The incident between Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman can seem a bit out of place in some ways. First of all, Jesus is up in Gentile country – more or less modern day Lebanon. He’s minding his own business when a Syrophoenician woman shows up begging Him to heal her daughter, who is demon-possessed. He says something that, on the surface, sounds like He just compared her to a dog. She claps back with a line about crumbs. He heals the girl.

So who was this woman, and why was Jesus apparently rude to her? Mark tells us she was a Greek-Syrophoenician woman. Matthew goes even further… She was Canaanite. Why does that matter? Well, because that word hadn’t been a normal way to describe someone’s ethnicity for a VERY long time by the time Matthew wrote it down. It’s one of Matthew’s most loaded outsider labels that pulls straight from Israel’s oldest conflict narratives. Matthew really wants us to feel just how far outside Israel’s covenant story she appears to stand.

The woman, labeled as an ancient enemy of Israel, now uses Messianic language to address Jesus. She says “LORD, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The disciples urge Jesus to “send her away” because she keeps crying out after them. Whether they meant to dismiss her outright or grant her request quickly so she’d stop, is not clear, but maybe it doesn’t matter. What is clear in the scene is that her persistence is a problem to the disciples. They just want the noise to stop.

First, Jesus says “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then he tells her: “First let the children get their fill, for it’s not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” The imagery of the scene has Israel is pictured as the children and the woman is still, in this metaphor, among the dogs.

“Onmly” is restrictive. Jesus is doing one thing. Only. But first established priority without restriction.

She has a pretty good comeboack: “Yes, Master,” she says, “but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” She doesn’t reject him outright; She says yes, Master, and steps fully inside the image He gave her.

Then she points out something already there, built into the picture Jesus painted. The dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs without taking the children’s bread away from them.

Jesus replies immediately. “Because of this word, go your way! The demon has left your daughter.” Mark and Matthew tell us her answer revealed great faith and correct reasoning about the abundance within Jesus.

Later Jesus will heal a deaf man in the Decapolis, a largely Gentile area. This is our first view of Jesus’ widening ministry. The woman receives mercy from Israel’s Messiah in a way that fits the blessing Israel’s Scriptures had always envisioned reaching the nations. Isaiah saw it. Genesis promised it all the way back to Abraham. She just happened to be standing there when it showed up in dusty sandals.

And she got there the same way it was always going to happen. Not by bypassing Israel’s Messiah but by recognizing Him.

THAT’S what this weird little episode is about….

I am indebted to Diane from “She’s So Scripture” for the explanation.

Because, short term, we need to win in November or descend into fascism. But this is not a political blog so I will leave it at that.

Instead, I’ll recommend some othe reading: Andrew Spring writes:

From the very first words to the very last verse, the writings of the Bible document the best and worst of human action and belief. It is a work of literature that can do tremendous harm—but also tremendous good.

This uncomfortable fact is usually lost on those of us who left the religion about Jesus—Christianity—in search of the religion of Jesus. (The former is the invention of rich men trying to control humanity, the latter is the radical and world-changing spirituality and ethical living preached by an ancient prophet.)

The bible is not one book – it’s a library. The Bible is a collection of writings, and the word comes from the Greek biblia, which means “the books,” plural. It’s sort of like saying The Library.

It would be like asking what your favorite Beatles song is and saying Abbey Road. Clearly you don’t know what you’re talking about, because Abbey Road is not one song, but a collection of songs—just as the Bible is not one writing but a collection of writings.

But unlike Abbey Road, each of the writings of the Bible have different authors. (I double checked: almost all the songs on Abbey Road were written by both Lennon and McCartney, except three that were written by George or Ringo.²) And each writing was done in a different location, with different audiences and—wait for it—different purposes.

Perhaps some Christians refuse to acknowledge this, because if the Bible is a collection of writings, that means somebody had to put them together.Looked at through this lens, the Bible becomes much more human—and much more prone to error.

Google Andrew Spring to read more. He can be controversial but that’s good, it makes you think.

There is also a substack post called “She’s So Scripture”