1986 - john p. meier - matthew 15.21-28

8/13/2019 1986 - John P. Meier - Matthew 15.21-28

1/7

http://int.sagepub.com/Interpretation

http://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.citationThe online version of this article can be found at:

DOI: 10.1177/002096438604000407

1986 40: 397InterpretationJohn P. Meier

28Matthew 15:21

Published by:

http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalf of:

Union Presbyterian Seminary

can be found at:InterpretationAdditional services and information for

http://int.sagepub.com/cgi/alertsEmail Alerts:

http://int.sagepub.com/subscriptionsSubscriptions:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navReprints:

http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navPermissions:

What is This?

- Oct 1, 1986Version of Record>>

by guest on January 28, 2013int.sagepub.comDownloaded from
http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.citationhttp://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.citationhttp://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.citationhttp://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://www.upsem.edu/http://int.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://int.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://int.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.full.pdfhttp://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/http://online.sagepub.com/site/sphelp/vorhelp.xhtmlhttp://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.full.pdfhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.navhttp://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.navhttp://int.sagepub.com/subscriptionshttp://int.sagepub.com/cgi/alertshttp://www.upsem.edu/http://www.sagepublications.com/http://int.sagepub.com/content/40/4/397.citationhttp://int.sagepub.com/


2/7

Expository Articles

Interpretation

elaborate upon this extraordinary truth which prophetic insight gave to

the world:Themeaning oflife isdiscernible notfrom something within

life,or from within human history, but only from theGod who createdit!

JOHN P. MEIER

Associate ProfessorofNew Testament

The Catholic University of America

Matthew 15:21-28

TO THETHEOLOGIAN or pastor exploring the theme of Chris

tianity and world religions, Matthew's accountof theencounterbe-

tween Jesusand theCanaanite woman hardly seems promising. After all,

the story starts with Jesus the Jew brushing offa pagan woman becausehis

mission is restricted to aJewish Israel. What this could possibly say to

Christianity's relation to world religions today is at best unclear. "Relevant" applicationsofthe text strain themost ingeniousof hermeneutical

imaginations. Yetbiblical hermeneutics does notconsist of findingor

inventingone-for-one correspondences; those rarely, if ever, exist.

Hermeneutics is possible because, by the light of faith, believers can

perceive surprising structural similaritiesindifferent encounters between

human need anddivine graceeven across thegaping chasmofcultural

shifts. Granted, in15:2128 Matthew obviouslydidnot intend totreatthe

modern problem of Christianity's relation to world religions.Yet the

theologian who approaches this story with thecontemporary problem inmind andwho watchestheenco unter between Christand thepagan with

open eyes comes away witha newvision.

But first things first: All hermeneutical projects, however grand, begin

with listening to thetexton its ownterms andwith its ownstruc tures.

Indeed, the structure Matthew has devised for 15:2128 is most in-

triguing. As is well known, Matthew's miracle stories tend to boil downthe

narrativeto asingle encounter between the petitioning wordofthe person

in need and the healing word of Jesus .InMatthew 15:2128, however,the

verbal encounter occurs four times, for particular structural and theological reasons. Scholars often point to the "law of threes" in biblical

narrative. In theparable of the Good Samaritan, for example, thereare

precisely three personswho come upon thevictim; theaudience instinc

tively knows that the climax will occur the third time round. Only with this

lawofthrees inmind can weappreciate thestructureofMatthew's story.

397

http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/http://int.sagepub.com/


3/7

The audience senses that the woman will get three chances: "Three strikes

and you' re out!" But God is not held to the rules of narrative any more than

he is held to the rules of theology. Divine grace supplies a fourth time at

bat. The four verbal encounters thus give our story an extraordinary

structure and an extraordinary theological insight.

(1) The story begins with the initiative ofJesus, as he withdraws to the

pagan regions of Tyre and Sidon. Yet, strangely, the tension in the rest of

the story springs fromJesus'refusal to take any initiative when it comes to

the natural result of his action: encounter with a pagan. It is rather the

Canaanite woman who seizes the initiative by "coming out" (symbolically?)

from "those [pagan] regions" to plead with Jesus. In a sense, the woman

already has three strikes against her before she even starts: She is a

woman; she is the mother of a demoniac; and worst of all she is a pagan

Canaanite, a member of the ancient enemy of Israel, the indigenous

people of Canaan who fought Israel over its inheritance in the Promised

Land. Still, for all her handicaps, the woman is not shy about shouting he r

need. Th e first verbal enco unter begins with her cry of "Lo rd" and "Son of

David." In Matthew, "Lord" is addressed to Jesus only by true believers,

and "Son of David" is used by the marginalized of society, the no-accounts

who recognize the Messiah of Israel, whom the leaders of Israel reject. The

woman knows full well that her insight of faith gives her no claim on the

Jewish Messiah; all she can do is beg for mercy for her tormented daugh

ter. From the reader 's point of view, the woman has a lot going for her, but

the three strikes against her seem to carry more weight with a disturbingly

hard-hea rted Christ. Jesus refuses the verbal encounter ; he speaks not a

word in reply. His first rebuff is silence.

(2) The second verbal encounter arises out of the initiative of theofficious disciples. They are annoyed with the woman's persistent cry of

faith; so, just to get rid of her, they presume to tell Jesus to grant her

request (this seems to be the sense of "send her away"). This time, Jesus

deigns to speak, but it is a word of rebuff. God has sent him on a mission

restricted to his own people Israel, who have all gone astray like lost

sheepno more so than in their refusal to recognize the Son of David.

Faced with the urgency of his mission, Jesus cannot transgress the limits set

by the Father's plan of salvation. His second rebuff is theology.

(3) As the third verbal encounter begins, the audience senses that theclimax is now being reached. Persisting in the face of discouragement, the

woman of faith "comes" to Jesus and "worships" him (proskyne, a favorite

Matthean verb for the proper act of reverence towardJesus). She repeats

her petition with heart-rending simplicity: "Lord, help me." Like the

Psalmist, she is at the end of her rope. Surely now, importuned by a third

398



4/7

ExpositoryArticles

Interpretation

request, Jesus will relent and show compassion. The audience is as disap-

pointed as the woman when Jesus smashes the law of threes and adds the

insult of a racial slur to the injury of turning a deaf ear. He repeats the

excuse of his limited mission, but now in the form of a harsh parable. He

tells the pagan that the bread of his healing and teaching ministry is meant

only for God's children, the Israelites; he may not waste it by tossing it

thoughtlessly to the "dogs" (aJewish epithet for pagans). Th e story seems

toend in disaster: The woman of faith is bereft of her request an d an aloof

Jesus is bereft of compassion. His third rebuff is sheer insult. The reade r isleft bewildered.

(4) That is where it should endby the law of threes. But a genuine

encounterof hu ma n faith with divine mercy can pu t an end to all ends and

limits, however sacred they may be to either theology or narrative criti-

cism. That is what "eschatology" is all about. This extraordinary woman of

persistent faith shows herself to be a woman of wit and humor aswell.She

deftly takes up the gauntlet of the parable cast down by Jes us and tur ns it

toher advantage. "Yes,Lord,"shesays, replying to insult with politeness as

wellas with faith and humility (cf. Matt. 5:3842!). "I accept your viewatleast for the sake of argumentthat I am a pagan dog when compared to

the privileged children of Israel, my masters. And I acknowledge that I

have no right to snatch bre ad out of the children's hands. But, after all,

even the dogs lying under the table are allowed to nibble the unwanted

scraps that haphazardly fall from their masters' table." The woman boldly

engages Jesus in a game of wits, matching mashal with mashal; and her

faith, spiced with determination and humor, trumps the Lord. Yet Jesus

hardly seems dismayed by the outcome. The reader comes to realize that

this whole verbal duel has displayed the maieutic method by which Jesus

has led this woman up four steps to the heights of faith, a faith that can

transcend the barriers of race, religion, and even the set periods of

salvation history. At the end of Matthew's Gospel, after the deathresur-

rection,Jesus willindeed tear down the barriers he affirms in 10:56and

15:24 by sending his disciples to all nations, but the desperate need of this

woman cannot wait. Her impatient faith leaps the barriers of time and

religious groups to touch directly the healing power of Christ. Salvation

history was made for man, not man for salvation history.HenceJesus' final

cry is one of approval and praise, not of weariness and defeat : woman,

great is your faith!" It is such irregular, unlawful, but allpowerful faith

that can bring healing to a possessed humanity, even if it ignores the

"proper channels" for coming to Christ.

By now, our unpromisi ng pericope has begun to show promiseeven

for such an "ungospel like" theme as Christianity and world religions. To

399



5/7

Start with, the notably different roles of Jesus and his disciples suggest akey distinction in our hermeneutical reflections on this story. When one

speaks of the exclusivity of the claims of the Christian religion, one must

carefully distinguish between Christ and his church. The true exclusivity

lies in the person and the role of Jesushe is the one mediator between

God and humanity (I Tim. 2:5); no one comes to the Father except

through him (John 14:6). He alone can grant healing to the well-disposed

pagan standing before him. It is imp ortant to remember that this exclusive

claim about Christ was not hammered out by the early Christians in

ignorance of the other great religious movements around them. The

first-century Mediterranean world presented a smorgasbord of religions

and cults, from the high ethical monotheism of Judaism to the lowest

pagan magic and self-mutilation. Over against all of its competitors, the

church consciously and deliberately proclaimed the unique role of Jesus

Christa theological obsession that struck most pagans as odd. To be sure,

the church in the twentieth century has gained much wider knowledge

and sympathetic appreciation of non-Christian religions. This in itself isa

grace, not least because such widened horizons can deepen the church's

understanding of God's workings in the world, both in and apart from the

church. Still, none of this changes the church's basic faith-affirmation that

just as there is one God (the monotheism of the Shema'), so there is one

mediator (the Christology of the creed). To replace that confession with a

"broad-minded" syncretistic smorgasbord is not to reinterpret Chris

tianity but to replace it with a new gnosticism. It isJesus, and Jesus alone,

who brings the fullness of God's healing to humanity. Christianity rises or

falls on the centrality of God and the finality of Christ: Shema' and creed.

The exclusive claim of Christ does not, however, entail an equally

exclusive claim by his churchthough the church is constantly tempted to

arrogate to itself the unique and indispensable role ofJesus.The disciples

officiously try to act as middlemen between the pagan and her Lord, only

to be dismissed by Jesus. (Notice how the disciples disappear from the rest

of the story; they are neither wanted nor needed by either party in the duel

of wits.) Jesus is quite capable of dealing with the pagan woman directly.

After all, it is he, not the disciples, who is the object of the pagan's trust and

prayer.

Granted, we cannot draw facile present-day lessons from a unique past

situation in which Jesus was physically present and the church was not yet

established. But the church must constantly remind itself that it is de

pendent on Christ, and not vice versa. If Jesus is reallyKyrios, then he is

Lord of all the world and of all men and women. The church is the special

locus of his lordship in the sense that the church alone explicitly and

400



6/7

Expository Articles

Interpretation

knowingly acknowledges, worships, and obeys him as Lord. Yet Jesus

exercises his lordship over all men and women, whether they are aware of

it or not, whether they like it or not, and whether the official (not to say

officious) church is on the scene or not. The Lord is free to lavish his grace

and mercy on whom he wills (cf. Rom. 9:1516). If he sees fit, he can

sanctify pagan hearts and draw them close to himself, using whatever

"natural sacrament" or elements of pagan religion he chooses. This is what

it means to be Lord: to be sovereign in bestowing grace, both in and

outside the church . Th e church is Christ's special ins trument in the world,

but not his only one.

This is not to say that the church must not pursue her mission of

evangelization with zeal. The Matthew who shows us Jesus dispensing with

his disciples as he interacts with a pagan is also the Matthew who presents

the risen Lord commanding those same disciples to undertake a universal

mission (Matt. 28:1620). To be sure, in ways hidden from our eyes,Jesus

may continue acting to save sincere pagans apart from the church's

preaching of the gospel. We hope it is so; we pray it is so; but, of course, we

have no way of knowing it is so with complete certi tude. What we do know

from the New Testament is tha t the risen Lord wills the myriad divisions of

mankind to be overcome in one visible family of God, with one baptism,

one code of discipleship, and one Lord acknowledged openly by all his

people in his church. He who is de facto Lord of all refuses to be hailed as

such without the preaching of weak, inadequate disciples like ourselves.

The Word still insists on becoming flesh, however inefficient that pro

cedure may be.

Some claim that it is imperialistic of the church to persist in its universal

mission, as though it were some international conglomerate intent on a

hostile takeover of other religious corporations. Such a haughty, imperi

alistic attitude can beand has beena serious error in the church's

missionary activity. At times, silence, theology, and insult have become

Christian weapons in the encounter with non-Christians. Yet true mission,

true servanthood to the nations, is anything but imperialistic. Imagine, for

a moment, what would happen if the church fully succeeded in carrying

out the great commission of Matthew 28:1620, if the church so perfectly

reflected the measureless mercy of the Son of David that it drew all nationstoitself. Imagine Canaanites and Israelites, or Arabs and Jews, or all Asia

and Africa united in the one family of God. Wouldcouldthe church

look anything like it does today, with bureaucratic and theological lead

ership still very much entrenched in the first world? Would not Christian

liturgy and lifestyle undergo a sea change, as billions of Asian and African

Christians had their proper say and impact in the one church of Christ? If

401



7/7

the great commission is ever fulfilled, it will mean not the imperialistic

triumph of the present form of the church but rather its death, followed by

the resurrection of a genuine world-church, catholic in a sense we can

hardly dream of. The one thing that would remain the same would be the

church's Lord: the Son of David who is the same yesterday, today, and

forever (Heb. 13:8). He is already at work in Tyre and Sidon; we obtuse

disciples have yet to catch up.

LEANDE R E. KEC K

Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology

Yale Divinity School

Romans1:1823

C

OULD ANYTHING in the New Testament be more negative and less

promising for a consideration of "Christianity and World Religions"than this paragraph? Paul on Mars Hill is much more congenial, claiming

that the God he proclaims is the one other people grope toward (Acts

17:2231). There he assures his "pagan" hearers that God has in fact

overlooked "the times of ignorance" prior to Christ and the gospel, but

here he opens with a salvo about God's wrath aimed at everybody, an d goes

on to assert that "their senseless mind was darkened." Scarcely the sort of

opening one would use at an inter-faith dinner! Did the Editorial Board, in

planning this issue, choose the wrong passage? Hardly. What this passage

can contribute to the theme should not be underestimatedan alternativeto both a self-serving sense of superiority and a forfeiture of a distinctly

Christian understanding of the human condition.

Receiving this contribution requires us to distinguish Paul's agenda

from what is often our own. Indeed, it is far from evident that he would

have understood "Christianity and World Religions." For him it was rather

Judaism and the plethora of Hellenistic gods worshipped in diverse ways,

the great religions of South and East Asia being unknown to him. More

over, there was not yet a "Christianity"a self-defined religion with its

own distinct symbol system, rites "for all seasons," canon, clergy, andsanctuaries for worship.

Paul is far up-stream, too near the headwaters, to underst and what

"Christianity and World Religions" entails. Nonetheless, what he said

about the religions he did know deserves careful consideration precisely

because of the standpoint from which he said it.

402


1986 - john p. meier - matthew 15.21-28

Documents