Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Genesis 2:18-25; Mark 7:24-30)
The Christmas 2004 tsunami took 200,000 lives. One wants to
ask, How could God permit such a thing to happen?” Such a question is not irreverent but only
logical. If God is in control and if God
is good, then, it seems, He shouldn’t let such disasters take place. One theologian takes the logic a step
farther. Knowing that God is the
ultimate cause of everything, he asks, “Why does He do such things?” In other words, this theologian is indicating
that God caused the deaths of so many in a single event.” It’s a shocking but honest conclusion.
Some of us might be equally shocked by Jesus’ remark to the
Syrophoenician woman in the God. It
seems so unlike Jesus – so un-Christian – for him to refer to non-Jews as
dogs. Why would he say such a
thing? Perhaps he’s just very
tired? Or perhaps in the first century
Jesus’ remark was not the insult it appears to be in our race-conscious
society?
It’s hard to say what Jesus has in mind, but perhaps it is better
that we don’t try to defend the remark.
Rather let us focus our attention on the woman’s faith-filled response
and Jesus’ benevolent will. She is not
stymied by the insult, if it was that.
Rather, in faith, she fires back.
“Lord,” she says recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, “even the dogs
under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
So she humbly persists to request the favor. Jesus, for his part, graciously
consents. He knows that as God’s
emissary, he cannot deny help to those who believe in him.
