Jesus and the gentile woman
Yes, the scripture says Syrophoenician woman but essentially I think the point is that she is a gentile, not the Jew that Jesus had come to pursue first in his work. It’s an interesting story in the aftermath of the story just before. Jesus disciples didn’t wash their hands before dinner and that ticked some folks off because they were eating with unclean hands and uncleanness was a bad thing. Jesus said that we needed to get over judging based on the outside stuff making people unclean, it was the inside stuff. Now he has a chance to out that into action and the outside of this gentile woman just doesn’t cut it. (Maybe gentile-ness goes deeper?) This woman seeks out Jesus for healing her daughter with an unclean spirit; Jesus says essentially that she’s not on the list of folks to get healing so “no.” Anyone with children is hardly surprised that the woman will not take no for an answer. I can remember my own mother (and father) standing up for me over the years. I’ve done it myself as has Linda for our kids. A parent simply does not back down so easily. Not only that but she makes a good argument and Jesus backs down. Yes, I said it, Jesus backs down. What does that teach us about God’s giving nature? About who Jesus is? About who we are called to be? That is the stuff that is dancing with me tonight as the message edges get sanded a bit…
