1Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, 2“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 6he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
8‘These people draw near to me with their mouth,
and honor me with their lips;
but their heart is far from me.
9And they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’”
10He summoned the multitude, and said to them, “Hear, and understand. 11That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
12Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”
13But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted. 14Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15Peter answered him, “Explain the parable to us.”
16So Jesus said, “Do you also still not understand? 17Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly and then out of the body? 18But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies. 20These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands doesn’t defile the man.”
21Jesus went out from there and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely possessed by a demon!”
23But he answered her not a word.
His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”
24But he answered, “I wasn’t sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
25But she came and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
26But he answered, “It is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
27But she said, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
29Jesus departed from there and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up on the mountain and sat there. 30Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them, 31so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the injured healed, the lame walking, and the blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.
32Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have continued with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”
33The disciples said to him, “Where could we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?”
34Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
35He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground; 36and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. 37They all ate and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over. 38Those who ate were four thousand men, in addition to women and children. 39Then he sent away the multitudes, got into the boat, and came into the borders of Magdala.
Some have mistakenly thought that Jesus' reference to His mother as "woman" was a terse, or even disrespectful, statement. This is likely true in today's culture, but apparently not so in the first century A.D. Several instances exist in the New Testament in which Jesus speaks to women in a respectful way, but uses the word "woman" in addressing them. The one usually mentioned is in John 2:4, when He says "Woman what does that have to do with you and me?" On the surface, this seems terse, but her response would not indicate this to be so. Mary told the servants to follow her son's instructions.
In John 4:21 Jesus encountered a woman at the well in Samaria, with whom He carries on a respectful theological dialogue. When the woman said that He must be a prophet because of His insight, He responds with the statement, "Woman, believe me that the hour is coming when people will not worship on Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem but in spirit and truth."
When Jesus addressed the Syro-Phoenician woman in Matthew 15:28, whose daughter was sick, He said to her, "Woman, great is your faith" and then He healed her daughter.
Luke 13:12 mentions a woman who was sick, bent over for eighteen years. Jesus observed this, before she even spoke, and said "Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity."
There is another instance in John 8:10, found only in later manuscripts, but could be an authentic story, in which He addresses a woman allegedly caught in adultery. Jesus is said to have said about her accusers who departed at His challenge, "Woman, where are they?" and so not a negative address due to His use of "woman."
When Jesus was on the cross, near His death (John 19:26), and desiring His mother to be cared for by the young man, John, He said to her "Woman, behold, your son! Then He said to the disciple, Behold your mother!"
Last of all, when Mary Magdalene approaches Jesus early in the morning at the tomb where He had been buried, and thinking He was a gardener, He says to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" (John 20:15)
All of these examples indicate that Jesus' use of the word "woman" was an acceptable noun of address, and in no way demeaning, representing a positive relationship.