Jesus left Capernaum, his adopted hometown on the north edge of the Sea of Galilee. He headed about 50 miles north. He did this from time to time to get time alone with his disciples. He wanted to be able to teach them without constant arguments with the religious leaders. Without constant interruptions from the crowds wanting healing.

It was a great idea, until this moment. When a Canaanite woman comes to him.

Canaanites were the first peoples of Israel. Or, perhaps, more accurately, they were the people who had been in Israel before the Israelites.

They were the people that had been the neighbors when Jacob’s family moved to Egypt at Joseph’s invitation. And they were the people who were living in the land when the Israelites came back after 400 years. And they were the people who had been driven out when they came back.

As evidenced by this woman’s presence, they hadn’t all left. And she comes to Jesus asking him to help her daughter. Some force was attacking.

Jesus didn’t say a thing. She kept asking.

The disciples asked him to send her away. Their reason? She’s being an annoyance.

(Here’s the thing. When your child is sick, you start to be annoying. You approach anyone with answers. You knock on doors. You try alternative therapies. You even call out to God. Because you want your child to be healed. That’s all she was doing.)

Jesus still doesn’t answer her. But he says something to the disciples.

It’s an odd thing.

“I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

It’s odd because Jesus had earlier said that God loved the world so much that he sent his son. He talked in other stories about going outside the religious leadership, going to people at the fringes. He is constantly touching people who are unclean, talking to women, doing the things that no self-respecting religious leader would do.

So when he says this, it doesn’t fit, exactly.

Except that there is a thread that runs through the whole Bible. It’s an answer to the question, “Why are some people blessed?” And the answer is, “So they can be a blessing.”

+++

I’ll be back with more of the story tomorrow. And you can read it yourself in Matthew 15:21-28.