Simon the Zealot, so called because of his extreme nationalist leanings, describes a life changing moment:

To be honest, I was a bit wary about our journey up north into Phoenicia. I don’t much like these foreign parts, with their foreign food and foreign ways.  Given my own choice, I’ll stick to my own country, culture and cuisine any day. And why not? What do the others have to compare?  We, after all, are the chosen race – Israel – the people of God.  His Temple, the Holy Place, is in Jerusalem.  From there he will rule the world.  So, I don’t have much time and truck for other places. Let them come to us, I say!  That is, surely, the right way for things to be.

So, I felt quite ill at ease as we made our way over the border and up towards Tyre. 

At least we didn’t head for the big city itself – far too many people there for our purposes at this time.  Instead, we were bound for a secluded cottage Jesus had heard about by the sea.   Escape had eluded us at home, so we had to try further afield. And this should have made a perfect place for a retreat.  We assumed that none of the neighbours (not that there were many) would be interested in bothering us; most likely they would keep their distance from strangers.  What’s more, we made every effort to arrive there quietly and unnoticed, stealing into the house and shutting the door.  No crowds followed us here, thank goodness!  Peace at last!

But, of course, it was too good to last!  We were just settling down for a relaxing evening together when there came a knock at the door.  You could hear the sighs and see disappointed shoulders drop all round the room.  Nobody wanted to be the one to get up and let them in, and I wasn’t the only one who felt wary as well as frustrated by the disturbance.  Who would have known we were here?  It could only be the locals, and what would they want with us?  But Jesus gave the nod that we all expected from him by now, and we had to let them in. 

Well, not ‘them’, actually; just ‘her’.  That was some small mercy; at least it wasn’t an invasion. But it was an intrusion, and an unwelcome one at that.

She walked in and looked intently around, giving us the once over, as we in turn appraised her.  Dressed in the local costume of the Syrian-Phoenician woman that she was, she stood out like a sore thumb among us.  Everything about her was foreign; her face, her clothing, her stance, her smell, her speech… everything.  I found nothing appealing about her at all.  There she stood; a woman and a foreigner – a nobody.  Why Jesus gave her the time of day at all, I do not know. But she was clearly determined, and he was intrigued at her gall, so we had to hear her out.

Apparently, her daughter was in a bad way, possessed by some demon or something.  

So, evidently, word about Jesus must have already spread here!  Maybe it was some traveller she’d met – they were always passing though Capernaum (it’s on a main road to Damascus) and these traders always delighted in a juicy tale to tell.  Or, perhaps, as we’d heard rumoured, people from these parts did actually travel to Galilee and join the crowds coming to Jesus for healing (Mark 3:8).  In any case, this woman wanted for her daughter what Jesus had given so many at home: Freedom, deliverance, healing and new life. 

Now some soft souls among us might have had sympathy, but “what a cheek”, I thought!  How could this insolent woman expect, let alone demand, anything from our God?  And how glad I was to hear that Jesus agreed with me! 

I had begun to wonder about him, what with the people he took as his friends and now his bringing us out here to foreign parts.  But he was quite clear now.  His rebuke of the woman confirmed his interest in Israel alone.  He was short and curt with her and that, to be honest, made my heart sing!  At last, I felt secure again. Things were as they should be.  The food was not for the dogs: it was reserved for the children only.  Yes!

How she dared to come back at him after that, I just don’t know!  His words were clear and dismissive, but she would not be dismissed.  ‘Yes, but even the dogs get to eat the crumbs under the table!’  she cried. 

At least she knew her place!  But this was one dog I was beginning to have had enough of.  It was getting far too pushy with its scrounging and scavenging.  I’d choose a hard kick to drive it away – but that was not what Jesus decided to do.

I was surprised that this forward, foreign female had managed to turn him so quickly.  I never thought of him as fickle, nor as a soft touch for the women, either.  So, what was going on?  Had I missed something?  Was I mistaken in thinking that Jesus thought about things in just the same way as me?

Thinking back, having slept on it, I realise that maybe Jesus was not as harsh as I first took him to be.   His words were right, but not his tone.  His answer, though short, was not sharp.  Rather than cutting her off, I see now that he was, in fact, inviting her to banter with him.  If I had looked, I bet I would even have seen a twinkle in his eye as he gazed at her.  His gaze conveying things that words could not: “Israel’s Messiah, bringing freedom to a Syrian Greek?!  What a ‘No, No’!”   I can feel the slap of the irony now.  Like it or not, I just knew his answer was going to be a definite ‘Yes!’ 

We’ve all been around long enough to work out that Jesus is definitely not into ‘No, No’s’   He does not care for normal rules, routines, or even rituals. That’s what has been getting him into trouble with our leaders all the time, I keep telling him.  But does he listen?  No!  He will heal on the Sabbath without compunction.  He will reach out and touch the unclean and the untouchables.  All the time he marches to a different drum – ruled not by convention, but compassion; not by the Law, but by Love.

And now he will free this foreign woman’s daughter.  He’s pushing back the boundaries again, undermining the very foundations on which they stand.  One day, he has told us, the walls will fall!    For the moment, he was impressed by this woman and he sent her back home to find her daughter healed. 

I hope she is happy.  I am sure she is.  But I am not at all sure that I am!  As a nationalist through and through, I find what I have witnessed here very disturbing.   Yes, as I have said, the woman rightly acknowledged her place. She accepted, even if in playful banter, that she was a ‘dog’.  She admitted that she had no right to the food reserved for the children.  But she still dared ask for what she did not deserve.  And something told her that Jesus would not refuse her.  

How could she be so confident and sure?

Was it because this woman was driven by compassion, just as she recognised Jesus’ compassion driving him?

Was it because she didn’t come standing on or fighting for her rights; but simply and humbly appealing to his mercy?

Or was it her faith that saw something bigger and greater in Jesus than I, boxed in by my boundaries, still fail to fully grasp? 

I am not sure.

But in the middle of the night, I remembered something that put a new perspective on things for me.   Jesus didn’t say to her that the dogs would not eat – just that the children must eat first.  I missed that little morsel first time round – but the woman, clearly, did not.  And what she heard, clearly gave her hope.  She understood from this that there would be food for the likes of her too. The boundaries will be broken one day and even the dogs will come to join the children to at the table.   Except, they will no longer be seen as dogs then, will they?  They will be children too!

That’s a bigger vision than anything I have seen before.   And maybe it is because Jesus recognised that this woman caught that vision and wanted a share in the coming Kingdom, that he gave her what she asked for here and now?  

In any case, this woman would not accept things as they are, but hoped for something bigger and better.  I think that’s what Jesus would call ‘faith’. 

So, we are off back home today, to the work Jesus has to do there.  But I am beginning to understand that Jesus will respond to this kind of faith wherever he finds it, and from whoever it comes.  He will never despise those who, like this woman, see the possibilities and refuse to be put off by convention; who will pray and pester, struggle and sacrifice for the new thing coming; who are determined to see the Kingdom (as Jesus calls it) breaking into their lives and into their world right here and now.

And with all this talk of food at the table, this woman has shown me one thing I never thought that I’d admit to:  The Great Feast is going to be far bigger than I had imagined!  Nobody who comes in faith will be eating crumbs.  No peoples will be excluded.  There will be room at his table for all. 

Lord, we pray that you will draw us deeper into your purpose and plans.

Stir within us a deep dissatisfaction with what is and kindle a greater yearning for what is yet to be.

Cause us to work and pray more energetically for all that you have in store, not just for us, but for the whole world.

May the light of your kingdom dispel the darkness of our limited imagination.

And, as surprising people of faith challenge our preconceptions,

may narrow minds be blown wide-open by the gospel. 

In Jesus name. Amen