But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. Mark 7:27
I have often wondered why Jesus would say such a thing to
this hurting woman. From the onset, I clear the fact that Jesus was not a
mean person; He wasn't trying to demean her person. The Jews regarded
Gentiles as dogs, and in this story, Jesus was going to debunk this
assertion by showing the faith of a woman who ordinarily was put in the
class of dogs by the Jews; Jesus knew what her response was going to be,
therefore it was suitable for His purpose of dealing with the
misconception that some were dogs. She became the second Gentile whose
faith Jesus eulogised, the centurion being the first.
Remember also that there had been, and in fact, still
exists a great animosity existing between the Jews and other nations
around the world; in Ephesians 2:14, we are shown that Jesus broke down
the middle wall of partition that segregated the Gentiles from the Jews
in the temple.
In my opinion, this is the object lesson that Jesus meant
to bring by this event. Jesus came to deal, in part, with the enmity
between Jews and Gentiles; today, you have Jews and Gentiles worshipping
in the same assembly as one people under one God, the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Wonderful! The distinguishing factor has ceased to be one's
race, but one's faith. Jesus was showing the uniting force of faith. A
woman who was regarded by religion as a dog, Jesus exalted by her
faith.
Toni
