Dog

Jesus called her a dog.

The Syrophoenician mother in Mark 7

Was desperate for her daughter to be healed

So she went to Jesus and fell at his feet

And he called her a dog!

 

Scripture tells us that

Jesus hadn’t wanted anyone to know that he was in Gentile territory,

So maybe Jesus wanted a break.

But the mother didn’t give him one.

Instead, she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

In response, Jesus did what absolutely no one expected.

He said, “Let the children (the Jews) be fed first.

For it is not fair to take the children’s food and

Throw it to the dogs (the Gentiles).”

He called her a dog.

 

Maybe Jesus was tired.

And grumpy.

And he had a tongue slip.

As a Jew, he’d probably heard racial slurs for the Gentiles

And had them floating around in his head

Like annoying song lyrics that we wish we could forget.

And in this moment,

Maybe one of those slurs slipped out of his mouth.

 

Don’t fret. I’m not doubting Jesus’s perfection.

On the contrary,

I think that Jesus was perfect because he was perfectly human and

Perfectly divine.

We all have days when we’re tired.

And grumpy.

And have tongue slips.

Because we’re human.

But what Jesus didn’t do that so many of us simple humans do

Was stay in that negative space.

Because the woman answered with deep humility by saying,

“Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”

Jesus changed his mind and employed his full divinity to  

Heal her daughter.

Maybe Jesus realized that he had been quietly called out

And responded by doing the right thing.

 

I don’t know.

All that I know is that Jesus called the Syrophoenician woman a dog.

And that it’s strange.

Yet, somehow, I love him all the more.

 

Amen.