the poor Woman who drags herself on her knees, arms stretched out in a feverish supplication." She stayed, in the cold, at the door waiting "like a little dog."

But Jesus walks quickly, deaf to every call. The inhabitants of the house say to the Woman: "Give up! He does not want to listen to you. He said: it is for the sons of Israel he has come..." But the Woman, "both desperate and full of faith," begins to follow the Master while continuing to shout her pleas that draw to the doorsteps of the village all those who are awake. The Apostles are disconcerted by this completely unusual attitude The presence of the crowd becomes embarrassing. The Apostles cannot stand it any longer: they address the Woman harshly: "Be quiet and go away!", but she pleads all the more. They decide to call Jesus: "Let us tell the Master, so he can drive her away himself since he does not want to grant her request. This cannot go on like this!" Which they do by asking Jesus to make her leave "with severity."

The Dialogue with Jesus

Jesus stops, but only to renew very clearly his rejection: "Be quiet, Woman, and go home! I have already said: 'It is for the lost sheep of Israel I have come.' To heal the sick and seek those lost. You are not of Israel" This does not disarm the distressed mother at all. Jesus rebukes her: "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs in the street." The wording is not softened: these are not little dogs, but street dogs.

The Phoenician woman is not offended by the comparison but uses it as a springboard to renew her request: "I believe in you. By believing, from a street dog I have become a house dog [...] You did not see this poor tormented dog, hungry for your Grace, who waited to enter crawling where you were, to kiss your feet thus, begging you not to drive it away... ." Jesus resumes his objection, but the tone softens: "It is not good to throw the children's bread to the dogs," Jesus repeats. The Phoenician woman seizes the opening: she is no longer a street dog, but a house dog: "The dogs enter the room where the master eats with his children, and they eat what falls from the table [...] I do not ask you to treat me like a daughter and make me sit at your table. But give me at least the crumbs..." Jesus smiles at these words. His Face transfigures in this smile of joy.

The Resolution

"Woman! Your faith is great. And by it, you console my Soul. Go, and let it be done to you as you desire. From this moment, the demon has gone out of your little one. Go in Peace. And as, from lost dog, you have wished to be a domestic dog, know in the Future you will be a daughter, seated at the Father's table. AGod." It is therefore the strong faith of The Canaanite woman that wins the healing. But the Apostles want to understand the reasons for this so unusual behavior: "But why, Master, did you make her pray to you so much before listening to her?" asks James of Zebedee the Apostle. "Because of you and all of you. This is not a defeat, James. Here, I was not driven away, ridiculed, cursed... May this raise your downcast spirit. I have already had today my very sweet food. And I bless God."

Indeed, the eight Apostles had not stopped grumbling against bad weather, this inhospitable stay in foreign land, the absence of conversions and the rejection of the populations. The anger had even spread to John of Zebedee the Apostle and his brother James who wanted to attack the opponents: "Violence is useful in some cases." Jesus reproached them for this and nicknamed them the "Sons of thunder."

The Contribution of Maria Valtorta's Account

Jesus staged all the prejudices of his Apostles, still too human. This is the fundamental lesson of the episode. It will be striking because the Master disfigures himself in their humanity: he is no longer recognizable. This same disfiguration that we obtain when we harden the Face of the Church. But the lesson will be salutary for future evangelizers. The brilliant faith of the Canaanite mother is a sharp answer that the Apostles will not forget when they leave to evangelize the distant lands they currently dislike. In these lands, Souls await God. They will face difficult material conditions, rebuffs, humiliations. Their apostolate will seem sterile, similar to Jesus evangelizing the pagan lands of Tyre and Sidon. But Isaiah proclaims it: the reward is beyond appearance. Indeed, beyond the Faith of the Canaanite woman, the episode reveals this reward in the mother of little Joanna who seeks Jesus, without despair, in every city. Or in the figure of Esther, married to the Roman Titus, who leads an exemplary life despite public disapproval.

Likewise for us, Apostles in our time, the scene illustrates these prayers we so often address for the "lost sheep," for those who are not proper, not like us, who do not have the right manners, or the right customs, or the right rites. These prejudices make us forget that we must go beyond the customary barriers to bring our evangelization to the universal dimension of Salvation as invited by Lumen gentium.

This brief journey into Phoenician land, under difficult conditions, marked by the rebuffs of Alexandroscene and meager successes, is above all rich because it prepares the Apostles for future harvests won at the cost of the blood of the martyrs.

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