Did Jesus Just Call that Woman a Dog? VBS #6

Editor’s Note: John Jameson’s contribution to Vacation Bible School is a post he wrote earlier on his blog (reprinted with permission and minor edits). It addresses one of the issues we asked people to write about: being embarrassed by something Jesus said. Here Pastor Jameson recounts an embarrassing experience from a recent Bible study he led.

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By “John Jameson”

I’m going through the Gospel of Matthew in a recent bible study.  People take notes and ask me questions about what they’ve read.  One 35 year-old mother of four, who’s been in church her entire life, comes across Matthew 15 when a gentile woman asks Jesus to heal her child.  Jesus responds,

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

35 year old woman responds:

Did Jesus…did he… just call that woman a dog?

Ah crap.  Now how am I going to handle this one? I don’t really feel like pulling the “Oh, he was just testing her” bs, so I decide to go a slightly more honest route.

Me: Well, yes, but he wasn’t being sexist as you would think.  It was actually more racist.

Her reaction was about what you’d expect:

Me: But later this goes on to prove one of Jesus’ most important points; that God loves people from every race.  This is exactly how the Jews of the day thought of Canaanites – as dogs.  However Jesus opens the realm of possibility that says all people are equal regardless of race or gender.  Jesus listens to her and is impressed by her, something the disciples will remember.  Who we consider a “female dog,” God sees as valuable.

Her: Still it’s kind of a mean way to do it though. That’s just rude!

Me: I agree, very rude.  But the rudeness makes it memorable and drives the point home.  Look, we’re still talking about it, aren’t we?  I think Jesus succeeded. And after all is said and done, the daughter was healed.

I’m still a little bit in shock that someone could spend her ENTIRE LIFE in church and never hear that story.  For me it really drives home the point that average Christians virtually never read the Bible for themselves.  How is this possible?  Why would you belong to a religion your whole life and not actually read the foundational document that defines what you believe in?  How can you claim the Bible is sooo important, and yet never take the time to read it?

Blech…

**Editor’s Question** Well, readers, how does that happen?   How can good, church-going Christians know so little about what is in the book they so highly revere? Bonus Questions: What do you think about how the pastor handled it? What would you have done differently?

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Bio: “John Jameson” is currently the pastor a conservative non-denominational Evangelical Church.  He attended a moderately liberal seminary and is a member of The Clergy Project.

Photo Credits:

href=”https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanenglish/584404692/”>Al_HikesAZ</a<a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</aref=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>cc</a

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch – WebMuseum at ibiblioPage: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/Image URL: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons –  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scream.jpg#/media/File:The_Scream.jpg

“Clyde The Bulldog” by Asmadeus – Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clyde_The_Bulldog.jpg#/media/File:Clyde_The_Bulldog.jpg