Jesus’ attitude and language used in the narrative can be shocking to the reader. How can our Lord and Savior treat anyone in the way He is portrayed in this narrative? The pagan woman was looking for her daughter to be cured. Instead of immediately helping her, He calls her a dog, thus insulting her. Was Jesus forced to confront His own prejudice? But how can the savior of the world, whom God sent for all, have any kind of prejudice. Is this a Markian example of showing us that Jesus was human? The woman taught Jesus a lesson that He must drop any earthly prejudices that He may have picked up and offer mercy, which He does.
Because of the change in attitude, the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Gentile woman and curing her daughter has the literal meaning that Jesus’ love and grace are available to all people, Gentile and Jew. Unfortunately, throughout the history of the church, the church has learned how to reverse that lesson. In many churches, Jews are not received with gladness but rather with antisemitism. Not only are Jews steered away but also people of different races. The motto of such a church is that Jesus is available to everyone, just not here.
A symbolic approach is to realize that there are people in the world who are searching for Jesus. It is the responsibility of the church and its members to greet these people and help them in their journey to seek out God. Jesus’ grace and love are indeed meant for all people. It is the responsibility of the disciples of Jesus to help others to find Him. The woman knew that she wanted to find the LORD. Her benefit was that she knew of the Messiah.
The mini-parable of the dog tells us that there are people we know are searching for God’s love and grace. Instead of ignoring them, like one does when the dog sits at the dinner table, one must embrace that person and introduce them to the love of God through Jesus.
Sadly, I have experienced what the woman experienced in the church. I am a Hebrew who came to accept the offer of forgiveness of sin through the acts of Jesus Christ. In other words, I believe that Jesus is the way to Heaven. For the church, that should be a time of rejoicing! Instead, I ran into antisemitism at 7 different churches. Even as the pastor of 5 churches, there was always someone (usually a lot more) who disliked me because of my heritage.
Another example was at one of the churches I served. I was told that I was not permitted to evangelize people in the lower-income apartments in the town. Why not, I asked? The answer was, “we don’t want their kind here.” I found this answer to be shocking. Naturally, I knocked on doors in the apartment complex and invited the people to know Christ. The church people were not happy with me.
Jesus came to save the world! Also, Jesus was NEVER A CHRISTIAN. That’s right!! Jesus was a devout Jew who wanted to reform His religion. He selected twelve Jews to be His disciples who took the Gospel out into the world. Jesus appointed a Jew named Paul to take the Gospel out into the world. For any person inside a church to reject another person for any reason is an unchristian act. Jesus came for the world!! Remember that the next time a person enters your church who might consider undesirable. Jesus came for that person also.
May the LORD bless you in your learning and studying of His Word.
