Sunday 17 August 2008

Background

So many stories of Jesus are about him healing the sick thatit's odd to find him apparently so reluctant to respond to a cryfor help for a child. "Tormented by a demon" (verse 22) was inJesus' time the usual way of describing an unidentifiedillness.

Jesus' reason for ignoring the woman's request seems to be based onthe Jewish belief that the Jews are God's special people and Jesus'mission therefore excludes Gentiles (non-Jews, such as thisCanaanite). However, the woman's persistence is seen by Jesus asevidence of her faith, which Jesus commends and then heals herdaughter.

The earliest Christian Churches took some time to come to anunderstanding of how Jesus was the saviour of all people - as wellas Jewish people and those willing to adopt Jewish identity (calledGodfearers). Matthew's Gospel as a whole is thought by mostscholars to have been written for a Church with a strong Jewishcontingent who were trying to come to terms with the eager responseto the gospel (meaning 'good news') by Gentiles, questioningwhether such people could fully be Church members.

This story appears to confirm that Jesus ministered almost entirelyamong his own Jewish people. But he also made it quite clear thatfaith was sufficient to secure for 'outsiders' the healing power ofthe gospel and a place in the Church.

To Ponder

A story that on the surface recounts the healingof a sick girl turns out to be about the healing of a huge racialand religious divide. In what ways may other physical healings thatJesus performed point to a much further-reaching power of thegospel?

What sense does it make to speak of faith inJesus as a means to heal the rifts that exist in internationalsociety today?

"The disciples urged him, 'Send her away'". Withwhom might you be inclined to take that attitude?