God’s Ever-Expanding Table

A woman has a daughter tormented by a demon. She hears about Jesus, seeks  him out, and pleads with him to pity her child. Who could turn away? Yet Jesus  dismisses her, saying dogs do not get the children’s food. Is Jesus really comparing her to a dog begging at table? Is he turning away because his mission to  the house of Israel limits who benefits from his healing power? What was Jesus  thinking? 

Three things can be said here. 

First of all, it is probable he was not literally calling her a dog any more than  we are when we say about someone, “Every dog has its day.” Second, it is possible that at this time Jesus understood his mission as taking care of his own people first. We are told he grew in wisdom. Would this not  include a growth in fully understanding his Father’s will and how far it went? Third, is it not even possible that this was a moment of growth, that the woman’s faith pushed him further along in widening his mission, and in recognizing  that everyone was welcome at the table of the kingdom, and that his work was to  respond wherever he found faith? 

Isaiah reminds his Jewish listeners that God will bring the foreigners who  join themselves to the Lord to his holy mountain, where they will worship. Paul  reminds his Gentile listeners that God’s gifts and call to the Jews are irreversible.  In a word, everyone has a place at the table. 

Consider/Discuss

• Do I believe that Jesus grew in wisdom and strength and favor?
• Are there any groups that I tend to see as not belonging at the table  of the Lord? 
• Do I take seriously the power of faith, my faith? 

Responding to the Word

We pray to look beyond categories of nationality, ethnicity, class, gender, or  any other arbitrary dividing line we put up to exclude others from the mercy of  God and from being treated with justice, compassion, and forgiveness. We ask for  the grace to respond to others as we would have God respond to us.