Daily Reading, 11/10

Today's reading is Matthew 15:21-28. Here we have another case of Jesus breaking down barriers and surprising those around him. Many of you may have heard this passage before, but I'm pasting it below (taken from The Message):

"From there Jesus took a trip to Tyre and Sidon. They had hardly arrived when a Canaanite woman came down from the hills and pleaded, "Mercy, Master, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly afflicted by an evil spirit."

Jesus ignored her. The disciples came and complained, "Now she's bothering us. Would you please take care of her? She's driving us crazy."

Jesus refused, telling them, "I've got my hands full dealing with the lost sheep of Israel."
Then the woman came back to Jesus, went to her knees, and begged. "Master, help me."
He said, "It's not right to take bread out of children's mouths and throw it to dogs."
She was quick: "You're right, Master, but beggar dogs do get scraps from the master's table."
Jesus gave in. "Oh, woman, your faith is something else. What you want is what you get!" Right then her daughter became well. "

Upon first reading, Jesus's initial reaction to the woman may seem somewhat surprising. It's not exactly welcoming, is it? He first wants to ignore her, because he has his hands full helping the Israelite people, but then when she does finally get him to answer her, he calls her a dog! Not the warm and fuzzy picture of Jesus we might be expecting.

Furthermore, the woman approaching Jesus was in a doubly low position-she was 1. a woman and 2. a Gentile. She would have been totally outside of anyone's concern at this point. We're told at the beginning of the passage that they're travelling in Tyre and Sidon. This is significant because it was a Gentile (i.e. non-Israelite) territory. Thus it's not so surprising that they ran into a Gentile woman while there.

Jesus doesn't seem to want to deal with this woman. He's trying to ignore her, likely to get on to wherever it was he was going. And wasn't his mission to Israel in the first place? Nevertheless, he hears the woman out and is perhaps surprised by her response. He tries to turn her away-you don't take what you're giving to your children (Israel) and give it to the dogs (Gentiles). But she had some wit about her, and turned it around. It's not often in the Gospels that we see someone responding to Jesus in this way-especially not from a woman! Nevertheless she does and Jesus heals her daughter.

To be honest, I've never been completely sure of what to make of this passage as a whole. On the one hand, Jesus heals the woman's daughter and thus does something for a person who's completely out of his society-a Gentile woman. On the other hand, he wants to ignore her and calls her a dog! It's only after she responds to him that he heals her daughter.

What do you think of this passage? Help me out here!