Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.
Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, “First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.”
“Good answer!” he said. “Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.” And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.
Bigotry on
its Head!Here you have it, the words every Jewish nationalist was waiting to hear from Jesus. The Jews are the children of God and the rest of the world are dogs. In our politically correct culture the woman would have certainly sued Jesus or at least gone on the talk show circuit decrying his racist bigotry.
I am sure white supremacist and other radically exclusivist groups love these words Jesus utters, but I am shocked. How ignoble, debasing and mean. The woman certainly understood the implied meaning and yet she replies with faith not anger. She had every right to be angry, to stand against the culture of domination and caste systems, but she does not. She responds with a desperate plea for mercy.
While I am still trying to figure out how to justify Jesus’ statement to the woman, Mark has slipped in the punch line. The Pharisees, the people who were the best of the chosen children, were oblivious to the things of God. The woman, despised and called a dog, refuses to leave the presence of God without a blessing. The unclean has become clean. Jesus sends the woman home to a restored and cleansed daughter. Once again the tables have been turned, the last becoming first.
Jesus, help me to live life with the integrity of the woman who refused to stop believing even when persecuted. Having you work in my life is more important to me than labels people affix to me. - Dan Jones
Dogs and Entitlement
How do you excuse Jesus for insulting a desperate woman by insinuating she is a dog!?
This is no modern urban term of endearment, “What’s up, dog?” or classic term of good fortune, “You lucky dog!” This was an insult reserved those considered morally or culturally inferior. Is the Son of God stooping to such prejudice?
Actually, Jesus performed miracles for several non-Jews without batting an eye at their cultural status. And, in fact, his deep compassion for Gentiles partially motivated the one time he turned violent, wrecking havoc among those selling sacrificial animals in the Temple. They had turned the one place in the Temple where non-Jews were allowed to worship, the Court of the Gentiles, into a boisterous market.
So why the insult in this situation?
I think Jesus wants this woman, and all of us, to remember that we cannot come to him with any hint of entitlement! I can never say to Jesus, “You owe me a miracle because you gave that person one.” Entitlement has become so much part of our modern mentality (at least in America) that it easily slips into our relationship with God. We feel he owes us.
I need to be reminded that God doesn’t owe me anything. I cannot come to him demanding that he do something or other for me. God invites me to come to boldly. Like this woman. He invites me to ask. He invites me to persist (like this woman who impressed Jesus with her humble comeback!).
However, God always acts based only on his character as a gracious and righteous God. He cannot be pressured or manipulated into anything. This means, asking and persisting in my requests, I must also trust whatever he chooses to give.
Lavishly Loving God, forgive me when my boldness turns into a demanding, entitlement attitude. In the midst of asking for many things, I reaffirm my trust in whatever answer you sovereignly choose to give. - Mike Leamon
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