Some people just do not belong. They might be annoying, they might not “fit,” or they might not be the “right” sort of person. I think you know who I am talking about. That’s right. You and me. The vast majority of people in the church today would not have met the criteria set by the apostles for the Canaanite woman who came to find healing for her daughter, who was “tormented by a demon.” The disciples ask Jesus to “send her away, for she keeps calling out after us,” and while Jesus does not send the Canaanite woman away, he does say to her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Why did she not belong? Let’s start with three reasons: she’s a woman, she’s a Canaanite, or Gentile, and she’s annoying because “she keeps calling out after us.” While only half of us are women, most of us are Gentiles and, if we are honest, most of us are annoying at least some of the time. Jesus says that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, excluding Gentiles, and he compares the Canaanite woman to a dog, which seems derogatory even if the term denotes a small house pet. It is clear that this woman does not belong, but why would Gentiles not be welcome to Jesus’ ministry and healing?

Jesus had gone “to the district of Tyre and Sidon,” a Gentile region, so one might expect to encounter Gentiles there. It makes Jesus’ claim that he “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” puzzling, though it is a claim made elsewhere (Mt 10:6). These statements, however, must be balanced with the Great Commission of Mt 28:19, in which the church is instructed to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” It points to two realities in salvation history: that the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, were chosen to enter into a special covenant relationship with God; and that sometime in the future this covenant was to expand to include all the nations.

The prophet Isaiah reflects this latter tradition when he prophesies about Gentiles “who keep the Sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Isaiah and many other prophets spoke of a time when all the nations would be welcomed into the covenant, but when and how this would take place would be realized in the course of salvation history. In the ministry of Jesus and the church we see the prophecy of Isaiah coming to fruition.

Jesus might indeed be inciting the Canaanite woman, and his disciples, to a recognition of this new moment in salvation history by evoking her faith in the God of the Jews. At first Jesus does not answer the woman; then he tells her he has come only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and finally he says, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” But her faith that Jesus can and will act on behalf of her daughter remains intact.

Some have suggested that perhaps Jesus’ realization of his ministry to the Gentiles is unfolding in this encounter, in which she hears words of rejection but nevertheless stands her ground as a woman, a Canaanite and a mother.

Jesus lauds her great faith when she tells him that “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” But it would not be too long a period before the church became a predominantly Gentile institution and the sense of wonder that even the Gentiles could be saved would be lost on the church. At an early point the Apostle Paul had to warn his fellow Christians that “this welcoming of the Gentiles does not indicate a rejection of the Israelites” but that “the gifts and the call of God” to the Israelites “are irrevocable.” God’s plan in welcoming the Gentiles was not to exclude Israel, just as God’s election of Israel was intended ultimately to welcome all humanity into the family of God. It is difficult for us, because we so often desire to divide the world into us and them, to remember that our salvation is dependent not upon the sort of people we are but upon the mercy of God, which is for all people.

This article appears in August 4-11 2014.

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.