The Air-Conditioned Church

But she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children’s crumbs.” Mark 7:28  NASB

Under the table – Have you thrown someone under the table?  Isn’t that the point of this story?  The woman is a true outsider.  She isn’t a citizen anywhere.  Mark says she is of the Syrophoenician race, but the parallel account in Matthew really tells the story.  She is a Canaanite. The problem, of course, is that Canaan didn’t exist in the first century.  That nation disappeared from the face of the earth.  She doesn’t belong anywhere.  Today we would probably label her a Palestinian, but that designation is as much a myth as Canaanite.  She’s a nobody.

Yeshua’s response to her plea is shocking.  “You aren’t in line for blessings.  You’re no better than a dog,” seems to be pretty close to the impact of His words.  What?  Can the compassionate Savior speak with such insensitive cruelty?  It seems to me that this is an ironic object lesson for His disciples.  They would have been offended by this person.  First, she’s a woman.  What woman ever had the right, or the audacity, to approach a holy man, a rabbi?  Second, she’s one of those!  A refugee.  An outsider from the wrong caste.  Her presence is an offense to all social propriety.  Third, she won’t go away.  The Greek tense indicates that she kept pressing the matter.  Apparently she was too stupid to see that she wasn’t wanted.  On top of all that, she was begging for her daughter.  We might think this is a noble act of a mother in distress, but it could easily be interpreted as self-willed arrogance.  Isn’t life in God’s hands?  Don’t sinners deserve punishment?  Isn’t demon-possession a sure sign that she was out of favor with God?  She had some nerve to ask for removal of this divinely-ordained reminder of her true status.  She should learn to be content with her lot.  Instead she pushes for relief.  Her arrogance approaches blasphemy.  When Yeshua implies that she is a dog, you can bet the disciples were nodding in agreement.

Of course, there is something here in the Greek text that we miss in translation.  The word translated “dogs” is really kunarion, the diminutive of kuon.  It means “puppies,” not full-grown, pack-running scavengers typical of dogs in the Middle East.  Puppies are adorable, even if they are at times annoying.  Dogs are quite another story, especially when they are nearly wild.  This small change provides an opening for the woman.  She accepts her fragile position.  She doesn’t even raise an objection about racial slurs or insults.  She responds, “Yes, but even puppies gather crumbs from under the table.”  What an enormous act of humiliation!  Most of us would demand better treatment.  We would file a complaint with the management.  We would sue.  The last thing we would do is abase ourselves in abject humility.  We would insist on a place at the table, not under it (hupokato tes trapezes).

The key to her faith, recognized by Yeshua, is the adverb hupokato.  She is willing to be “down under.”  The self-righteousness of the Jews may have relegated her to effective non-existence, but she will not let God’s holy man escape her request.  Her humility is her weapon.  It is the only weapon she possesses.  We might reflect on a certain story about a man names Yakob who also would not let go.

What does Yeshua say about this woman’s faith?  “Because of this word, go.”  What word?  Hupokato.  That is the word of favor in God’s eyes.  Anyone who is willing to be put “down under” is likely to find a compassionate deliverer.  Of course, there is another lesson in this story, one that isn’t quite so uplifting.  The lesson is about the disciples’ arrogance and prejudice.  They thought this woman was outside the favor of God.  They threw her under the table.  She didn’t belong.  I wonder how many of those who express hupokato are standing outside our churches, outside our fellowship, because they are the “dogs” in our lives.  I wonder if the comfortable, air-conditioned, sweet-smelling harmony of our sanctuaries isn’t really an obstacle to those who are truly in need.  I wonder what would happen if we scoured the highways and the byways and brought in the ones we left under the table.

Topical Index:  hupokato, down under, arrogance, dogs, kunarion, Mark 7:28, Matthew 15:27