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This New Testament mother could be the patron saint
for Women Who Speak Up. Those once taught that
the cardinal virtue was don’t-rock-the-boat admire
her and her tribe. She is feisty. And, though the Gospel
doesn’t record this detail, she probably wore a flashy red hat.
We don’t know what prompted her, any more than we
fully understand what made Rosa Parks keep her seat on the
bus. Maybe the Canaanite woman was tired of being dismissed
due to ethnicity and gender, or spending sleepless
nights with a sick child. Maybe her daughter had had a
seizure that morning, some hideous progression of her illness
that compelled Mom to say,
“Enough! I’ve had it!”
Nor do we know exactly what
drew her to Jesus: his other healings?
his compassion? If she expected
kindness, she must have been
disappointed by his rebuff. “But he
did not answer her at all” (Matthew
15:23, NRSV) is one of the Gospel’s
most chilling sentences.
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 Refusing to Give Up
This woman’s refusal to give up is
remarkable. Many of us would slink
away like wimps; she stands fast.
When the rudeness of the disciples
is added to Jesus’ silence, it must feel
like a brick wall toppling onto her
head. But driven by love, she persists.
To be fair to Jesus and his disciples, she comes at a bad time.
Mark’s comment sounds as if Jesus needs introvert time:
“He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he
was there” (7:24). People who crave solitude know what an
intrusion the Canaanite woman presents. She demonstrates
the boldness of those who have nothing to lose.
If Jesus denies her, it probably represents one more in a
long line of refusals. Yet how could she trudge back home
to her desperately ill daughter without trying?
Perhaps the high stakes are what make her conversation
with Jesus so direct and earthy. Indeed, she is one of the few
in Scripture who exchange clever banter with him.
When he slips into the metaphor of not throwing the children’s
food to the dogs, she keeps up. Robust and vital, she
can play the same game: “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27, NRSV).
His capitulation is marvelous to behold. Jesus can admit
he’s wrong; he had drawn the borders around his kingdom
too tightly. We can imagine him grinning and slapping his
forehead as he says, “Woman, great is your faith!”
The Canaanite woman lives on in contemporary whistleblowers:
• Erin Brockovich, who traced the illnesses of California
residents to leakage of toxic chromium 6 into the groundwater
from the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and won
the largest injury settlement in U.S. history: $333 million for
the sick people.
• Sherron Watkins, who alerted the public to the dirty
dealings of Enron.
• Barbara Blaine, who, with other survivors of pedophilia,
opened the curtain of secrecy shrouding
priests’ sexual abuse of children.
Countless anonymous women of
courage fight for children’s rights
to education and medical care,
attack the corporations that pollute
air and water, question whether war
resolves conflicts.
These women hand on the “outspoken”
gene as if in a grand matrilineage.
Seeing evil or oppression,
they speak, regardless of what it costs
them. They are not intimidated by
gatekeepers like the disciples, the stall
tactics of attorneys or those wanting
to preserve a corporation’s reputation.
They run the risk of looking
foolish; they easily admit they don’t
have “complete scientific data.”
And all of us are better because of them. Without the
Canaanite woman, we might never have glimpsed the petulant
or playful sides of Jesus. Without later whistleblowers,
the powerful would stay arrogantly entrenched and the
voiceless would sink lower on the human heap.
We can’t help wondering if the Canaanite woman’s daughter
followed in her footsteps. Was she forever deeply grateful
to Jesus for her cure? Did she call attention to injustice when
she saw it? Was she as fearless as her mom when her turn came
to speak up? Did she excel at witty verbal sparring, too?
In one sense, it’s speculation. But in another, we are all
daughters of the Canaanite woman, called to follow her
model. When opportunities arise, let’s exercise those vocal
cords. Let’s dust off the red hats.
Next: Silas
Kathy Coffey, mother of four, has won 13 writing awards from the Catholic Press
Association. She gives retreats and workshops internationally. Her newest books
are Women of Mercy (Orbis Press) and The Art of Faith (Twenty-Third Publications).
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