A Curious Girl: Just call me a Biblical Scholar

Matthew 15:21-28

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."

Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."

He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."

The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.

He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Along with some other things, yesterday at Christian Focus, a speaker spoke on this passage. His interpretation was... interesting :) He said that the woman managed to 'change Jesus's mind', which doesn't really make sense to me in light of the rest of the Bible. Actually it was a fantastic session, I enjoyed listening to other members challenging this man's views, and hearing his responses. Actually I liked him, he struck me as very honest and certainly more correct about some things than slightly more orthodox speakers I've heard :)

Anyway, at the end of the evening, in the bar, I offered my own interpretation of this story. A couple of people looked at me funny, but no response. I really didn't think that my interpretation was too unorthodox, so here goes - if you have any strong objections please do sign my guestbook or even do that if you totally agree and want to tell me :)

So, in this passage, Jesus does a curious thing. Firstly, he seems to refuse to help someone, in fact, actively ignore her. Quite unJesuslike. Secondly, he seems to tell her that because she's not Jewish, he won't help her. "I'm a Jewish saviour for Jewish people - there's nothing for you here!" All the interpretations of this I've heard seem to be along the lines of Jesus telling her he can't help her because she's not Jewish, and the woman telling him that he can, and him saying "All right then" and helping her. Was it supposed to be a Bible quiz?

So why exactly does he imply that she's a 'dog' rather than a child of God? My interpretation is that he's criticising her attitude rather than her descent. Whilst the Jews would view Jesus's miracles as a sign of his divinity, a Gentile at the time might have simply thought of Jesus as a magician, and wanted the miracles without the message. Not all Gentiles, necessarily - I'm reminded of the Centurion who asked for healing for his servant - but certainly some of them. He's warning her off that sort of attitude - telling her that his miracle would be wasted if she was going to act like a dog (who wants food and play), rather than a child (who can grow and mature).

She doesn't respond with, "I'm not a dog" or some such response. From her response, she recognises his authority (their masters' table) and implies that she knows there is more to what she is asking than simply imploring a magician to heal her daughter.

First years. They're great. Useful too - when they go into lectures we know that we've got another ten minutes before lectures start, to spend lazing around the concourse and eating cookies. Mmm, cookies.

To think we were like that once... All those many months ago...

I'm still v. confused on matters pertaining to my faith etc. I went to a Quaker meeting last week. Very nice but a bit too quiet if you ask me :) I dunno...

Aah, I should go eat some lunch, and then be extremely busy doing... something.

Random word for today: heterodox

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