This is not an easy gospel passage, so you might want to take out your service leaflet as we look at it together. To begin with, Jesus is literally way off the beaten track – he’s far from his normal territory. All of the sudden he’s no longer dealing with just the hometown folks around the Sea of Galilee – in this passage we have Jesus all of the sudden with his disciples hundreds of miles away. He’s at the beach – way up north of Galilee in a part of the world that’s not even Jewish.

The region of Tyre and Sidon are part of Phoenicia – a very Greek (not Jewish) part of the world. On the coastline far north of Galilee, Tyre and Sidon are seaports – cosmopolitan places where trade ships from all over the Mediterranean come and go. There’s no comparison here with the small fishing villages around the Sea of Galilee that Jesus has been frequenting up to this point in his ministry. It’s as if Jesus, born and bred in the hill country of the south, suddenly up and travels to Times Square in New York City. Or maybe like the difference between downtown Greensboro and downtown Myrtle Beach on a Saturday night. Whatever the case may be, Jesus is far from home.

The scripture says that a Canaanite woman basically accosts him. That’s another red flag. If you’ve read or remember anything from the Old Testament you will know that the Canaanites were ancient inhabitants of this part of the world and that they and the Jews haven’t seen eye to eye for eternity. There is bad blood between the Canaanites and the Jews. They don’t share the same God, they’ve fought in the past over who the land belongs to, and they don’t see eye to eye on anything.

It’s no wonder that Jesus is quick to brush this lady off. We’re talking a different race, different ethnicity, different religion, different class, and different worldview. There’s no reason why they should find they have anything in common at all. It’s like Jesus and the Canaanite lady come from different worlds.
Like us and folks from the Sudan, for example, or Christians and Muslims, or Montagnards and Vietnamese.

And yet… here we have a woman who for whatever reason (desperation, maybe? – she’s a mother with a sick daughter) is willing to think and pray outside the box. There’s really no earthly reason why she should see Jesus and believe him to be the answers to her prayers. She doesn’t even worship the same God Jesus does. And yet… “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David,” she shouts at him.

Jesus and the Canaanite lady go on to have a very unpleasant exchange. This isn’t an example, like so many we have throughout the gospels, of Jesus quickly and kindly responding to one who has great need and great faith. Just the opposite, in fact. Jesus gives her a bunch of reasons why he shouldn’t be bothered with her problems. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he tells her. We’d say, “Hey lady, it’s not my problem…” Or, “Get help from your own mosque…” Or, “Find help from someone in your own country.”

But the Canaanite woman won’t give up. Her persistence is incredible given not only the circumstances of the differences between her and Jesus, but also with his brusque and unpleasant response to her. Jesus even insults her and she is not dissuaded. “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs,” he says unkindly.

But to be fair to Jesus, he’s being put in an uncomfortable position as well. Maybe he came to the region of Tyre and Sidon to enjoy some peace and quiet away from the fray. After all, we know that in his travels and in his ministry, he has been frequently inundated with people who are sick, people who have extraordinary needs, people who need his help and his healing. Jesus is trying to stay focused on his God-given mission – to bring God’s healing and reformation to his own people – the Jews. It’s been an exhausting and never-ending job thus far.

And here we have someone totally outside the group of people that Jesus has been charged to help. The Canaanite woman. It’s no surprise, then, that he snaps at her. We are frequently overwhelmed too, by others who are overwhelmed. There are so many needs, so many people with troubles, so many people in difficulty. We can’t help everybody! We have enough needs right here on our own doorsteps without taking on the problems of the rest of the world. Bottom line - we have enough on our plates, thank you very much.

But the Canaanite woman won’t let it go. Even as Jesus tells her point blank why he won’t help her, she counters with another argument. “Yes, Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Makes me wonder if Jesus is at this point remembering the words of Cain, in reference to his brother, Abel, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Finally, even Jesus has to change course when confronted with such an insistent and unrelenting plea for help from another human being – even one who is a non-Jew. He is finally moved to act when his arguments keep getting countered. Jesus moves from irritation with the Canaanite woman to admiration for the Canaanite woman. In the end, Jesus must assent to the reality that he is his sister’s keeper – and a Canaanite sister at that.

What are we to learn from all this? Where is there a teaching for us in all this? Or good news in all of this? It’s still a hard and difficult gospel passage, even as we’ve worked our way through it.

I think we learn that help is needed where help is needed, regardless of race or religion or ethnicity or culture. Mothers who have sick children want help and healing for their children – that is universal and knows no limits. I think about the pictures I’ve seen on TV and on the pages of Newsweek of women in the Sudan and in Niger – holding on to their little ones who are dying of starvation. We are our sister’s keeper, and our brother’s keeper. That seems to be what Jesus came to acknowledge, and what we must acknowledge as well.

Human need knows no boundaries. Help is wherever help is to be found. And ultimately, God is found in the helping of one human being to another. That’s what Jesus came to acknowledge, that’s what the Canaanite woman understood as gospel, and that’s what her daughter experienced when the demon left her and she was healed.

Who can know how relationships between very different human beings can change for the better, when we offer help? How did the Canaanite woman speak of Jews, after her experience of being helped by Jesus? What change for the better was made possible by the simple acts of kindness and help?

My sister’s father-in-law recently died. In the 1940’s, he was a very young Nazi soldier, wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. Left dying on the battlefield, he was rescued by American soldiers and given medical treatment that saved his life although he lost a leg in the process. To his dying day, this very quiet, formal and proud German man was profoundly pro-American. His enemy turned out to be his savior. The help he received from another human being – an enemy - saved his life – someone who didn’t share his language and didn’t share his politics. Through one human being helping another, a larger relationship was redeemed. God’s will was done.

We may not know what a difference our help will make. We may not even like those we help. We may not agree with another’s religion or politics or worldview or ethics. But in the simple act of helping, we may (like Jesus), be saviors, and we may (like Jesus) make a difference beyond our own understanding.

Who are the Canaanite women all around us, seeking our help? Perhaps our prayer today might be that we readily respond to their faith and hope in us.

Amen.