Smoodock's Blog

An interesting event occurred, when Jesus approached the border of Tyre and Sidon. It isn’t clear that he actually left Galilee. Probably, he did not, because it is clear that his ministry was to Jews, not to gentiles (Romans 15:8). So, it seems that Jesus was interested in visiting a Jew near Galilee’s border with Tyre and Sidon, perhaps because Jews from this locale had come to Capernaum to celebrate the annual feast days (Mark 3:8). The fact is that at least one Jew seems to have connected with Jesus during his pilgrimage to Capernaum, so Jesus had gone to this same Jew’s home near the Galilean border with Tyre and Sidon. However, what I find interesting is that Jesus wished to do this privately. Why? Whatever the reason may have been, it turned out to be an event that exposed his anonymity (Mark 7:24).

Therefore, in his Gospel narrative, Matthew has Jesus going to Galilee’s border with Tyre and Sidon, but doesn’t tell us why. Mark is a little more informative, saying this excursion was intended to be a private visit (Mark 7:24), which may have been important prior to his return to the Decapolis (Mark 7:31). What connection the Decapolis may have had with northern border of Galilee isn’t mentioned. I am guessing here, but perhaps this man had a prior experience with Jesus, and Jesus wished to speak with him before entering the Decapolis once again. I’m speaking, of course, about the man Jesus healed in the Decapolis. He was, probably, a Jew (Matthew 8:28), and, after publishing what Jesus had done for him (Mark 5:17-20), he may have resettled in Galilee’s northern border with Tyre and Sidon. His relocation to northern Galilee could have become known to Jesus, when and if he came to Capernaum to celebrate one of the Jews’ annual holy days. If this is so, it is also possible that Jesus’ second visit to the Decapolis was a result of his private visit with this man, now living near Galilee’s northern border.

Once Jesus was in northern Galilee, a Canaanite woman came to him, calling out to the Son of David and seeking mercy for her daughter, who was possessed with a demon (Matthew 15:22).[1] When Jesus paid no attention to her, she began following him, continually crying out for mercy, causing Jesus’ disciples to ask him to send her away (Matthew 15:23).

What may have caused the woman to believe Jesus could do this miracle? First, she may have heard it from one of her friends or neighbors, or even overheard strangers speaking of Jesus’ power to heal. It is also possible she heard about Jesus through the man he healed in the Decapolis, if, indeed, he resettled in northern Galilee. On the other hand, she may have been a proselyte or a God-fearer who worshiped with the Jews and had, herself, gone to Capernaum and witnessed Jesus’ miraculous works during, the Jewish annual holy days. Nevertheless, how she knows Jesus isn’t mentioned in the Gospel narratives, only that she does know who he is. Eventually, Jesus turned to the woman and told her he wasn’t sent to the gentiles, only to the Jews (Matthew 15:24).

However, when she fell at his feet in a position of worship, she pleaded with him to help her, but Jesus told her it wouldn’t be fit for him to give the children’s bread to dogs, meaning offer gentiles what belongs only to the Jews (Matthew 15:25-26). Without taking offense at Jesus’ remark, the woman agreed with him, but said even dogs get to eat what falls from the children’s table (Matthew 15:27). Jesus commended her for her faith and told her that the thing was done, just as she had asked. When she returned home, she found her daughter had been healed at that very hour (verse-28).

Almost as an afterthought, we must ask why events transpired in this manner. Was Jesus shamed into healing the woman’s daughter? No, I don’t think this was the case! The context shows that, as a gentile, the woman had no right to anything Jesus was able to do as the Jews’ Messiah. Remember she approached him, calling out to the Son of David, and the Jews’ Messiah was specifically for Jews only. Afterward, she pleaded for mercy as a gentile, and she received her request, but more about this matter in our next study.          [EB1] 

[1] This also fits the context that the man Jesus wanted to see privately was the one he healed of a demon. If he spread the news of Jesus’ works in the Decapolis, there is no reason why he wouldn’t do the same in the town he settled in that was near Tyre and Sidon.