A Canaanite Woman

Today’s story is challenging and difficult to understandIt turns everything we think we know about Jesus on its head- it involves a foreigner in a different region of the map• the setting for the life of Jesus is mostly in Israel◦ he passes through Samaria, and briefly sets foot in Gadara◦ but in this story he goes north – the one and only time• it is most likely that Jesus wanted to get away from the crowds◦ to be someplace where he and his crew could restHe “went away from there and withdrew”In Mark's telling of this story, we read, “And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know” (7:24)◦ the last think Jesus needed during this break was one of the locals coming to him with a consuming need- And behold – ta da! – the "behold" indicates a shift in the point of view