August 20, 2023 Matthew 15:21-28 The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

This week we talk about a troubling passage in which Jesus seemingly responds harshly to a Canaanite woman’s request for healing. We discuss it in the context of the ongoing tensions between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the First-Century church, as well as the prejudices against gentiles Jesus’ disciples harbored, as perhaps also did some of the members of Matthew’s community. The result is the recognition that Jesus commends her for her “great faith,” in contrast to the disciples whom he calls “you of little faith”!