Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. – Matthew 15:21

Today's Scripture Reading (January 4, 2024): Matthew 15

My grandfather liked to go for what he would call "a Sunday afternoon drive." What that meant was that he would get into the car with my grandmother and whoever else might like to go and just drive somewhere. There was no purpose or destination; we would just go, often stopping for a treat of some kind, like an ice cream cone, somewhere along the way. It was a practice that I picked up as a teen. In the small town that I moved to when I was sixteen, there was a route that the town's youth followed with their cars as they moved through town. We drove Back and forth with no destination in mind; we just watched for our friends, often traveling the route in their cars.

Matthew says that Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon, where he met a woman who had a demon-possessed daughter. In the conversation with the woman, he seems to insult her by calling her a "dog." But sometimes, we miss an important question concerning the story: Why was Jesus there in the first place? Did he have a purpose, or was his presence in the area an ancient cousin to my grandfather's "Sunday afternoon drive?"

I have an answer to the question that some might not like. Jesus came for this Canaanite woman. She was the reason he went into this area of the neighborhood. It's the only thing I can come up with that makes sense. Jesus's comment that he came for the lost of Israel even argues against Jesus making the trip to Tyre and Sidon. The only thing that makes any sense is that Jesus came for this woman. This one woman, whom Jesus calls a dog, was the sole reason that Jesus made the trip to Tyre and Sidon. It was for her.

We sometimes say if you were the only one who needed God, Jesus would still have come. That is true of this Canaanite woman. She was the one for whom Jesus came. And I don't think it was a learning experience for Jesus; it was a test for his disciples. They were with him when he went to Sychar in Samaria. They were the ones who came back to the well and saw him chatting with the Samaritan woman, another enemy of the Jews. And there was no, "I have come to the lost sheep of Israel then." Jesus had taken time to minister to her at the well and then to the whole town.

Jesus told the Parable of the "Good Samaritan," an oxymoron if the disciples had ever heard one. When the man was mugged and left for dead at the side of the road, after the pastor and the worship leader had passed by, Jesus said that it was a Samaritan who bound his wounds and took him to a place where he could recover, promising to pay the expenses of the man.

They were with him when the centurion had come to him to plead with him for his paralyzed servant. Once again, Jesus hadn't said that he had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and he didn't call the centurion a dog. Then, Jesus had asked if the centurion wanted him to come with him and heal his servant. The centurion replied, "I do not deserve to have you come to my house. But I know if you just say the word, my servant would be healed." On that day, Jesus said he had not seen anyone in Israel with such great faith.

So, Jesus came to Tyre and Sidon because he knew the Canaanite woman needed his help to save her daughter. And maybe he came to see if there was a Moses among his tribe of followers. Someone who could place themselves in the position of saying, "Teacher, Rabbi, Have mercy on us. She is your creation, too, as is her daughter. Won't you save them?"

Instead, all his disciples wanted to do was send her away, but Jesus did find his Moses. Maybe surprisingly, it was in the Canaanite woman.

²² A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly" (Matthew 15:22).

Did you catch it? She actually repeats it a few verses later.

²⁵ The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said (Matthew 15:25).

She wasn't sick; it was her daughter. But, like any parent, she loved her daughter enough that she was ill because her daughter was sick. She was able to place herself in the position of her daughter. Her exclamation is, "Lord, help me."

She would make do with the crumbs falling from the table, but Jesus was about to give her the whole loaf. She was the reason why Jesus came into the area, just as we are the reason that Jesus came and lived on this earth, walking among us as one of us.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Mark 7