I HAVE COMPASSION FOR THESE PEOPLE
Mark 7 and 8
“First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
It sounds like Jesus was quoting what Jews would assert, boasting of their special relationship with God and calling gentiles dogs.
The woman was only focused on what is important. You want me to be a dog? I’ll be a dog. But even dogs deserve the compassion of their Maker. The woman saw herself and her daughter as a part of the family, even as dogs under the table.
But of course Jesus does not hold the racist view that he quoted. He had told the Jews that the inner self is all that matters, not skin colour. While his primary mission was to come as the Messiah that God had foretold, his foray into the gentile regions loudly demonstrates that the blessing of his mission is, as God told Abraham, for the nations.
The irony of it all is that those who loudly claim their position as “the children” choose not to recognise the Son sent from God while “the dogs” saw for the first time how “he has done everything well”.
So why didn’t Jesus give the Pharisees the sign that they sought? Because they sought to discredit him, not to endorse him.
Jesus’ brief sojourn in gentile lands underlines the truth that his compassion is for all who need their God.
“I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance.”