In the Gospel of Mark, the woman in our story is called a "Syrophoenician." Matthew, however, calls her a "Canaanite." That's easier to say than "Syrophoenician" but there's something more important going on with that change. The Canaanites are not just Gentiles but enemies. They are the people who were to be driven out of the promised land by the Israelites and who fought against God's covenant people. There could be peace with other people of the Near East, but not with the nations of Canaan. In the Old Testament the people of Israel often got seduced into the worship of Ba`al and other gods of the Canaanites.

Jesus is a Jew who knows about those old conflicts between his ancestors and the people of Canaan. Now he has left his home territory of Galilee and gone north toward Gentile coun…