Jesus’ words addressed to the Syrophoenician woman in today’s Gospel are very harsh: “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” This woman is a non-Jew, a Gentile. She came to Jesus asking him to heal her daughter: “she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.” This request seemed to provoke Jesus’ harsh response. The meaning of this sentence is food for the Jewish children should not be thrown to the Gentile “dogs.” This woman challenges Jesus and begs for at least a few scraps: “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Jesus recognizes her great faith and heals her daughter by driving out the demon.
The Gospel reading yesterday would have shocked Jesus’ original hearers when he declared all food clean, thereby doing away with the Kosher food Laws in Torah, specifically, the book of Leviticus. Today’s reading shocks us. Jesus was challenged by this woman to come to a deeper understanding of his mission and his Father’s will. Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. On the human level Jesus had to break out of his cultural or religious blinders that caused him at first saw his mission and his message of salvation as limited to only his fellows Jews. God the Father through this Gentile woman opened his eyes to the will of his Heavenly Father: His mission was to all people and nations:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Jesus puts the will of his heavenly Father before his own will and way. What are the cultural and perhaps even religious viewpoints or customs in our own day that blind us to the will of our Heavenly Father?
Image: “New Nodaway Humane Society @ Nodaway County Fair 2009. www.nodawayhumanesociety.org” by billnwmsu is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.