Matt: 15:22.
And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil.
My question: How did a Canaanite women 'recognise' Jesus? 'O Lord, thous Son of David' can only mean someone who is annointed of God. (A 'son of David' can be used to describe a Jew, but prefixed 'O Lord' and that's renders it differently.)
If we consider Matt 11:27:
"And no one knoweth the Son but the Father: neither doth any one know the Father, but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal him."
or Matt 16:16-17:
"Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven."
Then she could only have said 'O Lord' if it had been made known to her.
My take?
I think Jesus was talking for the benefit of those who witnessed the exchange ... He is talking to us ... he 'used' the woman because He knew she would not be averted, because God had revealed something to her.
I believe we are His 'chosen people' to be His witness in the world, but that's all we are ... His justice and His mercy are not for us alone, but for the whole world ... but if 'we' weren't here, or in secret, then the world would never know about Him.
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15:23. "Who answered her not a word... "
He was waiting to see what His disciples would say.
"... And his disciples came and besought him, saying: Send her away, for she crieth after us:"
The disciples are trying to 'possess' Jesus as their own.
15:24. "And he answering, said: I was not sent but to the sheep, that are lost of the house of Israel."
A Mission statement.
15:25. But she came and adored him, saying: Lord, help me.
This is a recognition of God. I ask again, how can a Canaanite woman recognise God, unless God reveals Himself to her, as a reward for her faith?
15:26. "Who answering, said: It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs."
Who does that, Jesus? I don't think so ... but the Temple Authorities ...?
15:27. "But she said: Yea, Lord; for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters."
This was very, very clever ... what she's saying is that the people live of the crumbs tossed to them by their priesthoods – in Judea (as elsewhere) the priesthoods were de facto kings.
15:28. "Then Jesus answering, said to her: O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt: and her daughter was cured from that hour."
Consider ... He knew He was going to heal her ... so why the discussion? To teach, to show ...
Remember that the next thing He did was feed the 5,000 - and they were from all over, they were not all Jews, and certainly not all believers ...
... I daresay that Canaanite woman was destined to meet Jesus from the moment she was born ... from the moment Eve took the fruit from the tree ... because that's the way He planned it.
Thomas