Objection: Jesus Told a Greek Woman NO When She Came for Deliverance for Her Daughter
Matthew 15:22-28:
And behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us.
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
Mark 7:25-30:
For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.
And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed.
Someone dragged this story up in a discussion when I was making the point that Jesus never turned away anyone who wanted healing. What about this woman? Didn’t Jesus and the disciples try to turn her away? They did at first, but she was not denied by the end of the story.
It is curious that anyone would use this as an anti-healing argument, because the lady in fact did get what she wanted, which Jesus attributed to her great faith. However, examine the basis on which Jesus denied her attention. The woman was not an Israelite, and Jesus was sent by God to preach to the Israelites. Jesus did not want to operate outside His calling. He was not called to go to Gentile lands with the gospel. (If you’re called of God and you have any smarts, you won’t try to go do something outside your calling, either.)
Jesus was not rude to her. He did NOT call her a dog in a derogatory way. He did not say, “Hit the road, Fido! You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog!” He was simply making an allegory about the “children” of Israel who had a right to bread and the “dogs” who were outside of Israel’s covenant. The woman was outside the Old Covenant, being a Greek. The promise of healing was not made to her; it was made to the Jews. (Before you make another objection out of that fact, please realize that we are the true Jews now according to Paul, and we do get the blessings they had. This woman came to Jesus before the Church Age. Being a Gentile, she did not have a covenant right to healing.) Yet Jesus spoke in faith and the woman obviously believed that she received her answer at that moment, and her daughter was set free.
There is no reason why anyone under the New Covenant could be told NO for the same reason this woman was told NO, because we are all able to partake of the New Covenant. It is not just for the Jews. What Jesus paid for is now just as much for the Gentiles as it is for the Jews (Ephesians 3:6), which is different from how things were when He walked the earth. Therefore, it is senseless to use this passage to say that Jesus could turn someone away or say NO to someone who wants healing today. Even back then, there was an open door – a Gentile could become a Jew and then be included in God’s promises to the Jews.
Far from being an anti-healing passage (there aren’t any), this passage teaches a valuable lesson. Healing is called “the children’s bread.” It is something that they have a right to. Now that you are a child of God, healing is your bread, too. Jesus told the Greek woman that healing was something that the Israelites had a right to. Surely, a blood-bought believer under our new and better covenant, established upon better promises, has a right to the same! You are not a Gentile outside the covenant as this woman was. You are a covenant child of God. Healing is part of what your Father gives you because you are in His family.
A Christian of Gentile lineage today is not a dog under the table looking for crumbs. He is one of the children seated at the table!