No, not THAT kind of dog-woman!
This exciting tale of Jesus’ adventures takes us to Matthew 15. (The same story is repeated in Mark 7.)
22 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.
23 But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Well, that was rather rude, don’t you think? After all, Jesus is supposed to love everybody, right? “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight”?
That doesn’t sound very loving!
25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
The woman begs. Even so, Jesus doesn’t really care what she has to say:
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.
The dog-woman begs Jesus to help her!
Does it sound to you as though Jesus is saying that she’s a human-animal hybrid, like at the top of the page? Or is “dogs” an ethnic slur?
27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
She debases herself, calling herself a dog and accepting the insult, hoping desperately to get help.
28 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.
Glory! Jesus grants this lowlife, this dog-woman, what she has asked for.
In Mark 7, Jesus is explicit in His reason for granting her request.
25 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
27 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.
28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.
29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
He granted her request specifically because she debased herself!
What can we learn from this story? Talk about these questions with your friends, and ask in Sunday School!
Is this the same story twice, or are these two different women? After all, the descendants of Canaan were cursed . . . and weren’t Greeks!
This story takes place in the Roman Empire, which used Greek as the common language among all its territories. This was easier than Latin, because Alexander the Great, and other Greek Emporers had already spread the Greek language throughout much of what was now the Roman Empire. The King James version that you insist on using translates a term for someone who speaks Greek, by calling them a Greek. This does not mean she was from Greece, it only means she spoke the Greek language as a constituent of the Roman Empire. Among the Greko/Roman territories, the land of Israel managed to maintain more of their own culture and language of Aramaic, than other territories. When Jesus was teaching his Jewish disciples, they all probably spoke Aramaic to each other.
And Matthew's version of calling her a woman from Canaan does not mean she was "Canaanite." The entire region, including Israel, which today we call Palestine, was known as Canaan. So Matthew was simply stating she was from outside Israel. Obviously, if she was from anywhere remotely close to this region, she was from Canaan. Mark simply specifies the town she was from.
–He granted her request specifically because she debased herself!
Throughout this story Jesus is simply testing her faith and persistence. To answer your question, "What does it take to get Jesus to help you? Is just asking enough?"–Jesus gives us this answer in Luke 11:8 – "yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs." We must be persistent and faithful in our prayers. He's not Santa Clause or some wish-granting genie in a bottle.
I really enjoyed the story and thought the telling of it was interesting and the photo caught my attention. I was so sorry for the comments I read and it made me think of the time my own children spoke to me simularly. I cried and prayed for them and they are belivers in our Heavenly Father and keep my Sabbath. I will do the same for the Infidels that wrote the comment…
You are mad, go fuck yourself you idiot. I should DDOS this site just for the fuck of it. Fuck Jesus, fuck catolics and most of all, fuck you.
ISSUES!
Wow, I was actually looking for some understanding, but I realize that you don't have it. To offer truth to one who does not love it, is to waste the truth. Hope you can seek out honest understanding, instead of superficial explanations that justify your own cravings.
Greetings,
"Is this the same story twice?"
Well, according to the overwhelming consensus of biblical scholarship, (not including fundagellicals) Mark was written first. Both the authors of Matthew and Luke copied from Mark, and another source called Q (quelle for source) and then they added their own bull shit.
John was out in right field.
But, if I may, I would like to ad that this story reminds me of the story about the poor widow's mites, another woman in dire straights begging the lord (church).
It is found in Mark #12 and Luke #21. It goes something like this: Jesus was hanging out in the smoking section of the temple, opposite the treasury, because he had walked a mile for a Camel and dad gummit he was going to smoke it. There was a ban on smoking, except for animal carcasses.
And so it came to pass that the rich Republicans were bragging about how much they donated to the temple, and along comes this poor widow who put in two mites. Well, Jesus says to his to his disciples, verily I say to you, these publicans have given out of their abundance, but she has given out of her poverty, all the livelihood that she had. The widow has given more.
And the moral of the story is, that even if you are poorer than dirt and living on cat food, the church gladly will take your last dime. So don't use poverty as an excuse to fill the coffers of the priest hoods.
Amen,
Infidel