Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Now a Canaanite woman came from those borders and began to cry out, «Lord, Son of David, have pity on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon». But Jesus did not answer her, not even a word. So his disciples approached him and said, «Send her away: see how she is shouting after us». Then Jesus said to her, «I was sent only to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel».
But the woman was already kneeling before Jesus and said, «Sir, help me!». Jesus answered, «It is not right to take the bread from the children and throw it to the little dogs». The woman replied, «It is true, sir, but even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table». Then Jesus said, «Woman, how great is your faith! Let it be as you wish». And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Source: http://evangeli.net/gospel/
Analysis
Today's passage may be the greatest proof of Jesus' humanity, racism. In summary, Jesus went away from the regions of Tyre and Sidon, then a Canaanite woman came and begged Jesus to heal her daughter, even calling Him the Son of David. Jesus ignored her, and His disciples asked Him to send her off, Jesus told the lady that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman kept kneeling and begged, thus Jesus chastised by saying that it is not right to take a bread from the children and throw it to dogs. The lady then answered that even the dogs eat crumbs of the bread. Jesus was astounded and remarked how great her faith was, thus her daughter was healed.
Is Jesus racist? Does Jesus favor Jews over other people or see Israel as the chosen nation and thus superior than all other nations? In fact, is Jesus a xenophobic racist nationalist? It seems that He was, at the time being. This is proven by Jesus comparing the gentiles to dogs, which are generally considered to be dirty animals at that time. So, does this tell us that Jesus is a false prophet? No, it merely shows that Jesus is in the end, still human. Furthermore, the message of the truth and His Jewish heritage got mixed up, and thus His attachment to Judaism led Him to speak of these racist statements. However, Jesus did change His beliefs when He saw the persistence of the woman, and thus healed her immediately.
What message can we pick from this passage, if at all? This passage tells us more about Jesus than His teachings, as such what it tells us is that we must always understand that Jesus is human, that suffers greatly at that. We use to see Jesus as the ultimate savior, the bread of life, as the Son of God. Yet, we forget and ignore the hidden sides of Christ, the suffering and broken sides of Jesus as a man. He was racist and arrogant as it seems, but it is only because the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. Without a home, Jesus would of course try to find somewhere for a home, yet He finds no comfort in any place. Attachment over attachment makes it no better, until He decides to let everything go, and die in our sake. That is all I have to say, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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