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<h1 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(0, 61, 74); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 34px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Part
XXX Matthew <br>
The Canaanite Woman:<br>
Matthew's Icon of Prejudice</h1>
<div>In Mark’s gospel she was a
Syro-Phoenician woman.
Matthew has changed her into
being a Canaanite woman.
That shift is significant
because the term “Canaanite”
carried so much more
emotional baggage than did
the term Syro-Phoenician.
Canaanites first come into
the Jewish story during the
time of Joshua, Moses’
immediate successor. He was
the military leader who led
the Hebrew people into what
came to be called “The
Conquest of Canaan.” The
Canaanites were not
respected as worthy friends
or foes by the Hebrews. In
fact the book of Joshua
suggested that the
Canaanites were only fit to
be “hewers of wood and
drawers of water” (Josh
9:24). They were relegated
by the Hebrew people to the
bottom of the social ladder,
well below the Philistines,
the Edomites, the Moabites
and the Phoenicians. All of
these attitudes came into
play, causing Matthew to
change this woman’s
identification from that of
Syro-Phoenician, as she was
in his source, the gospel of
Mark, into being a
“Canaanite woman” in
Matthew’s text. With that
pejorative definition set in
his hearer’s minds, Matthew
begins to develop his story.
It is one of the most
difficult and poignant
stories in the entire New
Testament. Matthew tells it
on one of the Sabbaths
between the Celebration of
the Harvest and the
celebration that comes in
the depth of winter that we
call Dedication.</div>
<div>This Canaanite woman, says
Matthew, had a daughter who
was grievously ill. Matthew
suggests that her diagnosis
was that of being possessed
by evil spirits. In biblical
times, that could have meant
almost any malady from
epilepsy to various forms of
mental illness. She comes to
Jesus carrying this heavy
burden in her heart. Her
child, the fruit of her
body, was distorted and
apparently beyond the power
of curing. She wants, she
needs, she is desperate for
help from any source. A
mother’s anguish for her
child may be among life’s
deepest hurts. The cultural
stereotype portrayed a
Canaanite woman as a person
possessing no virtue.
Matthew’s portrait of a
caring mother, however,
challenged that stereotype,
setting up an immediate
emotional conflict. Human
prejudice becomes most cruel
and even brutal when the
culture parrots and
reinforces the distorted
stereotypes that individuals
carry in their heads. This
woman crosses Jesus’ path as
he was journeying in the
district of Tyre and Sidon.
This was in Gentile
territory. She makes it
impossible for anyone to
ignore her. Addressing him
with the messianic title,
“Son of David,” she screams
“Have mercy on me, my
daughter is severely
possessed by a demon” (Matt.
15:22). Somehow, even this
Canaanite woman with no
connections to messianic
thinking has come to believe
that Jesus could bring her
daughter to wholeness. The
text, however, does not have
Jesus encourage her. Jesus,
says Matthew’s gospel, “did
not answer her a word” Matt.
15:23). It was a strange,
even a rejecting response
from Jesus. The disciples
noting his response were
emboldened in their own
prejudice; that is the way
it works. Those who are
looked to as leaders can and
do, by their attitudes or
even by their silence, give
their followers permission
to be their worst selves. So
the disciples say to Jesus,
“Send her away, for she is
crying after us” (Matt.
15:23). She is a bother we
do not need. Jesus appears
to respond in kind to his
disciples’ negativity, for
Matthew records Jesus as
saying to the woman: “I was
sent only to the lost sheep
of the House of Israel”
(Matt. 15:24). She, it
appears, does not qualify
for his help for she is an
alien and, as such,
apparently has no intrinsic
worth! The woman, desperate
for help is not put off so
easily. She hurls herself at
Jesus’ feet assuming the
position of a beggar, “Lord,
help me,” she implores
(Matt. 15:25). Apparently
still in a mood that is both
rejecting and insulting,
Jesus responds: “It is not
fair to take the children’s
bread and to throw it to the
dogs” (Matt. 15:26)”. One
feels pain in the pit of the
stomach when this response
is heard. We want to return
to the text to see if we
have read this correctly. Is
this really Jesus speaking?</div>
<div>The woman, however, picks
up on Jesus’ seemingly
insulting language and
appears to accept his
definition of her,
responding: “Yes, Lord, yet
the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from the master’s
table” (Matt. 15:27). It was
a breathtaking response.
Whatever hostility had been
there before this moment
seems to disappear
immediately. Jesus responds,
“O woman, great is your
faith! Be it done for you as
you desire.” Her daughter,
says the text, was cured
instantly.</div>
<div>Was this simply a strange
miracle story? I do not
think so. In Matthew’s
gospel, it serves as a
transitional moment as he
turns his story in a new
direction. We enter that
story looking for clues.
First, we note that Matthew
has earlier used Gentile
women, judged by Jewish
society to be sinful and of
little worth, to carry his
narrative. In the genealogy
opening Matthew’s gospel,
four rejected and “sinful”
Gentile women are included
among the ancestral
“mothers” of Jesus. One of
them was guilty of incest,
one of prostitution, one of
seduction and one of
adultery. That is not
insignificant. We looked at
these women earlier in this
series.</div>
<div>Second, Matthew is clear
that this Canaanite woman
has no claim on the promises
to Israel. That was the
common wisdom among the
Jews. She lived outside the
boundaries in which the
Jewish God was believed to
operate. So Matthew is
allowing Jesus to challenge
these Jewish limits. The
question Matthew is raising
in this episode is: How far
will the love of God
stretch? How universal is
the Christ story? In typical
fashion, the disciples want
to send her away. That is a
familiar tactic that human
beings use when dealing with
their prejudices. The
disciples had also wanted to
send the hungry crowd away
before Jesus fed them with
loaves and fish. One does
not have to deal with human
prejudices if one can keep
the objects of our
prejudices out of sight.
That is why we ghettoize
Jews and redline blacks in
our society. That is why
Jews historically were
expelled from many European
nations. That is why plans
were made to send African
slaves back to Africa after
the Civil War. Out of sight,
out of mind! If victims of
our prejudice must remain
visible, then oppressive
laws are always passed that
will limit their mobility.
They must not be allowed to
vote, to gain economic
status or political power.
Their visibility must be
blunted.</div>
<div>Perhaps by making the
rhetoric of this story so
harsh, Matthew has captured
accurately the beliefs the
people held. He was allowing
Jesus to express the feeling
that Canaanites elicited in
the minds of the Jews.
Security in human beings
frequently lies in never
having to cross the
boundaries that we have
erected in our quest for
tribal identity. Matthew’s
Jesus refused to live within
those boundaries. The love
of God must be unbounded! So
in this episode Matthew once
again raises the theme of
universalism. In his gospel
it is a recurring theme.
Matthew announced God’s
universal call in his story
of Jesus’ birth. His arrival
on earth was heralded by a
star. A star knows no
national boundary. Its light
shines for the entire world
to see. That star, Matthew
said, had the power to draw
Gentile magi into the
presence of Jesus.</div>
<div>In Matthew’s quest for
universality, however, he
did not minimize or ignore
the role the Jews must play
in this drama of salvation.
Remember that the wise men
ultimately did not find the
Christ Child just by
following the star; they
also had to consult the
Hebrew Scriptures. It was
the prophet Micah, Matthew
said, whose words sent those
Gentiles to Bethlehem.
Matthew was surely aware
that all religious systems
draw lines that exclude. The
saved, human religions say,
must be circumcised or
baptized, or be members of
the “one true church” or be
made to confess Jesus as “my
personal savior.” Religious
systems always use pious
formulas to define who is in
and who is out, to make our
prejudices look like
virtues. The great battle
that Paul fought in the
early years of Christianity
was about whether the
Gentiles could also be
included in God’s promises.
Matthew will end his gospel
by placing a message of
universalism into the mouth
of the raised Christ calling
people into a new community
of oneness. “Go into all the
world” the Christ will say.
Go to those who are the
objects of your prejudices.
Go to those you have
rejected as unclean or unfit
and proclaim to them the
gospel, which is nothing
other than the infinite love
of God. The Great Commission
was never a command to
convert the heathen as we
have tended to hear it over
the centuries. It is a call
to walk into a barrier-free
humanity. The Canaanite
Woman is the icon, who
stands at the gate through
which we must walk to hear
this call to universality.
At other times in Christian
history, this Canaanite
woman is the Jew, whom we
Christians ghettoized,
violated and, in the
Holocaust, sought to
eliminate. Later, she
becomes the Muslim against
whom we Christians unleashed
the murderous Crusades.
Still later, she is the
African whom we Christians
enslaved, segregated,
lynched, prohibited from
voting and suppressed
economically. She is the
woman who until the 20th
century, we Christians did
not allow to be
professionally educated, to
enter the work force, to
practice law or medicine, to
be ordained, to sit on the
Supreme Court or to seek the
presidency of our nation.
The Canaanite woman is also
the member of the lesbian,
gay, transgender and
bisexual community, each of
whom was defined by the
Christian Church as deviant,
abnormal, sinister,
perverted and evil. We can
see the Canaanite woman in
the faces of all of our
victims of prejudice. We
have deluded ourselves until
we felt quite justified in
our rejection. Feeling
justified we have said in
word and deed that those the
Canaanite woman represents
are somehow outside the
boundaries of God’s love and
concern. We have acted as if
to be different is to be
evil. The Canaanite woman,
however, will always
confront us until the walls
of prejudice fall and we
fling open the doors of our
hearts to all those we have
victimized. When they do, we
become whole people. Matthew
understands the meaning of
this Christ quite well.
Would to God the Christian
Church could learn it also.</div>
<div>John Shelby Spong</div>
<div>Read the essay online <a style="color: rgb(68, 135, 207); font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" href="http://johnshelbyspong.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b51b9cf441b059bb232418480&id=e1586a752f&e=0471473479" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question
& Answer</h2>
<div>Dr. Warren Soeteber of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin writes:</div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Question:</h4>
<div>Though Mary Magdalene
followed him around, I find
no mention in the Bible that
Jesus was married. Men of
his age usually were.
Further, he surrounded
himself with a group of men;
one of them particularly
appeared to be his favorite.
It is recorded that Jesus
said repeatedly, “Do you
love me?” Is it possible
that Jesus was a homosexual?
What do you think?
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Also what about the apostle
Paul?</div>
<h4 style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; color: rgb(68, 135, 207); line-height: 100%; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 22px; font-weight: normal; display: block;">Answer:</h4>
<div>Dear Warren,
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>You are not the first to
make these speculations or
to ask these questions. I do
not know any way that one
can speak definitively about
the sexual orientation of
figures of history. We can,
however, look at the data
available to us in the
scriptures and seek to make
sense of it. I have done
that on both of the
questions you raise.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>In regard to Jesus and his
relationship with Mary
Magdalene, the literature of
the ages is available so we
can read the speculations of
others. In the modern opera
<em>Jesus Christ Superstar</em>
there is a suggestion about
their romantic involvement.
Remember that Magdalene
sings the song, “<em>I don’t
know how to love him</em>,”
about Jesus. The Middle Ages
are replete with love
letters supposedly shared
between Jesus and Magdalene.
No factual speculation can
be based on any of these.
What we know from the
gospels is this. Mary
Magdalene is portrayed as
the head of the group of
women that followed Jesus;
her name is always listed
first. She was thus thought
of as the chief woman in the
Jesus movement and is
portrayed as the chief
mourner at his tomb. Out of
what historical data does
that tradition flow? You are
correct, it would be rare in
Jewish society for a grown
man not to be married, so
rare indeed that it would
probably merit comment. The
fact that no text in the
Bible claims either that
Jesus was or was not married
may be an argument that he
was against an argument that
he was not.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>John’s gospel gives us some
other hints. He suggests
that Magdalene was not only
the chief mourner, but the
only mourner at his tomb.
John has Mary Magdalene
demand access to the
deceased body of Jesus,
something that would be
appropriate only to the
nearest of kin. He has Mary
Magdalene address him as
“Rabboni,” a title of great
affection appropriate for a
wife to use about her rabbi
husband. There is also some
question about the meaning
of Magdalene. The popular
explanation is that it comes
from what is supposed to be
her home, Magdala, a village
on the Sea of Galilee. There
is however, no historical or
archeological data that
validates that there was
such a village at the time
of Jesus. There is a village
of that name there today,
but it was built much later
to catch the tourist trade,
which indeed it does.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>Another possibility is that
Magdalene comes from the
Hebrew word “migdal”, the
consonants mgdl would be the
same. Migdal originally
meant a tower, but it came
to mean large or great. If
Mary’s name Magdalene meant
Mary the Great or the Great
Mary and if the other Mary
was Jesus’ mother, could
calling her Magdalene be a
claim that she, as Jesus’
wife, had a greater position
than that of his mother
Mary?
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>I hope he was married. I
hope he had the joy of
sharing his life deeply and
constantly with one who
stood at the center of his
affections. I hold married
love to be the deepest and
sweetest of human
relationships. I spelled out
my thinking on Jesus being
married in my book, <em>Born
of a Woman: A Bishop
Re-Thinks the Virgin Birth
and the Place of Women in
a Male- Dominated Church</em>.
For further clarification I
refer you to the chapter in
that book entitled, “<em>Was
Jesus Married?</em>”
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>I see little reason to
think that Jesus was gay.
The story of the “disciple
whom Jesus loved” is told
only in the Fourth Gospel
written 65-70 years after
the crucifixion and I
believe that the “Beloved
Disciple” is nothing more
than a Johannine symbol for
the ideal believer who would
accompany Jesus not only to
the cross, but also to an
empty tomb where faith is
born. I spell that out in
detail in the 25th chapter
of my book, <em>The Fourth
Gospel: Tales of a Jewish
Mystic</em>. Jesus’
question three times to
Peter: “Do you love me?”
occurs only in the epilogue
to John’s gospel and is
generally regarded as a
later addition to the Fourth
gospel. It seems to me not
to be history, but a
response to the three times
that Peter was said to have
denied Jesus.
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>When it comes to Paul,
there is much more data
available since we have at
least seven epistles which
Paul himself wrote and there
is much autobiographical
material in these epistles.
I believe Paul might well
have been a deeply
repressed, self-hating gay
man. He describes the war
that goes on between “the
law of my body” and the “law
of my mind.” He finds
himself controlled by a
passion from which he cannot
free himself. He says things
like, “sin dwells in my
members.” He expresses
self-loathing in the words,
“O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from
this body of death?” He
argues in Romans 1 that God
will punish those who do not
worship God properly by
turning their affections
toward people of their own
gender. Paul then tells us
about his frantic attempt to
obey every requirement said
to be in the law. I made a
case for the possibility
that Paul was gay in my
book, <em>Rescuing the
Bible from Fundamentalism</em>
and again in <em>Jesus for
the Non-Religious</em>. I
cannot prove it, but I can
speculate on it and I do.
</div>
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</div>
<div>Thank you for writing,
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>John Shelby Spong</div>
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