24From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. 25For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet. 26The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27But Jesus said to her, "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs."
28And she answered and said to Him, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."
29Then He said to her, "For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter."
30And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
I have a tough time with this passage. It seems so out of character with the way I view Jesus. A footnote in my Bible explains that this is Jesus' only trip into Gentile territory and this woman is a Gentile. At the time, Jews often referred to Gentiles as dogs, though Jesus is toning down the typical degradation by referring to a dog which is more of a house pet.
It just seems that Jesus is being derogatory by referring to her as a dog, that he is being elitist by placing higher importance on the Children of Israel, that he has only a limited amount of compassion to go around, and that he is possibly testing her faith by riling her -- another trait I have a tough time attributing to Jesus. I don't feel God ever has a reason to test our faith. He knows our faith. I think any testing of faith we go through is done by Satan. Would God try to test our faith by trying to rile us?
So how do I accept and understand this passage? Have you ever seen a child eat? Any house dog knows the best spot is near the child when the family is eating. The dog will catch many crumbs from the child, and will sometimes get some of the best portions of the child's meal. Even though the meal is not prepared for the dog, the dog greedily accepts whatever portions he can get. Often the child doesn't understand what is good for him and casts his food away. In many households, that dog is as much a member of the family as the other children. Yet, the children get fed first.
Before Jesus started his mission, John was baptizing Jews and Gentiles alike. So I don't think Jesus was here to just call the Jews. It is obvious they are discussing who is worthy of receiving what God has to give. It is not good to give blessings to those who cannot recognize the blessing. In actuality, the answer is no one is worthy. Yet the parable of the sower said the seed is scattered everywhere, even on the poorest of soils. Even a Gentile's heart can be fertile soil. As the woman answered, she had faith that God's blessings were meant for everyone, even if she felt she should only be allowed the crumbs.
The children his coming was prepared for have not all accepted what Jesus brings. Some toss it aside not knowing what a blessing it is. Others who had no knowledge of his coming or purpose have learned and demonstrated their faith as this woman did. And sometimes when we ask for crumbs, we will get the choicest pieces as this woman who's daughter was made well.
We are all part of God's family. Even when we feel we are not worthy of God's blessings, God still loves us and has enough compassion to help everyone.
Even though I feel very good about the message of even the most unworthy of God's family being fed with God's blessings, I cannot explain away the negative way Jesus' statement seems to come across. I can only hope that this text is only a small portion of a calm discussion. That it wasn't just a snide remark out of the blue, but an intriguing discussion between the greatest Teacher and someone who should have had no understanding of God and his love, but who demonstrates a greater understanding than some of those who have been following Him in His ministries.