In his school captain’s address in week 1, when Aadi and Tiger were commissioned as our captains for 2025, Aadi spoke about the notion of “respectful disagreement”. This is a model of conversation, which our wider world could actually use!
In Luke’s Gospel (chapter 7, verses 24–30) Jesus actually models this in his conversation with a Syrophoenician woman (a gentile woman), but not in the way you might expect.
A Syrophoenician woman comes to Jesus and asks for her daughter to be healed of an “unclean spirit”. In the first century, the description of someone having an unclean spirit or a demon was the language commonly used to describe something that couldn’t be explained. If 21st century specialist doctors were to treat the daughter, would they have a different explanation than the daughter’s mother, the Syrophoenician woman? Quite possibly.
What is crucial for our story, though, is that Jesus initially rejects her request for help. Why does he reject her request? Because she is a gentile, so a non-Jewish, woman, who has entered the house he is staying in, uninvited, and dared to speak to him, a Jewish man. Given the tradition of the day, it is remarkable that he even replies to her. By the way, the translation of “dogs” in the passage is misleading. A better translation is “the little dogs” or “puppies” ie. the pets. He is making a sad little comment, basically saying, “I can’t help you, because I’m Jewish and you are a gentile.” Perhaps he didn’t want to upset the leadership in Jerusalem, which is of course what eventually occurs anyway.
What happens next is important. As a scholar friend of mine put it in his commentary on Mark’s Gospel, “[Then] comes one of the most beautiful moments in the whole New Testament.” She playfully, cleverly, respectfully disagrees with him. “Sir, even the little dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
This respectful disagreement causes Jesus to change his mind. He makes a concession. He heals her daughter. Maybe, just maybe, this encounter is the reason he starts to teach and heal non–Jewish people as well; what we know for sure is that that decision changes the course of history, because all people, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, identity, sexuality etc. are welcomed in God’s house.
The Reverend Dr Theo McCall
School Chaplain
