praxistheologia.com

Today in ethics Matthew chapters 14 and 15 were discussed. Namely the three pericopes of: Feeding the 5000, the Caananite Woman, and Feeding of the 4000. If I can draw a card from the African Independent Churches (AIC) [1] I’d like to suggest two things.

1: That the three pericopes are actually one single Chiasm.
2: That in light of the Chiasm, an understanding of Jesus as a socratic, sarcastic teacher is merited.

In other words, one reading of the text understands the three parables as one whole rhetorical unit in three parts, with the chiasmic hinge being the story of the caananite woman. It is a chiasm featuring first the feeding of 5000 and the oft-overshadowed 12 baskets of leftovers. Then the story of a woman, satisfied with the abundance of Jesus’ leftovers, often overshadowed by Jesus’ apparent insult. Finally, the feeding of 4000 which again overshadows the detail of seven baskets worth of leftovers. Additionally, the chiasm switches at the hinge point from Jews to Gentiles. As if the chiasm intends to demonstrate in the 4000, the over-abundance of Jesus’ ministry as personalized and personified in the caananite woman. Furthermore, one reading of this text understands that Jesus is not calling the woman a dog out of cruelty. Rather, he is utilizing socratic irony, feigning ignorance of his own over-abundance, using sarcasm to goad the Caananite woman into realizing her faith in his over-abundance. This AIC interpretation of Jesus’ comments to the woman not only highlights the importance of spiritual pedagogy in it’s myriad of forms, it demonstrates the way in which the revelation of abundance in the midst of culture’s death-dealing mentality of scarcity must be a personal choice and a personified faith as Gentiles –Christians– leave the table with our healing crumbs and the words “you have great faith! Your request is granted.”[2]

[1]: Dube, Musa, Postcolonial Feminist Interpretation of the Bible.
[2]: Matthew 15:28, New Living Translation.