In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
The miracle and story that we have heard this
morning comes from St. Matthew's Gospel, and
substantially the same miracle is related in
St. Mark's Gospel. But there are two small differences.
in a way, small, that you might not catch, we
might not catch the first time. In St. Matthew's
Gospel, she is described as a Canaanite woman.
St. Mark's Gospel, she's described as a Syrophoenician
woman. So, well, what's the difference? In a
way, not that much. But the Syrophoenician, that's
an adjective. that a geographical adjective,
what part of the country she comes from. However,
Canaanite woman is more of a description of her
ethnic, religious, and cultural background. Canaanite.
And remember, throughout the Old Testament, the
Canaanites were the nemesis for the Jewish people.
St. Matthew, who writes to a predominantly Jewish
audience, he knows that the people are aware
of this. The Canaanites, when the Israelites
came in, took over the territory, the Canaanites
were there, and they were a constant temptation
for the Jewish people, the chosen people, to
intermarry with them, to adopt their cultural,
and sometimes even religious practices. And this
is why so many of the prophets, when they came,
they would berate the Jewish people for not being
completely loyal and exclusively loyal to the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So here we
see a Canaanite woman who was the embodiment
The Canaanites is a sinful race that embodied
everything that was wicked and godless and was
to be resisted in the promised land. Here you
have a Canaanite woman who comes and asks help
from Jesus. At first, he doesn't respond to her.
And the other interesting variant is that in
St. Matthew's Gospel, In St. Mark's Gospel, she
says, Lord, have mercy on me. Help me. My daughter
is vexed by a demon. St. Matthew's Gospel, she
comes up and she says, Jesus, son of David, Lord,
help me. My daughter is vexed. This Canaanite
woman uses a messianic title. She knows and she
affirms that Jesus is that promised Messiah who
came to the Jewish people. Now, knowing this,
also, Jewish people who were around and heard
this would be utterly amazed that here you have
a secular woman. The comparison would probably
be nowadays. We don't have Canaanites as people
that are troublesome for us. Our Canaanite temptation
is secularism. But here you have this Canaanite
woman who embodied opposition to the exclusive
worship of the God of Israel. She affirms that
Jesus is the Messiah by calling him son of David.
This is much like, this I think should be seen
in connection with an event which happened a
few chapters earlier in St. Matthew's Gospel.
Remember, the centurion comes and asks Jesus'
help for his suffering servant or son. And here
you have a Roman soldier. who asks help from
Jesus. And the Roman soldier says, Lord, it's
not even necessary for you to come to my house.
I'm not worthy to have you come to my house.
Just say the word. And here you have a Roman
soldier and a few chapters later, a Canaanite
woman that asks help from Jesus. And then Jesus'
response finally doesn't say anything at first.
He says to her, it's not good to take the children's
food and throw it to the dogs, because he said
first that I've come to the house of Israel,
so that's my mission, to present the gospel,
the good news, to the Israelis, to the Jewish
people. That's my primary focus of attention.
And that's when she says, he says, that's why...
I cannot take the children's food and throw it
to the dogs. Now this sounds much more insulting,
I think, to us nowadays. It certainly wasn't
complimentary at that time. But it was a duel.
A lot of the commentators say Jesus engaged in
a duel of wits with her because he knew what
her response was going to be. And when he said
that, he says, O Lord, even the tiny dogs, the
whelps, eat food that falls from their master's
table. And Jesus says, O woman, great is your
faith, be it done to you. So this affirmation
of Jesus as the Messiah, Jesus grants her request,
just as he granted the request of the centurion.
What does this mean to us? To us as Christians,
and even more specifically as Orthodox Christians,
much has been given. We are the recipients of
the gospel message of Jesus, of the apostolic
preaching that has come down to us for 2 ,000
years. Much has been given to us. And as our
Lord says elsewhere in the Gospels, to whom much
has been given, much will be expected. So we
ask ourselves, myself and yourself, do our thoughts,
words, and deeds, especially in our dealings
with other people, do we reflect the teaching
and love of Jesus? in our words and deeds and
thoughts. Much has been given to us. Much will
be expected. A fitting conclusion would be to
remind you that this Canaanite woman is mentioned
in one of the pre -communion prayers, the collection
of prayers that we recite before we receive Holy
Communion. And in one of the prayers attributed
to St. John of Damascus in the 700s A .D., this
prayer says, O Christ my God, who did justify
the publican and had mercy on the Canaanite woman
and opened the gates of paradise to the thief,
open the compassion of thy love to us. Receive
me, and may I dare to approach to receive your
holy body and blood. A few minutes from now,
we will receive the body and blood of Christ
in Holy Communion. This is a pledge of our commitment
to Jesus in our thought, words, and deeds, which
we reflect in our life and our dealings with
other people. Amen.