“First let the children eat all they want,”
He told her,
“for it is not right to take the children’s bread
and toss it to the dogs.”

A frazzled young mother locked her sick toddler in the car while she ran into the pharmacy to pick up an emergency prescription. You can guess what happened. She left the keys in the ignition. It was late at night, she didn’t have a cell phone and the pharmacy had locked the doors and pulled down its metal shutters by the time she realized what she had done. She could see her daughter through the windows and could hear her crying. It drove her nearly frantic and she tearfully prayed for help.

A few moments later a young man walked passed and turned to her in curiosity. “Can you help me?” she begged him desperately. “I’ve locked my keys in the car and my daughter is in there!” He nodded and looked around the empty parking lot until he found an old coat hanger that he straightened.
She had never seen anything like it. It was simply amazing how easily he got into her car. A quick look at the door and window, a couple of twists of the coat hangar and bam! Just like that the door was open.

When she saw the door open she threw her arms around him. “Oh,”she said,“the Lord sent you! You’re such a good man. You must be a Christian!”
He stepped back and said, “No ma’am, I’m not a Christian, and I’m not a good man. I just got out of prison yesterday.”

She jumped and hugged him again, “Bless the Lord!” she cried, “He sent me a professional.”

You have to wonder how this woman would have treated this man under different circumstances. Had she first learned that he had just got out of prison would she have asked him for help? If he had introduced himself as an ex-con and asked her for help do you think she would have helped him?

Scripture is very clear we are to

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

We are

“to love our neighbor as ourselves.”

James adds if you do this

“you are doing right, BUT if you show favoritism you sin.”

We are supposed to treat everyone alike, but the truth is we don’t. We don’t because of a number of reasons. Sometimes we differentiate in how we treat another because there is a less than good past history with that person. Sometimes we discriminate based on a person’s appearance, sexual orientation, wealth, position, social class or race. Truth be told. Since 9/11 we have all looked at a person who appears to be from the Middle East or is of the Islamic faith very differently.

This brings me to Jesus’ response to the Greek woman born in Syrian Phoenicia. She came to Jesus to beg Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus responds,

“First let the children eat all they want,”

He told her,

“for it is not right to take the children’s bread
and toss it to the dogs.”

Is it me or does it seem that Jesus is being rude? It is certainly not the type of response we find in similar stories. Granted the woman is not a Jew. She is a Gentile. Gentiles and Jews got along back in Jesus’ time as well as the Jews and Palestinians get along today. The Jews referred to the Gentiles as dogs and commonly insulted them by calling them such to their face.

Jesus did not come right out and call her a dog but He certainly inferred it. What could possibly be Jesus’ reason?

What shocks me even more is the woman’s response. She doesn’t argue with Jesus. She doesn’t demand equal treatment. She doesn’t imply that Jesus’ priorities are screwed up. It appears that she is not the least bit offended by Jesus’ words. She responds by stating the obvious back to Him.

“Yes, Lord,”

She replied,

“but even the dogs under the table
eat the children’s crumbs.”

Jesus replies,

“For such a reply, you may go:
the demon has left your daughter.”

Her response tells Jesus a lot. She is a Gentile who sees Jesus as Lord. She is a Gentile who knows the rabbinic teaching concerning the eschatological banquet that is the heavenly banquet referred to in Psalm 23. The teaching I make reference to is that the children at the banquet are the Israelites and dogs at the banquet are the Gentiles. The dogs would be allowed to eat, but not as well as the children of the household.

The woman outwits Jesus. Jesus seemed to insult her by calling her a dog and she twisted the reference to place herself among those who would be a part of God’s heavenly banquet.

The story leaves me wondering was Jesus testing the woman to see whether or not the woman would persist in believing that He had the power to heal. Was He testing her faith?

Everyone has faith. Atheists have faith. They have faith that there is no God. Pets possess faith. They display utmost faith in their master, as do children in their parents. Sick people display faith. They go to a doctor who took courses with names most people can’t pronounce. They receive a prescription which can’t be read. They take it to a pharmacist having faith that the pharmacist can read it and fill it. The pharmacist gives them medicine that costs and arm and a leg. All this is done with trusting sincere faith that they will get better. It is not faith that made them better. It is not faith that heals or saves anyone. It is the object of our faith that saves.

That’s why the object of saving faith must be Jesus Christ. That is why the woman’s daughter was healed. The object of this woman’s faith was Jesus.

What is the object of your faith? Do you place your trust in the things others judge you by, wealth, class, social status, appearance, or race? Or do you place your trust, as the Greek woman did, in Jesus? What battles are you fighting? What struggles are you wrestling with? What fears are causing you to worry? What demons are robbing you of peace? What would it take for you to be like the Greek woman, who knew that the crumbs from God were more powerful than anything the world could give her?

Come to God with faith so you may leave hearing the words,

“For such a reply, you may go:
the demon has left your daughter.”

Amen