You think of Jesus, appropriately, as compassionate. Why then, as Mark 7:24–30 records, when a woman is crying to him desperately for healing for her daughter, does Jesus tell her that it’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs? It seems out of character.
Jesus came as the shepherd of the lost sheep of Israel. A gentile woman pleads for mercy. Jesus may well have been avoiding the crowds of Israel. He had withdrawn with his disciples after John’s death (Mark 6:30–31), only to be followed by the crowds, whom he healed and fed. The withdrawal may also have defused and postponed confrontations with the Pharisees and other leaders of Israel (Mark 7:1), because his time had not yet come. In any case, Jesus is outside the bounds of Israel, in the vicinity of Tyre, in relative seclusion with his disciples. The Canaanite, whom Mark identifies as a Greek, someone outside the community of God’s covenant people, begs Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter.
Jesus responds with a contrast between feeding dogs and feeding children. When the woman worshipfully pleads for help, Jesus responds, drawing a verbal picture of a family meal. Though Jesus’ language may appear harsh, remember that we don’t know the tone with which this was communicated. It is not lack of compassion, Mark 6:34. It is certainly not that Jesus has a low view of women. Look at his conversation with the woman at the well. Listen to what he says to Mary when he is in the home of Mary and Martha. The dogs here are apparently family pets, not the urban scavengers that they usually are in the Bible. However valued family pets may be, they do not have the place of children. One does not take food needed for the children and give it to even a cute little dog.
“The Lord Jesus indeed hid from Israel for a time but He did not disown His people. He could not do that because He could not deny God’s covenant with them. God had first to fulfill His promise to Israel. God is eternally faithful to his covenant and grants His salvation by way of that covenant.” (S. G. De Graaf, Promise and Deliverance, Vol. 3, p. 243)
S. G. De Graaf, Promise and Deliverance, Vol. 3, p. 243
The point is that Jesus’ work, at this spot in redemptive history, was directed to his covenant people. His trip to Tyre was not a missionary expedition. The Great Commission was still future. Although there were some notable exceptions of Gentile faith during his earthly ministry, it was not until after his rejection by Israel, not until after his crucifixion, resurrection, and Pentecost that the good news would be proclaimed to the nations.
Live by faith! Recognize how extensive is God’s covenant grace. The woman grasps the point of Jesus’ little parable. Rather than being offended, she understands that God’s grace to his covenant people involves an overflow to others as well. Indeed, she was not a descendant of Abraham, though by faith she proves to be a true daughter of Sarah. She pleads for even a small measure of the covenantal grace of God. Unlike many of the Israelites, who prided themselves on their covenant relationship with God, she recognizes that even the covenant structure itself is all of God’s grace. Look at the closing words of Ezekiel 34 and the reiteration of what God’s covenant really is. The basis for her plea is not merit, but simply God’s undeserved grace. Jesus’ comment about not giving the children’s food to the dogs was not harsh. Instead, Jesus was drawing her out to a confession of faith in him. In recording the extent of God’s covenant grace here, Mark is anticipating a Gentile response. He will record the confession of the executing centurion, Mark 15:39.
“[T]he cure of the child of the Canaanitish woman is clearly significant, not simply as one more instance of a display of divine power, but as pointing to the flexibility of the rule that Jesus had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (15:24, 28).”
Ned B. Stonehouse, The Witness of Matthew and Mark to Christ, pages 145–146
Trust the covenant Redeemer! Jesus commends the woman for her response. Her daughter was healed from that very hour. Her trust is accented by the “little faith” displayed the disciples (Mark 4:40). The woman recognized Jesus for who he is, the messianic Redeemer. She recognizes that if he is indeed the promised Son of David, his coming into the world must mean an overflow of God’s grace, even to a Canaanite woman like herself. She understood that her only hope was to throw herself on his mercy, to trust in him.
“Jesus’s true family consists of those who trust in him, not those who are related to him by blood. Because Jesus is restoring not only Israel but also all of creation, including gentiles (Matt. 15:21–28; 21:40–44), the true people of God no longer can be marked out by certain nationalistic badges that distinguish one nation from another.”
G. K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology, p. 424
In recording this incident Mark is challenging his original readers, and you and me, to trust in this same Jesus.
In the light of Mark’s entire Gospel, you and I, many of us Gentiles like this woman, are called to be, not puppy dogs begging for scraps under the table, but rather, to be among the lost sheep for whom the Shepherd died and rose. As you trust in him you enter his family as one of the children.