{"id":101321,"date":"2017-10-12T00:49:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T07:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=101321"},"modified":"2017-10-12T06:58:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T13:58:41","slug":"jesus-learn-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html","title":{"rendered":"Could Jesus Learn Things?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman<\/a>.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a taste, read the rest at the link:<\/p>\n

Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks:<\/p>\n

The prepaschal Jesus was ethnocentric to first century Israel. He called her a dog\u2014you know what he called her. Not a female pet dog. A vermin little (not CUTE) FEMALE dog. This is an enormous insult to the woman. Gentiles were commonly referred to as dogs by ancient Israelites. Jesus apparently repeats his culture\u2019s stereotype. Calling a woman a dog is offensive in every language.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here we begin to run into deeper waters. The first thing to question is the division of Christ into a pre- and post-paschal Jesus, as though there are two of him, before and after his Resurrection. It is true that Jesus, in the Incarnation, \u201cemptied himself\u201d and submits to various human limitations. He gets tired. He needs to breathe, and sleep, and eat and use the restroom. But it does not follow that he therefore accepts ethnic stereotyping that dehumanizes other people. That, above all, is the thing to question here: the suggestion that Jesus intends to viciously insult the woman and that Jesus, blithely accepting Israelite ethnocentrism, casually does so on that basis. Stick a pin in that, for we shall come back to it. This is the heart and soul of the problematic reading of the text, though other things are questionable as well.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Was Jesus really all \u201ctalk to the hand\u201d and racist towards the Canaanite woman? Source: Jean Germain Drouais, Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We continue:<\/p>\n

And this is the only woman in the Gospels who beat Jesus at his own game of arguments and challenge and riposte. To everyone\u2019s amazement, including Jesus, the woman retorts with cleverness: \u201cLord [note the honorific title], even dogs eat crumbs that fall from their master\u2019s table\u201d (Matthew 15:27). She is the only person in the Gospels who proves to be a good match for Jesus\u2019 wit.<\/p>\n

The fact is not lost on Jesus. He responds with the equivalent of \u201ctouch\u00e9!\u201d and grants her request. The daughter is healed instantly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I appreciate the fact that this reading grasps Jesus\u2019 delight in\u00a0badinage\u00a0<\/a>with the Woman and that he does indeed express amazement (though not, I argue, surprise) at her. He has done it before in the gospel. And he has been \u201cbested\u201d in such badinage too, most notably when his mother calls him to reveal himself as Messiah at the wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11), he deflects, and she (with her eyes on him as she addresses servants in an \u201cI dare you to refuse\u201d tone of voice) says, \u201cDo whatever he tells you.\u201d That too is Middle Eastern\u00a0dickering\u00a0<\/a>at its finest and there too, he is bested by a determined peasant woman who will not back down with her importunate prayer\u2014exactly the kind of prayer he loves and commends (Luke 11:5-8).<\/p>\n

But something else is lurking in my reader\u2019s words and it is important to tease it out. It is the suggestion (also notable in Fr Martin\u2019s remarks\u2014see\u00a0my previous column<\/a>) that Jesus is learning here: that the Canaanite Woman is the teacher and Jesus is the learner.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The prepaschal Jesus was ethnocentric to first century Israel. He called her a dog\u2014you know what he called her. Not a female pet dog. A vermin little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":101323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[836],"class_list":["post-101321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-weekly-stuff"],"yoast_head":"\nCould Jesus Learn Things?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Could Jesus Learn Things?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-12T07:49:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-12T13:58:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/71\/2017\/10\/Jean-Germain_Drouais_-_The_Woman_of_Canaan_at_the_Feet_of_Christ_-_WGA06696808.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"808\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"539\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html\",\"name\":\"Could Jesus Learn Things?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-12T07:49:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-12T13:58:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Could Jesus Learn Things?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Could Jesus Learn Things?","description":"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Could Jesus Learn Things?","og_description":"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2017-10-12T07:49:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-12T13:58:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":808,"height":539,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/71\/2017\/10\/Jean-Germain_Drouais_-_The_Woman_of_Canaan_at_the_Feet_of_Christ_-_WGA06696808.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html","name":"Could Jesus Learn Things?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-10-12T07:49:55+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-12T13:58:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"The second part of my series on Jesus and the Canaanite Woman.\u00a0 Here's a taste, read the rest at the link: Lt us continue with my reader\u2019s remarks: The","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/jesus-learn-things.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Could Jesus Learn Things?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}