Children, not dogs!

Reflecting on Mark 7:24-30

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” (Mark 7:27)
As a Jesus follower, I see all people as children of God, made in God’s image.
We are all equally human, and no one should be treated as animals.
Throughout history humans have naturally looked down on others.
We love our own kind, but we demean others as less than us, less than human.
In ancient times, dogs were not tame and much-loved pets.
They were mangy mongrels, flea-ridden scavengers.
To call someone a dog was a commonly used insult.
Today people might still use dog-related insults.
For example, offspring of a female dog, or a mutt or a cur

So here we have Jesus comparing this non-Jewish woman to a dog.
The Jews are seen as God’s children, and Gentiles as scrap scavengers.
This does not sound like Jesus to me; it doesn’t make sense.
It also doesn’t fit with how Jesus relates to Gentiles elsewhere.
For example, He praises the faith of a Roman centurion.
In this story again, I give Jesus the benefit of the doubt.
There must be something going on that helps make sense of it.
If Jesus really thought of her as a dog, He would not have helped her.

In Jesus’s day, the Jews were not the only ones who looked down on others.
Mark tells us that this was “a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia” (Mark 7:26).
Matthew tells us that she was “a Canaanite woman” (Matthew 15:22).
Somehow Greek and Canaanite, they had their own views on Jews.
Imagine how the people in that region talked about the Jews.
This may even have been a common saying in that region, about the Jews.
‘Don’t give to those Jewish dogs what your own children deserve.’

I suspect this ‘dog’ language was not new to this woman.
My sense is that Jesus is quoting the woman to herself.
He is exposing her judgmental and hypocritical heart.
How does it feel to be treated like a dog?
And why is she how asking a ‘dog’ for help?
Jesus is not being cruel, He is revealing her heart to her.
And her response indicates that she gets it.
She does not respond in angry pride, but in desperate humility.
‘Sure, I am a dog, but even dogs deserve scraps!’

Jesus is giving this woman a taste of her own medicine.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2)

This story illustrates how Jesus goes deeper, to the heart.
He shows us our lack of love, and our desperate need for love.
He humbles us when our arrogance elevates us over others.
He brings down the proud and raises up the humble – to the same level.
He heals and helps all who come to Him in humble desperation.
Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, male and female, Pharisee and prostitute.
He deals with each one as a child of God in need of grace.

Who do I look down on, or think of as less than me?
We all have types of people (we provide the labels) that we think less of.
Some we actively insult, others we ignore as not worth our attention.
As Jesus followers we need to STOP ignoring, rejecting or demeaning others.
Stop treating some as dogs, and others as angels.
We are all one in Christ Jesus – loved, died for, forgiven, welcome!

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You do not treat us as dogs, but as God's much-loved children. May Your gracious love for all people humble me and expose my own lack of love for others. Show me where I am guilty of demeaning those You love. Help me to see them as God's children, and Your brothers and sisters, and mine too.