This doesn’t seem to fit with the loving, welcoming picture we have of Jesus, does it? Why would he compare an anxious mother to a dog, just because she’s a Gentile? Is He buying in to some sort of Jewish belief in ethnic superiority?

Well, we need to remember that in the days before Jesus’ earthly ministry, someone’s ethnic group and their religion were pretty much the same. Religious freedom within cultures didn’t exist. Instead, your culture revolved around what god or gods you worshipped – in fact, our word for “culture” is still closely related to the word “cult.”

So, by using such shocking words, Jesus was testing what this woman believed about Him and about God. He wanted to see if she just a person who worshipped lots of gods, but who was opportunistic enough to take advantage of a miracle-working Jewish rabbi who happened to be in the neighborhood. After all, a true polytheist would be quite willing to believe that the God of the Jews had power – she just wouldn’t necessarily believe that the Hebrews’ God was any more or less important than any other.

But Jesus will not share His glory with anyone else. Instead, His words of challenge require this woman to take a side, to declare her allegiance. And she passes the test in a way that demonstrates the necessity of complete submission to Christ. She is willing to admit that she is no more worthy of God’s blessings than a dog is worthy of having table food. But in her humility, she is still willing to ask for the scraps – because she knows that the leftovers from the table of the true and living God are worth more than all the sacrificial feasts offered to all the false gods all over the world.

Is this the kind of humility we have when we approach our Lord Jesus? Are we aware of our divided loyalties, of our selfish desires? Are we willing to confess those sins, and to turn from them, submitting ourselves fully to His will for our lives, letting Him bless us and our families as He chooses, doing what He thinks is best for us?

The good news is that when this pagan woman humbled herself before Jesus, He graciously blessed her. And He promises to do the same thing for all who share such an exclusive, humble trust in Him.

Mark 7:24-30 (NASB)

24 And from there He arose and went away to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it; yet He could not escape notice.
25 But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, immediately came and fell at His feet.
26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 And He was saying to her, “Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
28 But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.”
29 And He said to her, “Because of this answer go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having departed.